mánudagur, 16 júlí 2007

Today was our first hike, to Kristínartíndar. It was hard to tell what the weather would do as it was cloudy and a little nippy in the campground, so we all layered up, filled water bottles, grabbed some snacks, and headed out. We could now see part of the Skaftafell glacier that falls from Vatnajökull– pretty amazing to think of all the water held in one place by mere cold temperature. Not that glaciers are inert – quite the opposite – but that’s tomorrow’s tale.


Up we went where we encountered a female ptarmigan and several chicks, all decked out in their woodsy plumage. This is where Valdí told us an old Icelandic joke – “What do you do if you’re lost in Iceland? Stand up!” ‘Tis true, not many big trees around, but quite a few hills, ravines, and oh look, yet another gorgeous waterfall! We would return to the first one, Svartifoss, at the end of the hike.

Soon we were at a glacial overlook where we could see the interaction of the snout of the glaciers with the land. Sometimes they melted into small lakes, some turned to streams of various sizes, some just receded. But they were all moving at their own glacial pace, leaving traces of earlier eruptions and picking up new debris.

Unfortunately, there was still enough fog to block some of the distant views, but just walking over different types of rocks, seeing the flowers that bloom at different elevations, and having brief conversations with my fellow hikers was great. We came to an overlook with a nice drop-off and Valdí inadvertently struck a pose that we gave him interminable grief about for the rest of his time with us.

We hiked to a little place by a creek for lunch and I drank right from the stream – the water was refreshingly crisp and in endless supply! Just the right thing for what would turn out to be about a 20 km hike with 1,300 m elevation gain. Off again to tackle this hill that was still shrouded in many places with fog. Finally we broke through this fog level to catch our first glimpse of Hvannadalshnúkur, the highest peak in Iceland at 2,119 m and have a clear view of part of the massive icecap. WOW! At this pass we turned to go up a very steep scree slope to head to the top of Kristínartíndar. Halfway up, though, Valdí made sure we all turned the right direction (it was a bit of a drop the other way…) After a bit of a scramble and walk along a pretty narrow edge, we found ourselves at the top with amazing views of the surrounding mountains and the icecap. Time to break out the chocolate-covered raisins, dried fruit, peanuts, cookies, and water! On the way down I heard a clattering like what I would expect of a scree rockslide - but then again not quite loud enough – and it turned out to be Valdí scree-surfing down this hill. Looked like fun, but I stuck to my steady downhill pace.

Les Invalides with summit of Hvannadalshnúkur in background

("Superman" and Sólla - who may as well be Supergirl - photo courtesy of Simon K. Leung)

The group on the top!

The route back to the campground was just as varied a landscape as the way up. Across hills that were shaped with rolling layers of moss-covered lava, a few overlooks of the valley that would be tomorrow’s hike for some folks, a kilometer+ of 4’ tall bilberry bushes in a prairie setting, we met at the directional sundial (“Greetings and salutations!” exclaimed Simon) and then headed off to Svartifoss. Svartifoss is flanked by slender dark basalt hexagonal columns – the word “fluted” comes to mind, as it is quite elegant a waterfall. Cow parsley, forget-me-nots, and campanula were abundant along this last bit of the hike. Pasta for dinner, a very precious 4 minute hot shower, last-minute stretches before retiring in daylight at 23.30 under the glowing summit of Hvannadalshnúkur.

Oh! We were lucky enough to meet Valdí’s family (and Mikki!) I had a good chat in baby Íslensku with Snæbjörn. OK, that may be giving me too much language credit… Best of luck to them on their latest adventure!