Iceland- Day 5 - In Which Our Hero Hikes on Ice


Day 5 - October 1

After the longest off and on slumber of my life, I woke up 2 hours before my alarm. I took a shower and the sulfuric smell was stronger than before. It smelled like I was sniffing the air coming up from a pot of boiling eggs. Eggs are considered a breakfast food, so I guess it fits the morning.

I walked out to the sidewalk a bit too early and waited for my ride. Thankfully, the weather was fine. Nothing I haven't experienced on the coldest winter nights at home. When I gog on the tour bus, I noticed that leg room is just NOT something they have much of, in Icelandic. That's odd, since Icelandair has wonderful leg room in their basic seats.

I dealt with it.  Our first stop was to see the Skógafoss waterfall. It created the most perfect rainbow I've ever seen. Usually rainbows are just kinda cool, but this one was magical. It fits since there's a legend that a man threw all his gold in the falls.

After that, we made our way to Katla. We got off the tour bus and got on a super jeep. The tour bus isn't suited for the terrain we were headed to. Black sand fields and hills, all over. We went down some rather steep hills and through some very bumpy terrain. We arrived at our destination and put on helmets and crampons. Without my trekking poles, I wouldn't have survived this trek. We walked across black sand, streams of glacier water, and ice. Before us stood a glacier that looked to be as much ash as it was ice. Our goal was to walk inside of it.

The cave from the tourist photos recently collapsed, so we had to go to a much smaller one. It was still marvelous to stand inside of a glacier, though. Most importantly: I needed water and I had access to the freshest water you can get. I was exhausted and a man assisted me in helping me dip my water bottle into the stream that came from the glacier. Further down the stream, the water would gather too much soot, but I got it fresh from the glacier. Imagine the most refreshing, fresh water you've ever had. Chances are, it doesn't hold a candle to this water. It wasn't just my desperation for water that made it great. It was so amazingly fresh!

We left the cave and went to see, from a distance, the cave that collapsed. Frankly, I don't know if I'd  have made the trek to that cave if it hadn't collapsed. It looked to be a bit more intense of a walk. I could be wrong, though.
We left and changed back to the tour bus. We went to our last stop, which is the seljalandsfoss waterfall. I could have walked behind it and made my favorite Jungle Cruise joke, but I just didn't want to get wet. Can you blame me? I mean, I'm quite little disappointed in myself for not going to see the backside of water but oh well. There are places to do that in the US, and I won't have to do them after an exhausting hike.

After a long ride, I finally arrived back in my guesthouse. I had fun, but it's great to be back to my temporary home. I've grown quite fond of this little room.

- Lance J. M.

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