Frozen Fosses

From Borgarfjord, it was time to start heading west. I took the scenic route to Lake Myvatn, stopping first at Dettifoss. Dettifoss, is not the biggest or tallest waterfall in Iceland but apparently it is the largest in terms of the volume of water posing over it per year. Just beyond Dettifoss, is Selfoss. If Dettifoss was a large fist, Selfoss, were its delicate, unclenched fingers. The only real disappointment was the non stop rain that prevented any rainbows from peaking out from the mist.

From Dettifoss, I continued north along a bumpy, gravel road to the coast. The drive along the coast was beautiful, one cliff after another drawing down to the sea. I stopped for a while in Husavik, the whale watching capitol of Iceland. I briefly contemplated jumping on one of the whale tours, but the thought of being out at sea in a small boat in the rain just didn't seem worth it.

The following morning I had booked a tour to the Lofthellir cave. When I woke and saw the rain was really coming down, I was happy that the cave would protect me from the rain. Unfortunately, I did not anticipate a fifteen minute walk over lava fields to get there. Once we arrived, we switched it off our shores into the rubber boots (equipped with metal studs to cling to the ice) they provide and headed into the cave. During the tour, we climbed icy slopes, slid down ice slides on our butts, repelled/slid on our sides, etc., to make our way from chamber to chamber of the cave. And we were rewarded for this hard work by amazing ice sculptures. By the time we saw one sculpture, named the Frozen Foss, I realized that there were in fact two frozen Fosses. My thin gloves were soaked from clinging to the ice and I was desperately wishing I had worn another layer. Fortunately our time in the cave was coming to an end before I lost any fingers out toes.

I took a short break after the tour to warn up (and add a layer) before heading out again to Dimmuborgir. This is another lava field, but unlike most, relatively flat fields, in this one the lava shot straight up in spots and froze. Walking through the park, it felt like the walls were really angry trolls starting down at me. Maybe they only looked angry because of the terrible weather, but it was a bit disconcerting.

My next stop was to the Myvatn Nature Baths. This is often called the Blue Lagoon of the North. In my opinion, it was a perfect way to return one frozen Foss back to a nice warm Foss after time spent in the cave and Dimmuborgir.

For dinner, I went to the Volcano Cowshed. I sat looking out the window at an actual cowshed. In fact, if you go at the right time, you can even watch them being milked and taste their fresh offerings. I did not go at the right time. But I did feel a little guilty eating a hamburger (it was quite good) while looking out at the cows. It felt a little like I was at `The Restaurant at the End of the Universe'.