Iceland Day 7 - July 1, 2011

Good thing yesterday was our day in Westman because today we awoke to rain.  We took the earliest ferry out (8:30am) which was much choppier than our first crossing.  By 9:30, we were on the road again heading for the Golden Circle destinations, the only places that most American tourists see in Iceland because they are near Reykjavik.  Quickly walked out in the windy rain to see Gullfoss (another waterfall).  Not really my favorite of the ones we’ve seen here.  Then, we stopped at Geysir to see where the word got its origin.  The original Geysir only erupts when there is an earthquake, but Strokkur was erupting about every five minutes.  We finally got our cameras ready in time by the third cycle of watching the water bubble and erupt!  Stopped for lunch at the overpriced visitors center.  Any guesses on what was on the menu?  Cream of….asparagus soup and of course, burgers.  The soup went down easily, but unfortunately it got the best of me a few hours later.  I’m pretty sure my digestive system is way out of whack with the limited menu here for people like me who don’t eat seafood, burgers and dogs, or lamb.  Veggies are almost nonexistent and chicken is almost always BBQ if it is even on the menu.  Needless to say, I will not miss the food here.

Our final destination today required a one hour plus drive through what looked like the moon on a crazy bumpy dirt road to the middle of nowhere.  We arrived at the parking area at Landmannalaugar around 5:30-6pm where the fog had rolled in with windy rain.  Today was supposed to be our hiking day to a mountain hut 12km up the mountain where we would spend the night.  As a selective camper/hiker, I had a near meltdown trying to decide what to do.  The predicament: we could hike 4+ hrs in nasty conditions to the top and we be cold and wet by the time we got to the top around 10pm, or we could stay at the base and possibly have to sleep in the car.  Chris and Laur decided to go for the hike and headed off for the top.  We packed up our gear and went to get a map and talk to the warden at the base hut.  Her advice quickly made the decision for us.  She advised us not to start up this late and told us the conditions up there were nasty and the hut was very overcrowded tonight.  She offered to let us switch our hut reservation so we could stay at the base instead.  We couldn’t have asked for better news!

Any other day, I would have probably been hesitant to stay in bunk room with fifteen other people.  Tonight I was just glad to have a dry place to sleep!  We claimed two mattresses on the bottom bunk for ourselves and luckily had a mattress empty on either side of us between two other couples sleeping on the same side as us.  The only down side was that the WC was in separate building so you had to put on your boots and raincoat each time to get there.  However, I still couldn’t complain tonight. 

The hut had a large kitchen with several sinks and burners for guests to use.  We looked ridiculous making Easy Mac and veggie rice next to a group who made a leg of lamb accompanied by fresh sides!  Found a little nook with a couch where we passed a few hours playing gin-rummy before bed.  For someone who had never played before, Joe smoked me!  Everyone in the hut seemed to keep to themselves so we didn’t really talk to anyone.  There were definitely no other Americans there as far as we could tell, and we were probably the youngest people there.  We called it a night around 11pm assuming Laur & Chris made it to the hut, and fell asleep pretty easily despite our many roommates.