Iceland! This was our wildcard summer trip to a more straightforward Lake Powell backpack/packraft/canyon trip we had in mind. The more we looked into it, the more we started to shift towards Iceland. Prices were manageable (cheaper than they would have been pre-pandemic), the country was welcoming tourists with some testing/quarantine restrictions on entry, the more we looked the more we realized there was plenty to do, and there was an easily accessible erupting volcano! We booked plane tickets and a 4WD Subaru Grand Vitara with a roof tent, carefully crafted a packing list, and started to plan a flexible enough itinerary to deal with whatever the weather would throw at us. Planning the trip had a few notable differences to what I was used to. Iceland has a fair deal of coverage online regarding main tourist destinations (waterfalls, hot springs, etc.), but as soon as you veered away from those places I was hard pressed to come up with any information at all (packrafting possibilities for example). The satellite imagery available was of lower quality than I was routinely left second guessing- was that a small Class II rapid or a Class V waterfall!!? The crazy places names were also nearly impenetrable as I copy/pasted them while making no mental effort to reconcile how they might be pronounced. I soon worked out that "foss" means waterfall (e.g. Seljalandfoss) and fjöllum means glacial river (e.g Jökulsá á Fjöllum), but even now after our trip I did not progress much further in my understanding of Icelandic. Fortunately, Caltopo seemed to have nearly every placename searchable, which greatly helped with building a map. As we neared our trip, Iceland announced that it was removing negative tests and quarantine for entry (just proof of vaccination needed) effective beginning the day before our arrival- what timing! Hindsight would also show that the Navajo Nation would still not open and damaging floods would sweep through the Southwest, further reinforcing our sense that we chose the right vacation.
Our trip got off to an unusual start. While waiting for our flight out of Minneapolis it was revealed that our flight to Iceland was overbooked by a staggering 30 seats. Offers to volunteer to take a flight the next day started at $500 and gradually rose as we waited in the terminal. $800, $1000, $1500, $2000. We could see takers walking up to the counter but the people at the desk still seemed to be frantic in trying to get more volunteers. We got on our plane and got situated but they delayed our departure, still trying for more volunteers. They were up to $4000 and you would be placed on a flight two days later. This would effectively mean a free trip to Iceland and then some so Heather got up and talked with a flight attendant at which point it was $4500 per person. Maybe another thirty seconds of deep deliberation and we decided we couldn't refuse, packed up our stuff, and deplaned to wait back at the terminal desk to get processed. After a good long wait we were rather rudely told that they no longer needed us and to get back on the plane. It turned out they removed my checked bags (including all of our camping gear) from the plane in the intervening time. So we were minutes away from considerable travel vouchers in hand with a two day delay to our trip, and instead got a one-day in-country delay courtesy Delta waiting for our bags to arrive and further out of pocket needing to book accommodation. Overall the experience was highly distressing and poorly handled by Delta, and I was in a sour, dejected mood at the start of the trip. Later we found out our overbooked flight made the news, including accounts of passengers raking it in, but our experience was unreported. We were picked up at the airport by our car rental company, showed the ropes, set out for a morning meal (turns out every croissant in Iceland has ham buried inside it), did some shopping, then beelined for a hike to the volcano, a mere twenty minutes drive from the airport.
The eruption at Fagradalsfjall began on 19 March 2021 as a fissure eruption with multiple vents emitting effusive basaltic lava. The eruption has continued to evolve since, with a single vent soon becoming dominant, lava fountains, and lava flows breaching spillover saddles, cutting access to some viewpoints. The volcano is well monitored for gas emissions, seismicity, and via multiple webcams. The mostly nonexplosive eruption in an unpopulated area, slow-moving lava, predictable lava paths based on topography, prevailing winds mostly blowing volcanic gases away from people, and position twenty minute drive from the airport and one hour hike from the road have led this to arguably be the safest and most accessible eruption in modern times. This has certainly led to very high visitation and plenty of internet videos of people rather foolishly hiking out across thin lava crusts that likely still have active conduits beneath. The steady stream of enticing internet footage of the eruption would perhaps mislead you into thinking it was an easy guarantee of success at the end of a short hike but by the time we arrived in Iceland the vent was actively erupting about 50% of the time on a roughly 1-3 day cycle (current status easily determined by the published seismicity rates and webcams when weather was clear) and the weather clear enough to see the edifice perhaps 50% of the time, leaving a minority chance of conditions to align during a visit.
