Day 12-13: Interior Crossing, Landmannlauger, Thorsmork
Surprisingly, the terrain covered during this eastern crossing is even more desolate-looking than the western one we took earlier. We had lunch at what Oskar called an "oasis" which turned out to be a small stream with a foot or two of moss on each of its banks. Otherwise, there was little but the single-track gravel road for many, many miles. We did, however, get views of some of the distant glaciers. Thanks to Oskar and Bjartur inventively cleaning the bus windows with some left-over coffee.    Having used up all of the jokes we could think of that would reasonably translate into Icelandic (for Bjartur), French (for Jean-Pierre) and Hebrew (for Shaked), the conversation at dinner reached a new, but entertaining low: we each learned how to say shit in 5 languages (English, Icelandic, French, Hebrew and Arabic) - this was inspired by the Icelandic word for cake: "kaka". We all declared that the dessert that night was the best darn kaka we'd ever eaten.
The destination for the next day was Landmannalauger in the Fjallabak nature reserve. Its red-brown rhyolite formations are quite a change from the gray basalt that dominates most of Iceland. We hiked among more interesting lava formations and bathed in its very popular hot spring. A few of us hiked up to the top of the rhyolite peak Blahnukur for outstanding views of the surrounding area. Unfortunately, the hiking was difficult, as the mountain consists of barely-incorporated ash and gravel, making footing loose in some spots.       Thorsmork was the last stop on our scheduled tour. Even though it was not far as the crow flies, the trip was very slow, and made full use of the bus' 4-wheel drive by crossing many glacial rivers and streams. The hike to the base of one of the fingers of the Myrdalsjokull glacier was pretty. The surface of the glacier itself was black with dust and gravel, but it made for an interesting lunch spot.      
Images and text (c) 2005 Pete Zivkov |
It was still raining in Northern Iceland when we began
our second crossing of the interior, this time headed south. Our first stop was
a waterfall called Godafoss (God falls), so named because a pagan chieftan was
said to have thrown his idols over the falls when Iceland converted to
Christianity in the year 1000. It was here that we met an
English fellow who was in the middle of his bicycle ride across Iceland. He
admitted that the day's cold rain and strong wind made for a tough ride. The many
hills would have done us in long before the weather ever did!
Next on the Parade of Waterfalls was Aldeyarfoss, which tumbles down
through balsalt columns. Oskar, our guide, turned us on to a wild
visual effect: stare at the falling water for some time and then turn your
gaze at the basalt columns, which then appear to be "falling"
upwards. It really worked, and it was a little freaky.
Unfortunately, still photos don't convey the effect.