Our day 3rd day in Iceland from Vik to Hofn might have been one of my favorite days in Iceland!! We started out our day at the Reynisfjara Basalt Stacks that are affectionately nicknamed "Giants Playground" and boy, they did not disappoint. At first we were quickly enamored by the fact that the sand was black on the beach, but as we walked further on the beach we saw the basalt columns. They looked like huge stacks of Legos forming a cliff along the edge of the ocean. Not only were they beautiful to look at, but also a ton of fun to climb around! A short 15 minute drive along the coast later, we found ourselves in Vik at the Blacksand beach. The sand here, much like the first beach, was also black but now it was also very fine and soft. Both beaches provided amazing views of the ocean and coast line that Iceland has to offer along with mesmerizing black footprints left in the sand!
Our next plan stop was at Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon about an hour away, but as a Iceland likes to do, we were provided with several pit-stops on the way. First stop was the most amazing flower fields; as we were used to driving and looking at the coast line, cliffs, or rocky terrain we were caught off guard when we were greeted by fields of small purple flowers as far as the eye could see. Naturally…we had to stop for photos!
Next up for pit-stops we had no idea what it was, but we just knew it looked weird and had to stop. As we were driving we noticed hundreds of stacks of rocks along the side of the road about 6 to 12 inches tall. After stopping we found a sign that explained what the stone stacks were from years ago when travelers were asked to place a stone on top of others to wish good luck to the farmer who would once lived in this area. As years went on the government moved more stones to this area to help travelers more easily put stones, granting good luck, and it is now become a small roadside attraction where people can play with stones and grant good luck. Needless to say i’m still waiting on my rock luck to kick in!
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| Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon |
Our next stop for the day was at Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, and to say it was breathtaking was an understatement! This canyon, they believe, was formed more than 9,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age but has since been covered in lush green grasses and flowing water. Tina and I walked around this area for a while just admiring the views from all the different angles, it truly is amazing all the different land forms that are in such a tiny country.
Our next stop, and hands-down my favorite afternoon during my time in Iceland, was the Falljokull glacier that Tina and I had signed up to hike the day before with Icelandic Mountain Guides. We met at a small lodge near the base of the glacier where we were paired with our guide, our hiking gear, and the four others that would be hiking with us. The day was the first dry and sunny day since we had been in Iceland and we couldn’t have asked for a better guide or weather for our hike. What we signed up for was a three hour hike that ended up closer to five hours by the time we return back to the lodge but it was the most amazing of experiences! Hiking along the ice, seeing the cracks and small streams throughout the glacier, learning about and then seeing a waterfall with in the glacier, drinking water that had been frozen for thousands of years, and taking in all that the glacier had to offer was truly an amazing and unforgettable experience! By the time we took off our crampons (shoe spikes) and returned our ice picks we were beyond tired, and once taking off my boots in the car I quickly realized why my feet had been hurting...we had hiked enough I had literally rubbed them raw and bleeding in several places....but I would do it again in a heart beat!!!
At this point we were exhausted and I would like to say that we had a nice warm bed waiting for us five minutes from the foot of the glacier, but this my friends, could not be any further from the truth. Because Tina and I had booked all of our accommodations in advance (and our glacier hike a mere 24 hours before hand, we quickly realized it was 7 PM… Our accommodations were almost 3 hours from where we currently were… we had three destinations we wanted to see on the way there… AND we did not have a nice warm bed for the evening. Out of all days, tonight was the night we had chosen to stay at a campground.
We continued along Route 1 to Glacier Lake, Glacier Lagoon, and Diamond Beach before finally pulling into our gorgeous campground around 1am. Sore, exhausted, hungry, and exasperated (we looked for over 30 minutes to no avail for our campground and hadn't really eaten dinner yet at this point...thank goodness for finding a kettle at the campground and a nice cup of Ramen noodles at 1:30am inside our tent!) But we crashed, warm, tired, with full bellies, but most of all happy!
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