Our first day's visit we hiked up the least used trail furthest west. The going was steep and uneven but at least headed straight towards our destination. Up a steep gully the ridge rolled over such that anticipation continually built until we very finally got a clear view: no obvious lava at the crater but plenty of steaming newly cooled lava around. As we got closer to the lava field we notice extremely delicate frothy ejecta like honeycomb candy peppering the ground that probably shot from the volcano during its fountaining phases and collected a few for souvenirs. I flew the drone over the field to the crater- empty, no lava! We walked along the edge of the lava field enjoying the fresh pahoehoe textures and not enjoying the sulfurous air. It was really neat to be here and experience the freshness of it all, but beneath the excitement was a layer of disappointment at not seeing molten lava bursting into the air and flowing down the hillside. We checked into our room at the end of a quiet peninsula near Reykjavik, grabbed some pizza, and fought sleep the best we could to make it until 9pm to get on Iceland time.
We awoke the next morning and first thing checked the webcams. Clearly visible was lava bursting out of the profile of the crater! Yes please! We could do little more than hope that the eruption would continue and that clouds would stay parted, as we packed up and drove back towards the volcano. This time we took the main trail west of the volcano, following the bulldozed road to the manmade dam diverting lava, and then a little further to a clear view. There it was, lava bursting into the air! It really was moving and Heather had the perfectly reasonable response of tears at the sight. There were clouds but not yet any helicopters so I readied the drone and flew it over the crater. I was glued to the screen, mesmerized by the violence and incredible detail in the chaos. It was like being mesmerized by watching a campfire only dialed up to 11! At the central part of the crater upwelling surges created waves that crashed against the crater walls. Black geometric crusts of lava separated rhythmically as the lava flowed away from the source, spilling out of the pool as rapids of fast moving, orange glowing lava. This continued away from the crater as a single channel, in places going subterranean before appearing again. As the lava poured down into the valley below it began to anastomose into multiple channels. The photos and video do a better job expressing the drama and detail. Certainly one of the more amazing things I have seen. Clouds began to drift in on my second drone flight and helicopters also began appearing so I had to be more cautious and aware of my surroundings. Within a couple hours the clouds came in and I do not think anyone else that arrived later got a chance to see the eruption at all!
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| ^ More-or-less the same view 20 hours apart ^ |
On our way back down the mountain we took a brief detour to fly once more over the distal part of the lava flow, which was also very neat to see. The video below is my best attempt to narrow down 20 minutes of captivating drone footage into a 5 minute overview. We felt completely redeemed and satisfied after the previous day's attempt. As enthralled as we were, we still had a lot more to fit into our long Icelandic day.
We drove for about an hour onward to Reykjadalur Hot River, a very popular 3.5 km hike to a stretch of geothermal creek suitable for bathing. The parking lot was nearly full with a mix of tourists and locals enjoying the unusually sunny weather locally. We hiked past several steaming fumeroles and switchbacked our way up the grassy hillside. We then traversed in and out of a few small drainages, passing a nice view of a mossy waterfall below. At the geothermal area we were surprised to see carefree sheep giving no mind to hanging out next to steaming pools. We walked on past the boardwalked bathing section (there would be time for that soon enough), to the uppermost part of the geothermal area that had more fumeroles and mud volcanoes. There also was an interesting cliff-lined amphitheater with a secret tucked away waterfall (alas cold!).
Back at the bathing area we found a spot suitably deep and with a hint of shade and enjoyed a pleasant soak. Though plenty busy, there were enough soaking places that everyone could essentially have their own spot on the creek. The water was just a little on the hot side but still made for a great soak. At one point we laid out in a slight hollow in the lush grass, enjoying the sun and slight protection from the wind. Another soak, then we returned the way we came. This would be the first of many hot springs on our trip.
After Reykjadalur we continued east along the Ring Road, the main road looping the exterior of the island, then branched north on secondary roads, and then dirt roads en route to Landmannalaugar. On the way we detoured to see the twin waterfalls of Háifoss and Granni (a mere 250m apart), which plunge into youthful amphitheater gorges from glaciated flatlands above. It was a little windy and the lighting was particularly harsh, but I braved flying a drone around the falls. If we had more time it looked like a neat hike to the perma-mist at the base of the falls. We continued on our dirt road adventure into Landmannalaugar.
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