Whew! Sorry it's been so long since the last post. We were on the road a good bit the last couple days in Iceland, and then we hit the ground running once we got back to the States. We'll be finishing up our posts about Iceland, though.

We started our journey out from Höfn, and the landscape was spectacular on the southeast coast. Once we hit the eastern coast on Tuesday, we were basically out of the snow zone. The weather really hasn't been bad at all, but it is helpful when the roads don't have ice and you want to speed.  Iceland speed limits are very low compared to the U.S. - 90 kph (56 mph) is the highest you'll see. So when there's an open road...I just go. 😉

Vatnajökulsþjoðgarður
We made a stop at Vatnajökulsþjoðgarður, or Vatnajökull National Park, which is where Skaftafell is. This national park covers 13% of Iceland and is home to the largest glacier by volume in Europe (Vatnajökull). They were renovating many of the trails, but we really just wanted to go see Svartivoss, which was open. When we come back in the summertime, I have a feeling we'll spend some time here because it's very beautiful, and there is a lot to do.
We had to begin on the "challenging" trail and then get on the "easy" trail because of trail renovations. I'm not really sure why it was labeled "challenging" other than maybe because it was steep. The climb wasn't bad at all, and it allowed us to see an extra 3 waterfalls and a neat cottage with a homemade hydroelectric machine from 1925! While hiking along the river, we saw Þjódafoss (Thieves Falls), Hundafoss (Dog Falls), and Magnúsarfoss. These obviously weren't on the level that Svartifoss (later up the river), but I don't think we'll ever tire of seeing waterfalls, especially Justin.

Vatnajökull, the incredible glacier

cottage with homemade hydroelectric machine

Hundafoss

Svartifoss was absolutely worth the 1.4 km (0.9 mi) hike. Like Litlanesfoss, Svartivoss is surrounded by beautiful basaltic columns. These columns were formed when basaltic lava was rapidly cooled. Some of the columns curve at the top, evidence that the lava was still flowing when it was cooled. The thermal stress of the rapid temperature fluctuations in the hard basaltic lava (which contains iron) caused fractures in the weakest points. The weakest points were vertical and at 120 degree angles, which result in hexagonal-shaped columns. These shapes have inspired Icelandic architecture, such as the Reykjavik church Hallgrímskirkja.

Svartifoss

Dverghamrar
On our way to Vík, we came across Dverghamrar, which is a really neat rock formation. It's right over the hill along the road, so it's easily missed. Dverghamrar are beautiful rock formations, made from columnar basalt. Like the other waterfalls we've seen with columnar basalt, these strange columns are formed when the basalt lava flow is cooled. It is thought that the sea was higher at the time of the formation and caused the peculiar look on the surface of the rocks. The area is now a protected monument.

Dverghamrar

Hjörleifshöfði
Holy guacamole is the south and southeast coast beautiful. While on the road to Vïk, we also came across Hjörleifshöfði. From the Ring Road looking over the coast, an enormous promontory (definition: a point of high land that juts out into a large body of water; a headland) overwhelms the horizon line. Curious, we turned down the road to drive across the black gravel flats. The promontory was formed by a submarine eruption during the Ice Age. Hjörleifshöfði was a coastal headland until the 14th century, when the shore crept up due to glacial floods from Mount Katla. The promontory was once an island, but the water has since receded. It is named after first settler Ingólfur Arnarson's foster brother, who was killed by his slaves during their first year in Iceland. Though the ascent is not an easy one, it was inhabited up until this century. There is a very large cave facing the ocean, too.

Hjörleifshöfði

Vík

Vík is a beautiful little town with gorgeous black sand beaches, huge cliffs, and a spectacular rock formation right off the coast. We drove down to the beach, and it's so strange to see the black sand. It's the same consistency and tactile properties as the sand we know - the tannish/whitish sand. But it is black here, and it is beautiful. The waves were crashing into the coast with an unreal roar. It was so beautiful to watch the white foam sail across the black sand and then slowly disappear.

Vík's black sand beach

We headed up to the town's church, Vikurkirkja. Compared to some other ones we've seen, this church wasn't anything spectacular, but it definitely photographed well in the overcast light and gorgeous backgrounds.
We headed back down to the beach to walk out on a rock pier and get closer shots of the rock formations off the cliff, Reynisdrangar. Reynisdrangar is a provocative rock formation of basalt sea stacks. Legend states that the stacks were formed when two trolls dragged a 3-masted ship to land. When daylight broke while they were still struggling with the ship, the trolls became the stacks of rock we see today.

Reynisdrangar

Skógafoss is literally right off the Ring Road, and you can see its glory while driving by. We stopped to see it right at sunset, which meant we got some pretty sunset shots. The waterfall drops over rock cliffs that used to be the coastline. The coastline is now about 5 km (3.1 mi) away. Skógafoss is one of the biggest waterfalls in Iceland, at a width of 25 m (82 ft) and a height of 60 m (200 ft). Since there is so much spray from the waterfall, visitors often see a single or double rainbow.

Skógafoss

Seljaland

After quickly looking at scheduling and travel times, we decided we wanted to get to Seljaland to camp for the night. The benefit was getting closer to Reykjavik for our last site-seeing day AND waking up to a beautiful waterfall. Seljalandsfoss is maybe 1 km off the road and has its own campsite. We noticed that it also had two spotlights shining on it. This is the first waterfall we found with lighting at night. It was very pretty with the spotlights, and it was nice to fall asleep to the sound of it. But it wasn't nearly as exciting as waking up to go visit it!