Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Iceland - Ring Road northeast

We needed ice for the cooler. An N1 gas station didn’t sell ice but was kind enough to give us some.

Our first stop is the 305-foot-high 35-foot-wide stair-step Rjúkandi waterfall. It's visible from the road, but a short walk gives a better view.


Next is the 167-foot-high 560-foot-wide Dettifoss waterfall, one of the most powerful in Europe. Route 864 on the east side wasn't open, so we approached from Route 862 on the west side.


Just upstream from Dettifoss is the 44-foot-high 1700-foot-wide horseshoe-shaped Selfoss waterfall.


While eating lunch at a picnic table, we saw a father and daughter from Richmond VA we met the first night, so chatted with them. They are doing a similar trip. We also picked up a hitch-hiker leaving Dettifoss who was born in France, so Carrie chatted with her a bit in French.

The Krafla caldera is north of the Ring Road and has a geothermal power plant, lava fields, and the Viti crater. The power plant is Iceland's largest, 60MW. We skipped the lava fields but saw the bright blue-green lake in Viti crater.


Not far away is the Hverir Geothermal Site, which has bubbling pools of mud and steaming sulfur fumaroles. Phew-ew!


I've never watched Game of Thrones, but apparently Grjótagjá cave is a thing, so we stopped for a quick peek. It's a geothermal pool in a cave.


Dimmuborgir (translated "dark forts") is a lava field with caves and interesting formations. One lava tube looks like a church.


The Mývatn Nature Baths are geothermally-heated pools, so we stopped for a 2-hour soak.


The bed-and-breakfast tonight has its own natural geothermal pool, so Carrie did a second soak. A couple staying in the B&B were French, so Carrie took another opportunity to practice her French.

Natural hot spring behind the B&B