Date: March 10th, 2023
Location: Hvolsvöllur, Iceland
This morning, I woke up around 8 in the morning. I noticed that most people were still asleep so I started packing my stuff up quietly to make sure I was ready for the day. I could tell that there were some people already awake based on the empty beds and the loud voices from downstairs. But after I finished up, I went downstairs and got myself some breakfast. Of course, it was more toast but I certainly wasn't complaining. I was even able to make myself a small bowl of cheerios and eat that while chatting with the people who were awake as everyone began to trickle downstairs for breakfast.
Eventually, everyone finished up with breakfast and we started going on (wait for it) another hike! One of the guides who has been with us for the entire GREEN Program took us on a path just outside of the cabins. With Hekla, the dog, following us around It was a little bit of a rough hike. The terrain was half-iced over and it was in no way straightforward. We kept having to go over these little inclines and tiny hills that sloped downwards on the side, making it hard to keep your feet on the ground. Additionally, we had to cross this one river a lot because the first half of the hike's path required you to hop back and forth since there were so many trees and branches in the way. I'm not saying I fell down at all, but let's just say I came pretty close a couple of times.
Around the halfway point of the hike, we started going up one of the mountains. This part of the hike was significantly easier. But it was also a lot prettier. Behind towards the ground and having to knock away branches all the time didn't allow you to take in the sights. But as we were climbing higher and higher and the sun was rising in the sky- we were able to see so much! Including the glacier, we hiked yesterday and a few mountains (or volcanoes, who knows!) in the far-off distance. At some point on the hike, we stopped at this clearing in the top. Our guide told us to take a few moments to lie down and close our eyes so we can have a moment to reconnect with nature. I'm never the biggest fan of lying down on the ground, but when in Rome! To be honest, it was pretty nice just taking a moment to relax since we've been doing so much on the trip. Even though it was pretty cold and lying around made me even colder. But still, it was nice.
After we all got up, our guide took a little further, to this giant rock that wasn't too far away. It was actually right behind our cabin if you looked up so it turns out we were just doing a big loop around. But to our surprise, one of our guides (and Hekla's dad) was standing on top of the rock. I've never seen any of the dogs here bark or get upset or anything. But Hekla kept whining because she could see her owner but he was super far away. It was a little sad because she's been such a good girl this entire trip. But it was very cool and kind of funny just seeing her owner just sit at the edge of the rock with his legs hanging off like the climb up there was the easiest thing in the world.
Some time later, Hekla's owner climbed down from the rock and joined us. Hekla was super glad to see him. Once they were reunited, we all climbed down this flight of steps that took us back to the cabins. It was a significantly shorter trip back down, but the stairs were covered in ice and snow and felt a lot harder. But in no time at all, we were back down at the cabins! We then started to get our bags together and into the jeeps so we could get ready to go to leave the cabins and explore a bit more of Þórsmörk before heading back to the hostel we were staying the other day, Midgard!
We drove for a while on that rocky path I talked about in my previous journal entry. This time, I remembered to get some pictures of the rocks and rivers were crossing. It was once again, a rocky ride, but I really enjoyed just watching us take on the terrain. Anyways, we drove for a little while, taking videos of the other jeep as it takes its own path across the river.
But after a little bit of driving, we stopped at our next location. It was still in Þórsmörk I think but this next place was really cool. And really cold since it was in the shade and the sun was not going to shine anywhere near us anytime soon. But this next place was called Stakkholtsgjá Canyon- a filming location for the show Game of Thrones!
Now, I had never seen Game of Thrones. I didn't need to see the show to be impressed by the sights. It was big, big canyon kind of tucked away and out of view. Apparently it was just one of many filming locations for Game of Thrones in Iceland but I have no doubt that this one was the most beautiful. The walls reached up really, really high around us. And there were small rivers and tiny ponds here and there, but I really like seeing how there was this vegetation despite all the snow and ice and icicles there. It most of it was super pale from frost but still, it's always funny seeing how it can be ice and water and grass right next to each other despite just how cold it is.
