Peril and Luxury

I’m now in France, but you’ll have more on that later. Allow me first to wrap up my Icelandic adventures.

I’ve decided that Iceland was very good for Lent – it made me think frequently on death.

On the myriad of ways Iceland can kill you:

So far I believe we’ve covered violent turbulence, freezing, volcanic eruptions (which happen about once every five years) from one of the 30 active volcanoes on the island, murderous axe-wielding farmers, being crushed in a tunnel beneath the fjords, AT-AT’s and Wampas, and unpredictable waves that will snatch you off the beaches and dash you against the cliffs or suck you out into the freezing rocky sea. The last of which, apparently, make Iceland ideal for surfers, especially in winter. I’m a bit skeptical about that last bit of information, or least about the part that surfers travel here in the winter. Now, I’m only going off of surf movies, but I think the warm white sand beaches of Hawaii or Puerto Rico seem a bit more attractive.

All this on an island the size of Kentucky. Fun fact, in 1963 an underwater volcano erupted and formed a new island off the coast. I’m curious about how it automatically became a part of Iceland and someone else didn’t decide to claim the new land. My best guess is no one wanted it. See the previous paragraph for reasons why. It’s called Surtsey, look it up, especially you, Cam – the scientific opportunity for studying the burgeoning life on the island is quite fascinating.

My day exploring the jewel of Icelandic tourism, the Golden Circle, added more to my ongoing list. First I stopped at Álafoss, really wanting an Icelandic wool hat. Itchy as all get out. Hard pass there for the tactilely sensitive like myself. Although there was this amazing pair of sheepskin slippers…but there’s that thing about the absurd expensiveness of Iceland. So after days of anticipation I walked away hatless, my Colder Boulder hat will do just fine. After that off to Þingvellir National Park. February in the vast white iciness. The lake was frozen and everything was dead. Not ideal for hiking. I left it behind without a second thought. Thus far, a relatively safe Icelandic day. I don't think I've had the chance to mention it before, but all along the road you can see herds of the prized Icelandic horses.

Then came Geysir. It is, as you may have guessed, a geyser. There are three in a very small area. Litli, which is tiny, the Great Geyser, which is unpredictable and irregular, and finally Strokkur, which goes off frequently. Five times in the twenty minutes I was there. In the freezing cold and snow, there was a group of tourists huddling around a mud pit with a large puddle of boiling water waiting for it to explode. My favorite part is right before it geysers (yes that’s the appropriate verb), you can see a large bubble emerging from the depths of the boiling pool, but it is this clear clean bright pure chill blue. I hung around for 20 minutes on the freezing snowy mountain just for that. In addition, there are steam vents dotting the landscape – cracks in the earth spewing forth scalding steam and leaking boiling water. Skip forward to Hveragerði, a town hit by one of the island’s frequent earthquakes in ’08. It ripped open steam vents all over the place. Driving around the valley you can see columns of steam rising throughout the town. Due to the earthquake, it is now an ideal tourist destination for hot spring bathing, boiling eggs in a stream, and baking bread over a crack in the earth. Oh Iceland, you certainly know how to bounce back from and capitalize on tragedy and natural disasters.

After Geysir came Gulfoss, the Golden Falls, the largest waterfall in Europe. I’m not currently up to the challenge of capturing its magnitude, power, and beauty in words. Though I say the least about it, it was the most awe-inspiring stop of the entire trip. 

Kerið was next, a volcanic caldera that’s still intact and you can walk down into around the lake. Again, it was too icy for my lack of crampons. Besides the cool-factor of being in a caldera, it was rather underwhelming following the magnificence of Gulfoss. Later in the night, I went hunting the northern lights. I did not find them. Spoiler, it was too cloudy too see them the whole trip. It’s okay, I retain the perfect memory of lying in a canoe somewhere between the US and Canada and watching them amidst the Perseids.

Lesson for the day: don't trip and fall in Iceland, you might end up in scalding steam, boiling water, or being crushed and thrown into a gorge.

The next day was my day for exploring Reykjavík itself. Nice little downtown, but it was 33 and raining. Bad day for being out and about, give me 32 and snow any day. As such my explorations consisted of mass at the Cathedral and two coffee shops. I was very happy for the familiar Latin mass parts, because the only others words I understood the whole mass were Jesus and November. The top-rated Reykjavík Roasters was disappointing, a rather sour roast. But the Micro Roast downtown served a nice chai.

On Monday I went to Reykjanes geo-park and walked the bridge between the continents. The Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet in Iceland, and in Reykjanes there is a large crack in the rocks from their continued drifts and you can stand in it and cross the bridge over it. Much more interestingly, in Þingvellir you can actually scuba dive/snorkel down in the fissure between the plates. I want to do that. 

And lastly and certainly not least was the Blue Lagoon. It is a tourist trap? Definitely. Was it worth it? Heck yes. Did I pay an extra 16 bucks for a bathrobe, flip flops, and an algae face mask? Happily. Sure, there is plethora of available hot springs without the exorbitant pricing and horde of tourists, but honestly it's tough to be dissatisfied floating in naturally warm waters with steam rising rising around you sipping prosecco at sunrise. I took no pictures, but this is really what it looks like. A natural phenomenon, it is quite intriguing, again I encourage you to look it up. It is, after all, one of Nat Geo’s 25 wonders of the world. Brief overview – large geothermal pool of milky blue water with large deposits of silica. Basically an entrancing small-lake-sized natural hot tub in volcanic rock the water of which replenishes itself every 40 hours. Despite my asthmatic-induced fear/dislike of steam rooms, when there’s one that looks like a hobbit hole, you go in. You just do. Oh, and standing under a hot waterfall with the pressure of cascading water massaging out the knots from over 20 hours of driving was the perfect way to end the week.

Iceland is known as the land of fire and ice (very original, Martin) and is a place of harsh beauty. I’d very much like to go back there someday, or rather some summer. I definitely recommend it, especially for my beloved geology nerds.

The Brevity Report:

• Þingvellir National Park
• Strokkur Geyser
• Gulfoss, largest waterfall in Europe
• Kerið volcanic crater
• Hveragerði, town with high concentration of steam vents
• Reykjavík: cathedral and coffee shops
• Reykjanes Geopark: bridge between the continents
• Blue Lagoon