SOUTH COAST Day 5

A glacier hike was our first activity of the day. We did not have to be there until 9:15 which meant we had a nice relaxing morning!

It was ~15 minute hike from the parking lot. Then another 10 minutes up, up and up before we put on our crampons. Those seemed to be a bit of a burden on the trail that was now part ice and mostly gravel. It wasn’t until we really started walking on the glacier that the crampons became a necessity. The weather was perfect. I hiked in just my sweatshirt and that was almost too much. We hiked alongside streams, crevices and holes filled with blue water so deep you couldn’t see the bottom. It was amazing! The glacier covers 10% of Iceland.

I was worried about the climb back down because it was so steep going up. It ended up being nothing to worry about. The crampons made it easy. We loved this! We’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Gas stations are true convenience stores. You can buy limited groceries, necessities like motor oil and they have a hot food counter where you can buy the famous Icelandic hot dogs. They are not as good as the stand in Reykjavik but they’re pretty tasty.

FJALLSARLON is a glacial lagoon, much lesser known than Jökulsárlón and was our next stop. It is smaller but that means you’re closer to the glacier face. We felt like we had it to ourselves. It was so peaceful.

JÖKULSÁRLÓN is the famous glacier lagoon and beach where icebergs break off the glacier, float through the lagoon, and drift out to sea. That description is not nearly cool enough. Yes, that is what happens but I could’ve spent all day watching it. We even got to see some icebergs flip over! The icebergs are massive – larger than a school bus, some even bigger than a large house.

The lagoon empties into the North Atlantic Ocean. They call it Diamond Beach because of all the ice that washed ashore from the icebergs.

We could’ve stayed in the area for hours. Luckily it was less than 45 minutes to Hofn (pronounced a combination of hop and hope) to our hotel.

Believe it or not, this was a relaxing day – less than an hour and a half of driving. We ended by going to one of the five restaurants in town for pizza. We ate it like the locals… with red currant jelly dolloped on top. It was like blue cheese and orange marmalade – delicious!

Steps 14,848

Flights climbed 26

Iceland has an app called Safe Travel that lists weather and roads conditions is your area. This is a warning for the area we just left. The rental car company also texted this to Jon. Along with advice to open the car door with two hands. Winds this strong will blow the door off it’s hinges and that’s not covered by insurance!