We woke up to rain. The kind of rain that says, "Take your rain pants in your backpack today." However, I never put them on as we had well timed weather breaks.
Breakfast was at 7:30, so we ate all that good stuff quickly to get a good start on our day. Breakfast is typically served from 7:30 or 8 until 10 or so. My kind of hours. However, if you have a long day ahead, an earlier start is desirable. But should we skip breakfast? Definitely not.
We drove off for our first hike of the day. It was to Gjain, which roughly translated means rift. That's "larger than a gully and smaller than a canyon" according to the earthcache we did while there. Many photos to show you the beauty.
Nona's 100th earthcache find - I was deeper in the cave
The exciting thing is that not only were we seeing all this beauty; we were learning geology as we went.
A stop along the road to check out more pillow lava
Time to get serious - lower the tire pressure for bad roads and water crossings
Desert of ash/tuff/scoria
We crossed two bodies of water just as we arrived at a huge campsite. It was truly colorful - tents of all sizes, shapes and colors.
We found parking and set out on a beautiful hike up the mountainside.
Nearby rocks and snow (and Liz's backpack)
Along the way
Steam vents
We took the short way down.
I walked back down with Kathy. I wish she lived next door. I'd love to sit and discuss geology with her - she has such insight about the possibilities and explanations of what we were seeing. Her husband wasn't able to make the trip, so she was another of us females on our own. She's also from BC, so hopefully I'll meet up with her again.
Back at the campsite, we ate lunch. We stopped at a little grocery store earlier and part of my lunch was, of course, Skyr, along with some lava bread I still had slathered with the butter I bought.
Time to cross the water again. There were two walking bridges over the water for those whose didn't want to take their vehicles through the water. Before the van crossed, I got out and ran to the first bridge to take a photo. It was quite a distance, so I ran to the second bridge to get closer photos of them crossing. Then I bounded over a huge rock to catch up with them. It took me a few minutes to catch my breath once back in the van.
The little van that could (at this point)
We next visited the site of a fissure, which is a linear volcanic vent, not the typical cone we think of. At that location there was a deep hole in the ground with a cave-like structure at the bottom. Also part of the top was covered over with a lava lid. We were asked to explain, so we all tried, and still don't know exactly what caused it. Lots of thoughts and any of them could be right.
It was early evening by then, so we headed to our guesthouse for that night. Upon arrival, we were given keys while we were unloaded the trailer. The lady in charge (Asian, not Icelandic) got all upset. We had to put all of our luggage back into the trailer, and then have the van drive a few hundred feet to the building where we were sleeping. We had to laugh because it would have been lots easier to just pick up our things and walk there.
Dinner was some sort of curry and rice which we ate mainly because we were hungry. Later some lamb chops were brought out, so we had some of those as well. Dessert was carrot cake, and a lot of us only ate a few bites of that as well. Yes, I ate some of my packed snacks once back in our room. Wi-Fi was very complicated, and only a few folks managed to get it to work. I decided to read and visit instead. Four of us sat in the little common room and reviewed answers to earthcache questions. It had been an incredible day and it was good to review things with others.
Liz was already settled in when I got back to the room, so I quietly settled in as well. The view from our room made up for everything.
Room with a view - from my bed
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