Iceland pt. 3
We woke up the next morning to a fog covered landscape. Our first stop was Godafoss. While relatively short, the falls are in the shape of an amphitheater and you can hike down to water level. We skipped Detifoss to due icy road conditions and continued on towards Akureyri. We sampled our first (and only) thermal pool at Akureyri’s Forrest Lagoon. I didn’t take any pictures there, but it was cozy, stylish, and uncrowded. You could jump into a cold plunge, sauna, and a hotter pool all while sipping on a beer. Highly recommend. Making our way west, we stopped by Reykjafoss. Yup, still not tired of seeing new waterfalls. This waterfall has a special surprise behind it, a natural hot spring!
Campsites get pretty sparse in the North/West after September. We found one with a large indoor common area and kitchen to hide from the wind and rain. Unfortunately, the wind and rain would stick around for another day. We checked out the iconic Kirkjufell on the Snaefellsnes peninsula. Had it been less windy, we would’ve explored a lot more, but my face was wind-burnt. We’ll leave the rest of the West Fjords for another trip. Dynjandi is calling. Made the long drive back toward Reykjavik and drove underwater in a crazy long tunnel. The skies cleared up near the city and the aurora forecast was looking very promising. We ended up camping at Mosskogar Camping, a cash-only site, near the Golden Circle. We enjoyed the first night so much that we decided to stay another day. Reserved parking stalls, showers, and a decent indoor cooking area with tons of free food left by departing visitors. We scouted a waterfall featured in the Game of Thrones, hoping the aurora would be strong enough to cover the entire sky and hopefully dance over the falls. While the aurora was the strongest we’ve seen, it only covered 75% of the sky. Yeah, everywhere except over the falls.
We spent our last couple of days exploring parts of the Reykjanes peninsula and the Reykjavik city center. A lava flow cut off Grindavik so I couldn’t search the coast for waves. And a couple weeks after we left, another lava flow threatened to destroy the Blue Lagoon. It’s pretty crazy how volcanically active it is in Iceland. In the capital city, we finally ate our first restaurant meal of the trip. I think I would rather eat our camp food. There’s something about eating outdoors or somewhere “wild” that makes food taste better. Also, eat the Icelandic hotdogs at a gas station instead of the hotdog stand in town.
This Iceland trip lived up to the country’s hype. Thousands of waterfalls, epic glaciers, and colorful night skies. I definitely want to come back in the future because there is so much more to see. Traveling the Ring Road, you only scratch the surface of what this amazing country has to offer. Stay wild Iceland!