Anyways, we climbed pretty far into the canyon (with Hekla the dog nearby, of course). We passed by more ice and more snow while talking about the canyon and how it has these little indentations and holes carved out in the walls. Our guides liked to call them troll holes, and I thought that was kind of cute. Iceland has a really big connection to their old folklore which isn't something that you see as much in America compared to there or other countries. At least, from what I've heard and seen. We've also talked a bit more about Iceland's geography and just some more ecological facts about the country such as its vegetation, animals, landscape, and more.
After a while, it was starting to get really cold so we started heading back out of the canyon. It didn't take us too long, but a few of us got distracted by this tiny pond towards the entrance of the canyon. It was completely frozen, but there were so many rocks around we started tossing them onto the ice. I managed to get some decent-sized cracks by throwing a bunch of big rocks in the same area. But the only person who actually broke through the ice was one of our guides and Hekla's owner. Naturally, it makes sense that one of the guys who do volunteer rescue as a hobby and glacier/mountain/waterfall hikes as a full-time job would be the only one strong enough to break through the ice. But I'd like to think that I got really close with my method.
Once we finally got out of the canyon, it was time for lunch. Our guides brought out a grill and some toppings and some hotdogs and we had that! By this time, I was really, really cold since we were still in the shade and my feet were freezing, so I spent a lot of time hopping in and out of the car (note to self: Maryland snow boots do not fare well against Icelandic winds). We ate our dogs when they were finished cooking, and they tasted pretty good but somehow noticeably different from the hotdogs we have in America. Then after they put seconds on the grill, everyone ate those, and they cleaned up, it was time for us to go again.
Our next stop was this place called Merkurker. I heard from others that it was pretty great. It's this ravine/cave valley with a bunch of high mountain walls. We stopped there for our group to go explore for about 30 minutes. But by this point, I still hadn't warmed up at all so opted to stay in the car and talk to a couple of the other girls who were with me, including the one who had sprained her ankle earlier and was looking for a moment to rest it now that we were having a nice chill moment. I definitely didn't warm up much while sitting in the car, but I can safely say I didn't get any colder. Anyways, after a while, the rest of our returned and we finally decided to leave Þórsmörk and to head back to Midgard.
We got back to Midgard pretty quickly and the first thing we did was grab all the stuff that the hostel housed for us overnight while we were in Þórsmörk. We quickly got to our rooms, got unpacked, and immediately when to the showers. And that had to be one of the best showers of my life- I was so tired. And it was nice to wash away all the hiking on glaciers and lying on the ground stuff that I had got stuck on me throughout the day.
After we showered, it was time for dinner. During dinner, my group all sat together and talked about everything we experienced so far and how much fun we'd been having. And once we all finished, our program guides went over the plan for tomorrow. Tomorrow is the last full day of our program and in Iceland. It's also the day we're all going to be presenting our projects that we've been working on all week. Because of that, my group and I decided to take a couple of hours after dinner to work on our project. It was really coming along and all that was left was just a few final touches that we could put off until tomorrow, so we decided to call it a night after a while. They went upstairs to do their own thing and I stayed near the lobby to get some more work done before bed.
Though after a while, I was invited by some of the members of the program to play cards with them. So I grabbed myself a Pepsi (which doesn't taste as good as the real thing back home) from the bar and joined them for a couple of hours. It was a lot of fun and eventually, our group grew to be around 12 people! Including a couple of Icelandic guys who were friends of the hostel and just wanted to do something to kill time.
Around 1 AM, we all decided to turn in for the night. I was super tired and really surprised I even made it that long. But I managed to get myself into my pajamas and got ready for bed so I could face the last little bit of my time and Iceland and my project tomorrow!
Andddd that's it for this entry! There's really not much left now, so I hope you'll stick with me until the very end. Until next time!
- DD
Picture Sources (in order of appearance):
Mountain in Basar, Þórsmörk - My photo!
Hekla's dad, Addi, up high - My photo!
Addi up close - My photo!
Crossing Rivers in the Jeep - My photo!
Other Jeep Crossing - My photo!
Stakkholtsgjá Canyon Stream - My photo!
Stakkholtsgjá Canyon Walls - My photo!
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