Day Three: Skogarfoss, a plane wreck, and black sand beaches

This is definitely the waterfall section of our trip! Even from the car, we can see waterfalls dotting the green hills. You could stop by and wonder at any of these, but we only have time to visit the bigger ones. We started the day at Skogafoss. As usual, the sun peeked every now and then from between the clouds. When it was sunny, it was hot, but when the sun was covered by clouds, it was chilly. It makes dressing kind of difficult...

From the top of Skogafoss, you can hike up the little path and get a view down. This is a preview of my final destination of my hike in a week and half. I'm sure I'll be very happy to see this waterfall again! 

We got back on the road and saw a big parking lot with quite a few cars parked. Stopped cars usually means there is something to see (that was how I spotted wildlife in Yellowstone!). The GPS told us it was a "black sand beach" so we pulled in. It looked like the beach was only several hundred yards away. But as we started walking, it seemed like the beach got further and further away. We walked and walked. The tricks your eyes play on you when there's no perspective and the trail is flat and straight! We finally got to the beach, and it wasn't just a beach, it turns out we had arrived at the Sólheimasandur plane wreck. There was no sign anywhere in the parking lot, maybe because a lot of Iceland's touristic sights are on private land perhaps, so it was a bit of a surprise. And I had told my friend Jenna who had just come back from Iceland that I wasn't interested in seeing the plane wreck! The backstory is that in 1973 a United States Navy DC plane ran out of fuel and crashed on the black beach at Sólheimasandur. Fortunately, everyone in the plane survived. We clambered on the wreck, snapped some photos and headed back to the car. The distance felt so long! I just did a half marathon, and it felt longer than the last 3 miles! It turns out the mileage is 2.4 miles each way. In retrospect, we would have probably skipped it given how long it took. 

On the road again. We stopped  by some Icelandic horses who seemed disappointed that we didn't have any treats, but obliged us by letting us pet them. Throughout the trip, I've noticed how happy these horses seem. Maybe they're just happy it's not winter anymore, haha.

Then the weather turned. By the time we got to Dyrhólaey, where there are black sand beaches and bird rookery, it was really windy. It must have been 40 miles per hour winds because it was hard to walk.

These photos are not black and white photos, it just looked like this in color because of the clouds and the color of the sand!

It was hard to believe that it could get windier, but it did, and then it started raining and hailing. That did not deter us and we stopped at Reynisfjara, a black sand beach famous for its basalt columns that provide a beach backdrop. It looks like a beach version of the Devil's Postpile National Monument in Califrornia. We were pretty soggy by the time we made it to our tranquil guesthouse in a beautiful green valley near a town with a very long name, like all other Icelandic names it seems, that starts with a K. This day, it became very clear to me why it's so green in Iceland!