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.

Whirlwind Tour of North Iceland - Part 1

Locations: Akureri, Kalina Power Plant, Krafla Power Plant, Dimmuborgir, Goðafoss



















We recently took two days off work and combined them into an extra-long weekend to try and take in all the sights North Iceland had to offer. Our official cover for this operation was to visit two geothermal power plants in the north. Our company was even kind enough to provide us with a VIP guide for the plant tours.

Our main base for this excursion was Akureyri, which is Iceland's 2nd largest city with ~17,000 inhabitants. Its other claim to fame is its natural scenic beauty and great weather, both of which I have to agree with. Here is a pic of the town and area.
And another one at sunset.

Kalina and Krafla Geothermal Power Plants
It turns out the two geothermal plants we quite different, both in physical size and the specific technology used. I won't bore you with the details, but lets just say there is more than one way to make a geothermal plant. The smaller one was 2 MegaWatts (MW), and the other 60MW. This means they can power approximately 2,000 and 60,000 homes, respectively.

Here is the schematic of the smaller one. Even I got confused quickly when I stared at it.
And here is a view of the surrounding area outside of the larger plant. I have no idea what I was gesturing at, but the white plumes (not pollution - only water vapor, I promise) coming out of the ground give away the plant's location.
Here is a shot of the inside where the two main turbines are. Since this plant is 60MW, each turbine produces 30MW of electricity. Cool to know that each one of those blue structures can power 30,000 homes isn't it?
This particular plant also has some interesting history. As one might imagine, these plants are all located in some active geothermal areas, but in this case the source is a nearby volcano. This particular volcano decided to erupt shortly after the plant had been built, and in fact the engineer giving us our tour was working when it blew. He said it was "interesting" to watch free-flowing lava in person. The plant building was not seriously damaged, although at least one of the geothermal wells erupted with lava!

Here's a picture of the incident.
And another really impressive one. I had to lift this one off the internet (many thanks to the USGS).
Sure beats my average day at the office.

We also decided to embark on a hike around the area, which was interesting because a large portion of the landscape was a dried lava field. Here's a good shot of what I mean - notice the green on either side of the valley, which is all black?
Here's what the black looks like up close.
Despite its treacherous appearance, it is quite safe to walk around on these lava rocks. I even took a small one home as a souvenir.

Dimmuborgir
One of the places we stopped by is called "Dimmuborgir", which is Icelandic for Dark Castle. Located on a small road off the main highway, it has very unique terrain, even by Icelandic standards. Huge jagged boulders seem to randomly sprout out of the ground and together they form very tall structures. Here's a shot on top of a ridge when we first started our hike. If you look really hard, you can see people walking on a trail right in the middle of the photo. This gives a pretty good sense of scale.
Immediately I understood where the Dark Castle name comes from. Honestly, can't you imagine the bad guy from Lord of the Rings living here?
This next one was taken inside a cave named "The Church" because of its high ceiling and narrow entrance. I could almost conjure up images of a seance or exorcism being performed.
Maybe not my first location choice for a summer home, but at least you know where to find me if I end up ruling the world from an evil lair.

Goðafoss
As mentioned in an earlier post, this country has all kinds of amazing waterfalls just a few miles off of main roads. Goðafoss is one such example. Viking history tells of a local magistrate who threw all of his pagan statues into this fall when the country converted to Christianity around 1000 AD.
And this is what the center of the falls looks like.
Part 2 coming soon! Click here, here, and here to see more pics at these locations.

Next Stop - Iceland's Top Tourist Destination

Before I get started, I wanted to announce that a lot of extra pictures taken in Iceland (and many from my trip to Ghana) can be found here. Enjoy!

Location: Golden Circle (Geysir, Gulfoss, and Þingvellir)

One of the most popular tourist destinations of Iceland is a group of 3 spots within close proximity to each other which are collectively called "The Golden Circle." Located about 90 minutes away from Reykjavik, it is comprised of Geysir (same pronunciation as geyser, and is one of the few Icelandic words assimilated into English), Gulfoss, and Þingvellir. All 3 can be visited in a single afternoon, and they're easy to find because one only needs to follow the tour buses.

Geysir
Calling the area Geysir is actually a misnomer; technically it should be referred to as the Haukadalur geothermal area (which contains many geysers of various sizes). My guess is this was too difficult for tourists so they call the whole thing "Geysir" for simplicity. This probably used to make sense because Geysir is the name of what used to be the largest and most predictably erupting geyser. Unfortunately Geysir is no longer regularly active and just sits there, but the name remains. The current "star of the show" is Strokkur which erupts to a height of about 70 feet (20 meters) every 5-10 minutes. By comparison, Old Faithful in Yellowstone averages about 130 feet (40 meters) every 30-100 minutes. Geysir used to blow water as high as 260 feet (80 m); too bad I missed that show!

This is what the area looks like. FYI - this is a lot of tourists by Icelandic standards. The geyser in the photo is Strokkur (the current active one).
And here it is when it starts to erupt...
And it keeps going...
I was lucky to get a picture with it erupting. Many thanks to my photographer who was forced to remain poised for several minutes.

Gulfoss
This is one of the largest and most breathtaking waterfalls in the country. Here's a shot from up above looking down into the valley. Notice how small the people along the trail and the ridge on the left-hand side look.
The view if you turn around while coming down the trail. The previous picture was taken pretty close to where those people on the ledge are standing.
And this is what it looks like if you get a closer look at the falls.
More of the good stuff.
As usual, proof that I was actually there...
Þingvellir (pconounced Thing-vellir)
This is arguably the most important historic site in the country. Iceland likes to brag it houses one of the oldest parliaments in the world, and Þingvellir is where all the ancient people met annually starting in 930 AD. All kinds of disputes and duels were settled, and criminals were also punished. Supposedly there still exists a pool named Drekkingarhylur which is where female lawbreakers were drowned (I did not know about this until after and am unsure if I saw it).

As you might imagine, this place has all kinds of history. A couple of highlights: they declared themselves Christian in 1,000 AD, and celebrated their independence from Denmark in 1944. Here is a shot of the area.
And another.
Another cool fact about the area is that it visibly shows the reason why Iceland exists. What do I mean? As we all know, the nation is a tiny island alone in the Atlantic ocean. But beneath the country also sits two tectonic plates which are the source of all the geothermal, volcanoes, and earthquakes which characterize the country. Called the American and Eurasian, they are slowly pulling apart from each other at a pace of ~2 centimeters a year. As this happens, lava erupts up from the center of the Earth to form new rock and geologic formations. I like to think this is kind of like when you pull a pimple apart and stuff comes out.
NOTE: This is my pathetic attempt to explain a very important geologic process called "divergent boundaries". Please feel free to read a better (albeit less entertaining) explanation here.

So what does all this mean? Well, as I descended into the park I noticed large and abrupt rock cliffs on either side which turned out to be the two tectonic plates of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This is a common view. Sadly the plates are too far apart to do the "continental splits" (one foot in America and the other in Europe). Here's one of the plates (the American one I think).
Nothing like seeing geology first hand! Of course if this isn't your thing there are plenty of rivers in the vicinity as well.
Here's one I particularly liked. My camera couldn't capture it but there are coins at the bottom representing all kinds of currencies. Apparently this is a popular spot for people to make wishes.
Of course I'm smiling...I recently walked through two tectonic plates!

For extra pictures, click here, here, and here.