Sunday, August 6, 2023
It rained during the night and the tent is wet. But we are lucky because it’s dry as we get up. The little flies are extremely active though, and really try to get into your nose and ears. Strange enough they don’t go inside the car or tent. Didi thinks they might sens if there is open air above them.
Breakfast is in the big common tent. It’s full of Dutch. Just based on my observations over the years, I believe the Dutch must be some of the most active travelers in the world. A Dutch girl joins us at the table. She is traveling alone with her own car she shipped from Holland (€1600 round trip). From Danmark actually. She has been in India, Nepal, Japan… and I guess she is maybe 30 or 35 years old.
After breakfast we go to the Namaskard geothermal area which is 15 minutes away.
Clouds of steam show us where it is. We park and as we get out we smell the bad odor of the sulphur oxydes. Rotten eggs.
The landscape is lunar. Not even grass. This is due to the heat beneath the earth, the acidity in the soil, and poisonous fumes being expelled.
White smooth surfaces, even uphill into rather steep mountains. But in some places there are vivid colors, mostly yellow, but sometimes red. And in quite a few the so il is shaped as a mini volcano, and from the top comes steam. Sometimes nothing, sometimes a bit, and sometimes a lot. And accompanied by a blowing sound. Downwind the smell can be insupportable.
In other places there are pits ranging from the size of a frying pan to a hole deep enough to swallow a small car.
And in the bottom of those holes is boiling mud. In fact, I think that it may not be boiling, but steam is flowing in from below and burst out like blowing bubbels, splashing mud against the inside of the pits.
Ropes indicate where to walk, because the ground is soft in some places.
We take a long walk up the mountain separating to geothermal fields. Higher up the slope the flies are less and the wind is colder. But the view is far and wide, with the areas with fumaroles and boiling mud clearly visible. Tourists seem like ants in the white plane below.
We return to the campground for lunch and then drive to the Krafla volcano. It’s dormant and has a crater lake. A short path leads to the rim of the crater and we take some pictures of the blue water below.
Then we go for a walk in the volcanic area nearby. It’s a rough terrain. In the 70’s and 80’s there have been e series of quiet eruptions. Streams of solidified lava cross the plain. The lava is pitch black and still nothing grows on it, except sometimes a thin layer of lichen or moss.
In one area the plain is covered with lava, and a green mountain rises like an island above the blackness of the lava.
We pass a hillier area with a milky white lake that must be close to boiling. On the slopes we pass fumaroles. Strangely curved stone still seems liquid. From holes in the ground come steam and foul smells.
I wonder how the first Icelanders viewed these places. The entrance to hell? Security for warmth in the winter?
When we finish the hike it is still early enough for a last walk to enjoy the environment. On the way here we saw the start of a trail.
We drive over and enjoy another hour of walking through nature. There are trees here and a small path winds through the vegetation and leads over rock fields.
There is rain in the plain and we return before it reaches us. We succeed. While preparing dinner the rain comes down heavily.
I take a hot shower, and then I feel so warm and rosy that I just want to crawl into my sleeping bag and close my eyes.
So you understand how I feel while I write these lines. Still in the large common tent. French and german from the other tables. The dutch group just left for a walk and a sauna.
I am going to brush my teeth. The rain has stopped.
Good night!
Roy De Hair
2023-08-07
Prachtige foto's van al die geothermische processen! Die badmuts staat je trouwens goed....