6 day trip around iceland!

beginning may 21st through to may 27th me and 4 others did a road trip around Iceland in a rented car, and hit all the best spots. our line-up was Lars (Sweden), Ankie (Netherlands), Heta (Finland) and Liz (Canadian).

first stop was the farm that my friend Ashton is working at in Hvolsvöllur. we got to hang out with about 6 dogs, some chickens, baby cows and some horses. we couldn't find the kittens no matter how hard we tried. you win some you lose some.

next stop was Skaftafell national park. this is a lovely park tucked into the side of the mighty Vatnajökull: by far the largest glacier in iceland. the park was incredibly green, and we did a short hike at the end of the day before camping at the campground in the park.

we hit the road the next morning and stopped in the little harbour town Höfn, which is tucked into the southeast. we had lunch at a fish and chips place and hit the road north through the East Fjords. this is probably my favorite place in iceland to drive in and to look at. the roads twist and turn, go up and down: most of the time while on the edge of the world perched on one of the fingers of the East Fjords. strangely enough, i can't remember where we slept that night. maybe Vopnafjörðer? somewhere in the North East.

the next day we hit a pass in the North East that was full of treacherous hair pin turns. constantly at a grade of like 12% for what seemed like 10km. part way up, we rose above the clouds, and everyone in the car got giddy from the view. mountains rising out of the clouds with the treacherous road winding down below. awesome. the rest of the North East was pretty uneventful. i think we got to Mývatn and did some hikes there. we camped in Mývatn.

we lost Ankie the next morning, as she had to catch a bus back to Akureyri. we did some more adventuring around Mývatn and then hit the road in the direction of the West Fjords. we got to the 'entrance' of them on the ring road, and camped there for the night.

next morning we lost Liz, because her flight back to Canada was leaving the next morning from Reykjavik. we carried on into Hólmavík, through Drangsnes and into some tiny small town not far from here to a natural hotpot which is basically just a hole in the ground. after the pool i talked to the local hotel owner to see if he knew any good hikes. he referred us to a local archeologist Magnus who knows the local area like the back of his hand. randomly, i had met Magnus at an earlier class where he was the guest lecturer, lecturing on the very subject of archeology in the West Fjords. so we went and visited Magnus in his old wooden house (which is rare in Iceland), and he showed us the lay of the land, and recommended some good hikes, which we did. we camped in Drangsnes that night after sitting in the free hotpots which sit right on the edge of the ocean.

hit the road early and headed south and then west onto the Snaefellsnes Peninsula with the intention of seeing and hiking the legendary Snæfellsjökull volcano, which is greatly known as the setting for the novel Journey to the Center of the Earth. after getting some advice from the local information center, we drove to the base of the glacier/volcano and started hiking. the snow/ice is almost pure white. we got near the top within about 1.5 hours, and then slid/ran down back to the car. the view from the top is absolutely breath-taking. i'm surprised i haven't heard more people talk positively about Snæfellsjökull. its easily one of my favorite places on the island. we did a short walk after this to some lighthouses and some bird cliffs.

we were tired at this point, and booked it back to reykjavik to sleep in our beds. awesome awesome awesome. when i get all the photos from everyone i'll post them.

i packed up all my stuff, and got on my plane for finland on the morning of friday, may 28th. i'm in helsinki now. i'll write about it soon. ;)