Iceland 2021 trip - Part 6: Highlands
Day 16 (August 8, 2021): Hveragerdi to Landmannalaugar and back (Day's driving distance: 314.9 km, Total trip distance: 3750.3 km)
Our last full day in Iceland! We had planned to go to the Landmannalaugar, the "Magnificent Highland".
It is an area that is most difficult to get to during all our wandering in Iceland -- there are long stretched of unpaved roads, and the road that leads fhe final 30 KM or so to the area is an F-road, not just unpaved, but very primitive (not sure what F stands for, but it might be a verb). But with care we got there without incident. We parked just across the river from the valley (you could drive across if you had a high-clearance vehicle), and walked over. It was a magnificent day indeed.
(Click on each image to see the high-resolution version)
Landmannalaugar
We start our hike from the valley and toward the lava fields.
Landmannalaugar
Not long after we got into the lava field, I heard the "kuk-kuk-kuk" calls and was surprised to find a covey of little fuzzy balls -- Rock Ptarmigan chicks! The sound was emitted from the hen, who was enjoying a dust bath, from just beside the trail. The birds moved away, unhurriedly, from the trail and into the field. This was my third and last new bird on this trip, and what a pleasant surprise.
Rock Ptarmigan
Rock Ptarmigan
Rock Ptarmigan
We walked past the cottongrass covered field and toward the hills.
Landmannalaugar
Landmannalaugar
Landmannalaugar
We walked past a colorful pool in the valley.
Pool
Landmannalaugar is a -- unsurprisingly -- geothermal area, and as we moved through the rhyolite canyons, fumaroles appeared.
Landmannalaugar
Landmannalaugar
We started climbing the palagonite mountain. A rock "needle" sticks out from the side of the mountain, it is likely the cooled lava, but it rather looks like a hand gesture. It makes wonder what Iceland really thinks of us tourists.
Landmannalaugar
We hiked higher into the mountain and looked back to the lava field where we came from.
Landmannalaugar
The hike up to the mountain was not overly strenuous, but the surface can be slippery with loose stones and gravels (this is a good hiking guide if you want to try it some day). The view from the top of the mountain was truly panoramic -- I know I have used this word a few times before, the the view here was really 360-degree unobstructed.
Landmannalaugar
Landmannalaugar
After lingering at the mountain top for some time, reluctantly we started our decent. The decent was even more precarious in some places on account of the rock surface with loose gravels, but the view was just magnificent.
Landmannalaugar
Landmannalaugar
Eventually we returned to the cottongrass covered valley across which the lava field stands.
Landmannalaugar
We walked through the lava field again, this time I paid attention to the lava rocks. Their smooth broken surface glistened in the sun, which to me has the texture of congealed hard candy.
Landmannalaugar
At last we returned to the valley where the trail started. A pool with prolific algae growth stood in the sun.
Landmannalaugar
Having done a day's hiking, we crossed the river and watched the high-clearance vehicles crossing the river.
We did not know then, that the most stressful time of our trip would soon begin -- just as I started driving out of the parking lot, a big truck was in front of me. The truck drove across several potholes filled with water, and the brown water was splashing everywhere. I drove behind the truck, my vision partially blocked by the splashing water, then "boom", I hit a pothole that was much deeper than I expected, and the front left tire was punctured. The instrument panel was flashing "low pressure" and going outside, I heard the sickening hissing sound from the tire.
We would spend some time changing the tire (a Catalonian family helped us, for which we are very grateful) and driving back slowly to Hveragerdi.
Landmannalaugar
Day 17 (August 9, 2021): Hveragerdi to Keflavik and back home (Day's driving distance: 274.7 km, Total trip distance: 4025.0 km)
Our last day in Iceland! The day started in a car garage (repair shop). It turned out that the tire that was punctured the day before was "completely destroyed" according to the mechanic, and I had to buy a new one. My moment of carelessness cost me dearly.
Car in garage
After having the car fixed, we started toward the airport. I decided to make one more detour to Gullfoss, s stop on the Golden Circle which we had been, but which I wished to see again.
Gullfoss
Gullfoss
Gullfoss
After that it was a long drive to the airport and a scramble to get through security, customs and border control to board the plane (Keflavik Airport can be very chaotic, one of the few bad things I can say about Iceland).
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