Day Four: Glaciers!
My sister and I decided to wake up at 5:30 a.m. to see the Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon that we didn't visit the day before because of poor weather and lack of time. The plan was to wake up and evaluate the weather, and I was half hoping that it would be raining because I was kind of exhausted...Having it be light for so many hours just encourages my night owl tendencies! It has been good though so Mom doesn't get so stressed about needing to rush to fit in everything.
It was overcast but clear.
The canyon was only about a 15 minute drive from Kirkjubaejarklaustur where we were staying. The hike was short. It goes along the canyon top, although signs said you could hike in the canyon waters. Sounds cold! If we hadn't stopped for so many photos, the walk was probably only a half hour or so. The Fjaðrá river flows through the canyon, which is 100 meters deep and about 2 kilometers long. I'm sure it's more stunning on a sunny day, but it was quite pretty and peaceful. I'm glad we went.
After rejoining everyone for breakfast, we all headed to Skaftafell, which is a group of glaciers and mountains in Vatnajökull National Park and walked out to the Skaftafell glacier (Skaftafelljökull). Jökull means glacier in Icelandic, foss means waterfall, takk means thank you. That's the the extent of my Icelandic!
After that glacier, we headed to the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. As we rounded the corner on the road to the glacier lagoon, there was a collective "wow!" from everyone in the van. It was really impressive! The glacier lagoon sits at the head of the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier. I'm not a scientist but it seemed to me that the amount of icebergs floating in the lagoon has increased as the glacier recedes.
Pieces of the iceberg then floated under the bridge and during low tide are deposited on Diamond Beach. It was a bit like seeing an army of beached whales on shore, and it made me sad to see everyone (including us!) standing and posing on the washed up icebergs.
Our final glacier stop was Fjallsárlón, an iceberg lagoon at the south end of the Vatnajökull glacier. It's much more peaceful than the other glacier lagoon because you have to walk a little instead of just driving right up, and the icebergs are smaller.
It was overcast but clear.
The canyon was only about a 15 minute drive from Kirkjubaejarklaustur where we were staying. The hike was short. It goes along the canyon top, although signs said you could hike in the canyon waters. Sounds cold! If we hadn't stopped for so many photos, the walk was probably only a half hour or so. The Fjaðrá river flows through the canyon, which is 100 meters deep and about 2 kilometers long. I'm sure it's more stunning on a sunny day, but it was quite pretty and peaceful. I'm glad we went.
After that glacier, we headed to the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. As we rounded the corner on the road to the glacier lagoon, there was a collective "wow!" from everyone in the van. It was really impressive! The glacier lagoon sits at the head of the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier. I'm not a scientist but it seemed to me that the amount of icebergs floating in the lagoon has increased as the glacier recedes.
Pieces of the iceberg then floated under the bridge and during low tide are deposited on Diamond Beach. It was a bit like seeing an army of beached whales on shore, and it made me sad to see everyone (including us!) standing and posing on the washed up icebergs.
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