Whirlwind Tour of North Iceland - Part 2

Locations: Hverfell, Lake Mývatn, Grjótagjá, Jökulsárgljúfur National Park



















Grjótagjá
This place is really cool because it saddles Iceland's two tectonic plates (similar to Þingvellir in a previous post), except here you can peer down into the Earth.

Notice how small the people look - it's a long way down.
And in case you were wondering I was all set to jump across, but at the last minute I couldn't find anyone to sing the Indiana Jones theme song for me.

There are also some caves nearby built into the rocks; here's the entrance to one.
Once inside, the ceilings were quite low and there was a large hot spring. I'm told this used to be a popular place to go swimming but when Krafla volcano erupted in the 70s (the one right next to the geothermal plant in the last post) made the water way too hot. It's been slowly returning to normal and is currently right around 120 degrees.
I of course stuck my hand in it like an idiot, which is exactly what they tell you NOT to do.

Hverfell
There is a crater very near Dimmuborgir "Dark Castle" (see the previous post) which provides a terrific view of the area. I'm told the top is ~600 feet up, which sounds right because it was a nice little hike to the top.

This is the view looking inside.
And one looking out from the crater's rim.

Lake Mývatn
One of our main destinations for the entire trip was this lake. It's supposed to be one of the country's most beautiful and is also a very popular weekend getaway spot. Apparently Mývatn translates to "mosquito lake" because there can be "clouds of them" at certain times of the year. At first I thought my coworkers were just pulling my leg, but then I looked into it more and apparently it's true.

The best picture I found on the internet is from user JimBobTx on Flickr. Many thanks if you're reading this JimBob.
This looks like something out of a Stephen King movie to me. My experience was much more pleasurable since I didn't see a single mosquito while I was there.

Just by luck, one of our coworkers was also staying for the weekend at his summer house in the area, and he offered to let us ride his horses. I should mention that Icelandic horses are naturally smaller, but you shouldn't call them ponies because it offends them!
The horses here also have a distinctive way of running (called gaits) which I will not even attempt to explain. If you want to know more you can follow this link. Whatever they are doing, I found it to be a very smooth ride even at fast speeds.

I'm not sure how safe it was to take these but here is one of my "horse cam" pictures.
Our new friends led them into the lake after we were done in an attempt to clean them, and the first thing the horses did when we got back was to roll around in the dirt! It was a really funny sight.
They also let us get back on after they were unsaddled. This feat required a big jump and a bit of luck that the horse didn't move. Once on, there isn't much one can do for control without reigns, but apparently you can get a little bit of steering capability out of pulling its hair. Here I am demonstrating such a move, although I'm not sure I would want to try while in motion.

Jökulsárgljúfur National Park
I tried to pronounce this to one of my coworkers but the look I received has convinced me to never try again. Despite its confusing name, it is quite a gorgeous area.

It has especially memorable and distinctive cliffs. After a short walk from the car we came to a place called Asbyrgi where the cliffs and valley make a horseshoe shape. It's hard to make it out up close, but you can see how it all starts to curve around in the picture below.
Another one taken with me from the same spot. You can see I either got fairly sunburned from the day before or decided to hit the bottle really early. I'll let you decide.
We were able to partially hike/climb up the side of one of the cliffs to get a better shot of the canyon.
Well worth the effort. This last one shows how extremely vertical the cliffs are.
Anyone feel like climbing?!?


And there's still enough additional stories to necessitate a part 3, so stay tuned. If you want to see more, try here, and here.