Everyone was surprised that the ride to Kirkjubæjarklaustur only took an hour.  We set up camp quickly, since we are now seasoned pros. The camp is in a beautiful meadow beside the town. Basaltic cliffs rise just north of the camp. A trail leads to the top. We had our standard peanut butter and jelly, Pringles, and anything else lunch and then boarded the bus and headed off to Lakigígar. 

I’ve not mentioned what our many hours in the bus are like as we travel through this magnificent country. Siggi is a great guy and puts up with the various group foibles and idiosyncrasies with a glowing smile on his face.  I sit behind Siggi and request the microphone, from whomever is sitting on the passenger side front seats, to comment on the geology and other things as we drive through.  The two people in the passenger front seats have the best view but also the greatest responsibilities: 1) they are the DJ’s.  I made the great move of mentioning that the bus would be CD compatible prior to the trip so we have a tremendous music selection, and 2) they have to watch out for the sheep guards.  In the U.S. these are called cattle guards but since there are so few cattle here, their species specificity changes.  When we cross one, the observer grabs the mike and says “sheep guard” and everyone, or nearly so, raises both hands.  I was introduced to this in 1996 by Brad Worley on the UNC field camp.  I introduced it to the Dutch group two months later.  I’ve heard that it has become tradition on the Dutch annual field trips since. 

The drive to Laki was over a rough but beautiful road.  Unfortunately, the cloud cover was low and when we arrived at Lakigígar, it was just above the lower of the two summits.  We climbed it anyhow.  The clouds lifted a little to reveal the higher summit.

The view to the southwest was moderately foggy but still spectacular looking down the axis of the 1783 rifting event.  Numerous cinder cones and spatter cones define the rift. I didn’t climb to the higher summit because I knew that the Vatnajökull wouldn’t be visible.  I did, however, wait until the fog blew off of the Lakigígar to the SW.  Lori stayed up high the longest and actually did see the Vatnajökull.  The rest of us got a view of the Myroalsjökull to the SW.

We returned to camp over the same road, stopping for a couple of photo-ops.  We could see the lower slopes of Hekla but the summit was in the clouds. It was the first time I had seen this famous, but usually cloud-covered volcano. It was there that the adventurers in "Journey to the Center of the Earth" made their descent.

I was on cook duty with Tyler and Elise so we cooked up the salmon, couscous, and a soup.  Nine people went to the local restaurant for a beer and ended up staying for dinner.  None of us regretted the extra portion of salmon. After dinner, many others migrated to the pub.  I was beat so I went to my tent.  I slept well, only awakening when the partiers returned. 
 

                Ecology      Environmental Studies    Mathematics