We didn’t waste much time this morning and headed right out to the glaciers for the hike early in the morning. Prior to arriving at Vatnajökull National Park, we stopped for some photos so we can see the glaciers from a distance.
Shortly after arriving at the park, we were fitted for our glacier hike and we had to drive out to Fjallsjökull for the hike. Sadly the other two glaciers were not suitable for hiking that day.
We hiked about 30 minutes to get to the bottom of the glacier. We were told that in the past the glacier was “right there”, but with global warming the glaciers are retreating faster than they could move… so sad.
After putting our gear on, we hiked up a bit. We didn’t have enough time to go higher, but we still had a taste of what glacier hiking was like. It’s definitely something I’d do again, perhaps on my next trip to Iceland.
Right after this we headed straight to one of the most talked-about places in Iceland, the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon. Once I looked past the loads of tourists and buses and cars, the first view of the lagoon was just… wow.
I had originally wanted to take a boat out into the lagoon for a closer view, but it didn’t seem like we had much time, so I just spent time taking all of this in. While doing that I heard (and saw) three of these break off – and it was loud!
And did I mention I had another sunny day? 2 out of 3 isn’t bad, especially for the worst summer they had in 100 years.
From there I started to walk toward Diamond Beach, where some of the ice end up on the black sand beach which is rather cool (literally). It wasn’t as magnificent as it was in photos, but it was a chance to get close to the ice.
With that, we started the long, long drive back to Reykjavík. On the way, we stopped by one of the lava fields. The fields are covered with moss, and is very, very delicate. We stayed on the designated path to see them up close. It is very important to do so, otherwise stepping on the moss can cause irreparable harm to the environment.
You can also see these lava fields as you drive on other parts of the Ring Road (Route 1), just don’t stop on the side of the road to take photos. We’ve actually seen one car blocking half of a lane, which is extremely dangerous.
As we got closer to Reykjavík, the sun was just slowly setting.
Once we said our goodbyes to our awesome group, I walked out to Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur for some of their famous hot dogs at midnight. That was dinner. Then some more walks around city center before bedtime (and sunrise) at 3am.
Practical Information
Lava Fields: Please do not step on the moss. It’ll damage the surroundings.