Just Keep on Walking

May 30th, 2016

   How is it our last full day in Iceland? Where did the time go? We have headed back to Reykjavik to catch our flight home tomorrow morning. 

   We spent the last two days in Skógar. When we arrived on May 28th after making a stop at Reynisfjara, the uniquely beautiful basaltic column cliffs and caves on a black beach with sea stacks of the coast. We stayed at a quaint little hostel nestled into the foot of the Skógafoss waterfall. I thought it would be a chilled travel day. I was wrong. What I believe would be a nice hike to see a waterfall ended up being a four hour hike that began with 527 steps up the cliff. Needless to say, after two previous days of hikes, I thought my legs were done. Boy did I realize how out of shape I was. I can say that the scenery was completely worth it. I have never felt more like I was transported to another world (more specifically Middle Earth). There were waterfalls, snow caps, cliff, valleys, it was wonderful. 

   On May 29th, we woke up early and headed out to Vestmannaeyjar Islands. We made a pit stop at the Selijalandsfoss waterfall first. It was so fun because we were able to walk behind it and see through the waterfall! What an experience. It was cloudy out but I heard that on sunny days, when the sun hits the water, you can see a rainbow. 

   We left the Landeyjahofn harbor at 9 am for the islands. The ferry ride was about 30 minutes. The view was lovely. When arriving I was awe struck, for the millionth time. This island, Heimaey , is home to about 5,000 people. In 1973 the volcano Eldfell erupted on this island. It added 20% more mass to the island and destroyed 417 homes. People did not know if the island would be inhabited again or if the fishing harbor would be closed by the lava flow. Teams of people worked tirelessly on the island to try and save it until the eruption ended five months later. Cold sea water was sprayed on the flows to redirect flow from the harbor. In the end, everything was ok on the island and things have returned back to normal, though 1/3 of the original inhabitants never returned to the island. 

    When I learned our plans for the day, I didn't think I was going to make it. We had two hikes planned. The first hike was up a mountain. And when I say up I mean vertically up. It was the scariest hike I have ever done. We had to climb ladders, use ropes, traversed across a cliff. The nerves got to me. And to top it off my legs were already shakey from being sore. But. I made it. (Though the sheep showed me up). The view from the top was unbelievable. It was a 360 view of the island. We could see the town and the volcanoes and even the glacier on the main land. It was one of the most incredible views of my life. We were able to sit (probably in sheep poop) and enjoy lunch on top before hiking back down. Ranson gave us a lecture on the area and not gonna lie it got a bit emotional. We are leaving soon and the view was moving.

    Our second hike (I'm still amazed my legs were moving) was to the top of Eldfell. I cannot say which hike I enjoyed more. We began this hike wandering through fields of purple flowers that grew over the lava flows that had buried homes. The contrast between color and nature, growth and destruction were beautiful. The colors kept expanding as we kept hiking. We walked over the browns, reds, oranges and yellows of the volcanic rocks past the greens of the fields, the purples of the flowers, the white if the town, and the blue of the ocean. Breath taking. Even cooler, once on top of the volcano, hot gasses were rising up from the lava rocks. We were literally feeling the heat of the volcano. It was an incredible feeling. Suresh was even hearing his French fries in a geothermal vent, gotta love it.

    After a lovely dinner, we took the 9 pm ferry back to the main land. As we were sailing out of the harbor, I stood on top of the deck watching the island retreat from view. With the sun setting, it was magical.