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JR's Journal Egilsstaðir to Skaftafell
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| We had a laid back morning in camp, mainly because we needed to wait
for the bank to open. We got lots of free ice from the nearby Esso
station, wrote post cards, and did some last minute shopping. Siggi
and I looked over the map. In 1996, we took an inland route but I
asked if we could take the road through the eastern fjords. It later
became obvious that he had been planning that route all along.
We took the road over to Reyðarfjörður and stopped at the water’s edge when we reached sea level. Once again the steep sides of the valleys were striped with waterfalls. The sky was relatively clear and it was almost warm except for the slight breeze coming off of the fjord. Our major concern for the day was that we were running low on propane for cooking so we began stopping at every store and gas station we saw. We were unsuccessful throughout the day. Our first attempts were in Fáskrúðsfjördur. We also stopped on Stöðarfjöður at Petru, the home of a man who had hiked all over Iceland and picked up thousands of interesting rocks and minerals, all of which are on display in the house and gardens. There are some really nice specimens. We continued along the fjords following them in and out of the mountains. At one point, on Berufjörður, we stopped for photos and found the road gravel loaded with zeolites. Students picked up nice specimens of apophyllite, natrolite, and stilbite as well as chalcedony and jasper! We then crossed the spit at Breiðalsvík. A later photo stop was high on a sea cliff as we rounded Eystrahorn. The weather was clearing so we had good views in all directions. The cliffs and the beaches below made good backdrops for many photos. We passed by Stafafell where I camped in 1996. The view of the Vestrahorn Mountains was fantastic, beneath fairly clear skies. We descended into Höfn and looked for gas at three places without luck. By this time we started seeing the valley glaciers descending off of the Vatnajökull ice cap. It was already past 7:00 so we didn’t have time to stop and look at the glaciers. We got our chance, however, at Jökulsaron, the iceberg lake. We all took the boat ride back through the icebergs for 1700 K each. It was a fun experience but doesn’t compare to the Lago Argentino in Patagonia. The boat staff gave us some glacial ice for our coolers. After the boat ride, Brian and Garrett made spectacles of themselves by going swimming in the lake with icebergs in the background. Several seals also swam in the lake. The trip from the lake to Skaftafell took about an hour. We arrived around 9:30 and set up camp and started cooking. I was in the cook tent when someone said that the sunset was glowing on the glaciers of Oræfell. It was especially impressive to me because the clouds were too low to see the mountain in 1996. Dinner wasn’t over until 11:30. Everyone retired soon after.
I’m sorry that both times I’ve been to Iceland there hasn’t been more time
to explore the southeastern part of the country. I'll have to come back.
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Division of Environmental Studies, Mathematics, and Natural Sciences |