Other Worldly Landscapes (Day 5 & 6)

We’ve officially entered eastern Iceland now as we pull away from Faskrudsfjordur heading around the peninsula. Little did we know that the under construction tunnel referenced via our road map was actually completed and would have saved us an hour, but we like to think our uncongested ride around the peninsula was well worth it! Today ended up being a bit of a driving day anyways.

We made it to Egilsstadir, which is considered the main eastern township in Iceland. After a quick jaunt east to the port town of Seydisfjordur (Walter Mitty longboarding scene), we drove back through Eagle town and headed into the desolate high plains of Iceland.

Driving between ocean and cloud ringed mountains in south and east Iceland, the interior was a complete change of scenery. The magnitude gave way to barren fields with patches of grass rarely seen and the mountains were now red conical masses equivalent to a Martian landscape.

Things we’ve learned in Iceland – where there are no sheep, there are no humans. Surprisingly, when farming was one of the only means of provisioning oneself, there were approximately 100 people living on the edge of possibility. However, the already limited soil fertility disappeared and the region was abandoned.

It’s always a gamble taking Dacia (our little camper on wheels) down dirt roads, but we made it happen to get to Studlagil canyon. I believe it was featured in Game of Thrones, but I haven’t made it past season 3 so I dunno 🤷‍♂️. It’s iceland’s largest formations of basalt columns, and there is one particular wall that is stunningly symmetrical.

We trucked out another hour driving the Mars landscape to find our next campsite. Since we literally didnt see anything living we were beginning to get worried, when out of the dust appeared what I can best describe as a hybrid “Wild West” and “Little Bavaria” stop on the road. We enjoyed our $5 Nescafe hot chocolates in the warmth of the restaurant den so we could swipe some wifi. We then had a restful night with the wind whipping around the van.

Day 6

I don’t get very worked up about movies, but I do love the opening scene of Prometheus where the alien humanoid sips a world seeding elixir – he then promptly disintegrates into a massive waterfall. Deddifoss is the actual place, and we stopped amongst the lava strewn Martian landscape to stand in awe (and freezing cold mist) to see it.

Up stream was another section that was also photo and hike worthy.

Back on the road, the nerd alert went off. Off in the distance we saw plumes of smoke and soon there after we were turning into Iceland’s largest geothermal energy production company’s plant. They had their own visitor center, and the two young girls working it were happy to show us to a balcony so that we could see the tops of the steam turbines. We got the scoop on hiking trails nearby, and checked out a crater as well as the lava fields from activity in the 70’s that destroyed some of the plants geothermal wells. Super cool!

We were very close to Mývatn Lake at this point. The lakes name is for the black fly ‘midges’ living there which makes it a popular place for anglers. We hiked to the top of a crater named Demmuborgir and walked a 2.5 mile loops around the top. After freezing our faces off on the walk, we wrapped the day up with a casual drive around the lake, toasted some sourdough with butter, and started towards our campsite just outside of Húsavik on the Northern coast.

Heidarbear was a surprising facility with it’s own kitchen, pool, showers and laundry. This is the end of day 6 so I volunteered to do the laundry. Little did I know that the dryer would take 3 cycles to finish the job! I did manage to read a good bit of my book though.