26-28 August, 2011

Day 2, Kata did some interviews while packed up the campsite, and then a nice drive through the mountains eastward. A little greyer, but only spots of rain. We stopped for a late lunch at Hólaskjól, after collecting a couple of number plates in the rivers, and taking a couple of short side trips to, "see what was there"

A Hólaskjól, Kata told me I should go and see this waterfall nearby, which I'd never heard of, or seen. This was excellent! It's on Syðri Ófæra, which is also just a fantastic name for a river, meaning "Southern impassable" over which I'd been a couple of years before on a jeep trip with Bjöggi. The waterfall just falls off the edge of some basalt columns, into a very tight trench, spraying mist up beautifully over the opposite wall. It's sort of like a smaller version of Gullfoss, and indeed, it's not named on any of the maps I have access to, but is sometimes referred to as "Silfurfoss" in some pictures and descriptions I found online.

But, all of that was just a prelude to what came next. We stopped at Skaftafell to set up camp and cook some dinner, then headed onwards to Jökulsárlón. The rescue squad in the area holds a yearly fundraiser there by charging admission, and having a fireworks show, launched off all the icebergs in the lagoon.

This was realllly cool :)

Back at Skaftafell, we also saw some faint aurora, my first for the season. Winter's coming!