We awoke to another blue sky day and started with a 1km hike from our camp along a colorful stream to Borhola Kerlingarfjöll hot pool, Heather's favorite of the ones we visited. Comfortably warm water pours out of two wells into a shallow pebble lined pool at the edge of a stream. We soaked for a good long while (and could have stayed for much longer), but had more to see.
We drove the rough road steeply up towards the geothermal area roadend. I took some drone shots at a pull-out before we continued on to the end. We went for a short hike around the Kveradalir geothermal area, bursting with activity from fumeroles and bubbling hot springs. This would have been a worthwhile place to spend more time, but once again we would have a full day. The bridges and steep ridge trails complemented the strangeness of this place.
After Hveradalir we had some more F road driving to continue traversing Iceland's interior. This would be our last wild stretch before we were back with the tourist hoards. Finally back to pavement and the so called Golden Circle of tourist attractions near Reykjavik, we stopped briefly to see the thundering force of Gullfoss. Heather and I both marveled in confusion about how some of these tourist sites work. There was a governmental level of expenditure for poured walking paths, signage, and viewpoint platforms yet somehow shops and cafes give the feel of a private venture.
Next on the touristy roundup was the Geysir geothermal area featuring several colorful pools reminiscent of those at Yellowstone and the geyser Strokkur, which erupted every 10 minutes or so (we saw it erupt twice). Though currently inactive the travertine mound and pool for Geysir (from which the phenomenon takes its name), was nearby as well. We drove a couple minutes past the parking lot and went for a quick soak in the roadside Kúalaug Hot Pool. It was the muddiest and perhaps coolest of all the hot pools we visited but still a worthwhile soak since it was so accessible.
Looking to further boost our lacking number of hot springs visited, we drove to Hrunalaug Hot Spring. Somewhat disappointingly this is now a paid site and was infested with American tourists. We had a chance to sample the waters in each of the three pools including the cozy "footbath" pool exiting the unique turf changing room. We enjoyed for a good long while, working hard to get our money's worth. Three different hot springs in a day: not too shabby. We ended the day at the nearby campground in Fluðir, another remarkably quiet and untouristy campground and a pleasant experience.
For our very last full day in Iceland we had a more relaxed agenda. I wanted to check out Thingvellir National Park, notable as the meeting place for all the Viking people's across the island (essentially their place of national origin), and perhaps more excitingly for me, an area of extensive fissures that the clearest place in the world where you can walk on a mid-ocean ridge between two plates (North American & Eurasian plates). The cold, wet weather and considerably more controlled nature of the place (paid parking, do not enter signs, etc.) dampened enthusiasm somewhat. We walked over to check out the Silfra fissure famous as a diving site for its clear waters (dull in the present light given as close at we were able to get), then the historic church, the council meeting place, the pool where they drowned women, and then looped back to the car. It was interesting enough. The interpretative sign were pretty well done with interesting references to specific places in some of the Icelandic sagas.
Onward, we finally had our first views of Reykjavik and stopped in at the uncrowded and surprisingly low key National Museum of Iceland. We saw some neat artifacts and there was some nice interpretative material, but perhaps unsurprisingly the bulk of the collection was very church-y. I guess this made sense with the long dominance of Christianity in the country and churches likely being the best built and most continually inhabited buildings, rare storehouses of treasures from the harsh Icelandic climate.
After our touch of exposure to Icelandic culture we decided to fork over for one of the uber touristy hot springs. We went with Sky Lagoon, a brand new venture at the end of a peninsula near Reykjavik. Their website and advertising were obnoxiously excessive selling it as an "experience" with different "packages" including options for a "seven-step ritual" and "private changing rooms". The pool looked nice and I had no doubt the water would be pleasant so I hoped I could stomach the rest. The parking lot was busy, no surprise. We did one final clean of the car and did some packing while we were at it. Like dirtbags that had been camping for two weeks we strolled into the dramatic entrance, an automatic sliding door, and the dimly lit lodge-spa surroundings. As we stepped into the back of the line we both looked at each other for a second: this place was ridiculous. When it was our turn we got the full spiel from the cashier-concierge and were on our way. They gave us each a wrist band which cleverly had a chip that would lock/unlock your own locker and also have all your credit card details embedded for bar purchases. We went through our respective lockers and met up on the other side, a subterranean passage with an opening into the blue waters of the pool. Fancy. We entered (yes perfect temperature, this will do just fine) and waded through the 3.5ft-ish deep waters into a cliff-lined passage that led out into the main pool area. Towards the right was a waterfall pouring into the pool, straight out was an infinity pool horizon with the ocean beyond, and to the left around the corner was the wade-up bar. For the size of the place it was not overly busy. All of the rocks surrounding the pool were fake but the most convincing fo-rocks I had ever seen with almost a geologists touch to mimic the local basaltic rocks. Happily all the wellness marketing crap seemed to fade away- pretty much everyone had a wine or beer in hand and were just enjoying a soak. It was interesting people watching I suppose. We stayed for a good long while, enjoying the occasional drizzle and stormy skies.
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| The pool entrance from the changing rooms |
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| Wade-up bar at distant center |
Reluctantly we left, nearing the end of the trip. We had tasty English-style fish and chips near Reykjavik Harbor, then drove on to the Happy Campers Campground (by far the least nice of our trip, but at least very close to our car dropoff and the airport). We did our final packing (managed to squeeze down to one checked bag each!) and had our final night in our roof tent. Bright and early (it's always bright early in the summer here...) we drove to sort out our car then got dropped at the airport. Our return travel was thankfully more straightforward than our outward travel.
We ended up having a fantastic trip and were generally very thankful that we were able to get away. It turned out our alternative Southwest vacation probably would have been a disaster due to an active monsoon season and major floods. We booked our trip to Iceland well before the announcement that COVID quarantine entry restrictions were being lifted the day before we arrived. According to the raft guides our visit might have coincided with one of the best stretches of weather in years. Almost everywhere we went we saw far fewer tourists than we were expecting and it was clear things were going to start ramping up. Our 4WD capable rental car with roof tent ended up being the perfect vehicle- easy, practical, economical, comfortable. We were able to be completely flexible and plan a night's campground stay on-the-fly with never any need for prior bookings. By the time we left Iceland it seemed to be greatly increasing in popularity with tourists and increased flights. Demand was so high that Heather found news articles saying that people were paying $13000 for a rental car for 12 days! COVID cases in Iceland were also on the rise after we left with new restrictions put back in place. It was the right time and place. Perhaps partially by our design we did not interact with a whole bunch of Icelanders or get a chance to dive too deep in their culture, but we covered a lot of ground and saw some truly spectacular geology. We got to see an erupting volcano, stand on the spreading center between two tectonic plates, paddle around two iceberg lagoons, packraft three whitewater rivers (including two likely first descents), drive through all manner of landscapes, see countless waterfall, camp in some interesting places, and bathe in nearly a dozen hot springs. There was still so much to do. I wish we could have stayed longer and I certainly have ideas of others things I would like to see and do if an opportunity for another trip ever came up. Below is my drone footage from our trip.
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