Arnes -> Poristungur -> Hekla -> Seljelandsfoss
I woke up in Arnes hearing some kids playing by the river. Pretty glad I wasn’t completely alone in this town.
Instead of heading back to Selfoss, I decided to drive towards Poristungur, which is further into the highlands.
I drove for about an hour without seeing a single other vehicle on the road. It was desolate, to say the least. Walking in the middle of the highway? No problem.
As I headed further in, I saw these 4WDs heading out from further inland. Not sure how much further I could take my little car.
The road goes along the Pjorsa River all the way into the highlands until you get to a huge power plant on a lake in the mountains.
Its pretty hard to describe or even capture on a camera what you see out there. The lava field, distant glaciers, volcanoes, glacial lakes, mixed with no other human in sight makes it all very overwhelming, epic, scary, wonderful all at once.
I drove back along a gravel road through the lava fields of the Hekla Volcano. This is one of the most active volcanos in Iceland and there are warnings strewn all over to keep your cell phone active incase there is an eruption. Not sure how getting a text message will help when you are fleeing from molten rock.
Lava ash fields all around with rock debris from the last eruption of Hekla in 2000. It reminded me of the The Martian movie with Matt Damon.
I stopped the car and walked around for a bit in the lava field. After walking around for about 5 minutes, I got to a part where my foot sank in upto my ankle and the black ashy sand started shifting and flowing away. This, along with the fact that there was absolutely NO ONE around, and all the warnings everywhere, kinda freaked me out. I got back in my car and drove the hell outta there.
As I drove out, I saw the first sign of life after more than half a day. Horses woohoo. Iceland horses are so photogenic, they could be on magazine covers.
I got back onto Rt1 (the famous ring road) somewhere near Hella. I decided to head to Seljelandsfoss.
The falls here are definitely more interesting than Gullfoss. You also get to walk behind the falls which makes for interesting colours as the sun sets.
I saw some people hiking up a path to the top of the cliff. Following them, I came up to a high plateau. A volcano peaked out from behind that looked epic in the setting sun. The path lead right up to the top of Seljaladsfoss.
This dude thought it was a good idea to lean off the edge to get a shot. Watching him made me skirmish.
I walked back down and went over to the campsite next to the falls. Excellent facilities.
I met a couple of guys from Montreal, Dave and Eli and a girl from Germany Ani. We hung out and chatted it up about this and that. After ~24 hours in isolation, I soaked up the social interaction like a sponge.
The owner of the campsite, a friendly Icelandic man filled us in on stories of life in Iceland and during the 2010 eruption. I asked him if he ever considered leaving the island during the disaster and he said that the thought never crossed his mind. I would have packed my bags as soon as I saw smoke.
We ended the night with a shot of Icelandic Liquor, Opa. It tasted like Buxleys Cough Syrup.
As I walked back to the tent, I saw the moon was out. Awesome day. The four of us are planning a 7am hike tomorrow morning.
My stuff 