The big drive to Skagafjordur in the north

Thursday, September 19, 2013
Northwest, California, Iceland
Today we drove from the west to mid north.

After breakfast at the Hotel Hellnar where we stayed for the night, we toured the Snaefellsjokull National Park . Because of the drizzle and rain, we could not do any hiking or go to the mountain top. This is the place that inspired Jules Verne's book 'Journey to the center of the Earth'. The park scenery was amazing. Many old lava fields with mosses and lichens of various shades of green and red growing on the lava where the lava landed many many years ago. The newer lava was jet black with lumps as large as a few meters high.

We tried to go to Gerduberg where the lava cooled quickly forming tall vertical basalt rock columns. Unfortunately, the road to the site was unpaved and full of ruts and large rocks. We were able however to see it the pillars of basalt rocks from a distance and through our camera lens were able to see the details.

We had to do a detour of about 100 km because our original chosen route would have taken us through a mountain road only allowable with a 4x4. Unfortunately we are driving a tiny Toyota! It all worked out since we saw sights we would have missed had we been able to take the mountain road.

Coming to the north we passed fjords separated by high mountain chains covered with fresh snow. Obviously, it had snowed recently. Snow patches on black lava is beautiful. Horses, sheep and cows were all over the place even in the snow. All the farms have many gigantic bales of hay lined up to feed the livestock for the long winter. It looked like a winter wonderland.

Tonight we're staying at the Guesthouse Hofsstadir. It's in the middle of nowhere at the south end of the Skagafjordur. The food here is great (although quite expensive - like downtown Toronto high end prices). They try to cook with locally grown food. Minna had lamb and expressed her guilt over eating those cute little sheep which we saw all over as we were coming here. Howard had Arctic Char prepared with birch syrup - a specialty of this chef. So far we haven't seen any trees so we're unsure of where he gets the birch.

During dinner the chef, Toti, came out to tell some stories as is the tradition in Iceland. He asked us "how does an Icelander lost in a forest find his way out?" The answer was: he stands up. This was quite funny because so far we have not seen any forests let alone trees in Iceland. The only things here are mountains, lava fields, lichens (moss), waterfalls, and very low scrub brush. Since we have only been in the West so far, we may see some trees in the East. I doubt it however. Geologically speaking, this is a very young country where soil is just now being made. Perhaps if we come back in 500,000 years the country will be covered by forest like Canada. I've always taken Canada's forests for granted. After this trip, I will never take it for granted again. It's amazing to see how long it takes for forests to form on volcanic earth - certainly more than our lifetimes.

Tomorrow we're off for a 2 day stay in Akureyri, Iceland's second largest city located 97 km south of the Arctic Circle.
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