This morning I went ATVing. The brochure said minimum of 2 or they would cancel the hike. I lucked out that they didn't. So I got a solo trip up to Mt. Hafrafell on the outskirts of Reykjavik. It was the first time I have driven an ATV, and I had a blast. I hated for the ride to end.
We went on roads, rocky paths, around rivers, and up the mountain. Along the way, i saw my first trees - pine trees. (When Vikings came, they cut down all the trees over 80-120 years, not realizing the island habitat wasn't conducive to growing more trees.) At the top I could see Reykjavik and its suburbs. The wind was terrible at the top, just like normal. This was probably the 2nd worse (after the winds the night of the northern light hunt).
The gas for the ATV is a lever by the right thumb. I kept trying to move my thumb around to keep it from getting numb. I figured ATVers must do great at thumb wrestling.
Riding the ATV reminded me of my dad and snowmobiling during Christmas breaks.
I talked to the guide about what it was like growing up there. They learn 3 languages at school - Icelandic, Danish, and English. Danish because they ran Iceland until the 1940's (Denmark paid for them to learn Danish)
In the afternoon went back to the golden circle area, where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet. (There are 7 major plates in the world).
I ran into my fake guide from yesterday. I thought he was going to be my guide, but I got a lady. She was filled with lots of "fun" facts. Like:
- Iceland has 62 golf courses which is the highest # golf courses/capita in the world (many world records per capita. Easy to do when only 320,000 people.)
- Iceland Has 130 (?) Active volcanoes
- Vikings used blocks of volcanic rock and turf to make houses (turf was used for the roof). It reminded me of my conversations with the kids regarding pioneers and how they had to use whatever natural resources they had available.
- Wrestling is their national sport (although soccer is their most popular).
We stopped for pictures at Þingvellir National Park, where the two plates meet. This is where 1000 men of the parliamentary first met in 930 and met for more than 1000 years. It is also where Iceland declared is independence from Denmark.
Then it's on to Gollfoss (Golden Waterfall). It is really two waterfalls, the upper at 35 feet and the lower at 100 feet. The source of the name is not really known. A couple of theories have to do with rainbows or sunset color (I can't speak to with
out these a it rained the whole time) but more fun theory is that a rich farmer didn't want anyone to have his money after he died, so he threw a chest of gold into the waterfall, never to be seen again. In late 1800 they planned to build an electrical power plant, but it never happened, thank goodness, as it would have altered the falls.
Last stop is at the geyser area. There are tons of hot springs there. The most famous, the great geyser, which 111
became largely inactive in 2000, with two geyser shoots since, both due to earthquakes. There is still one that shoots up, Strokkur. It is not as tall as the Great Geysir (115 ft vs 260 ft), but it erupts more frequently {8-10 minutes vs. 30-100).
By now it's raining quite a bit, so I grabbed a quick picture of the Great Geysir pool (which is not so great anymore), then lucked into three eruptions of Strokkur. Unfortunately I was way too close, so I didn't get a picture, just wetter. I went further a way for a picture, and after 10 minutes of freezing rain, got a smaller eruption. I finally had to give up waiting for a larger eruption again.
Funny thing, on these bus a couple of times I smelled something weird and thought maybe I was stinking. But when I smelled myself, I didn't smell anything wrong. When the geyser went off on me I realized I had been smelling sulfur, likely from some geothermal pool we had passed (not me).
My daily rainbow. Good thing I saw it in the morning as the afternoon was totally rain. Only day I saw just one.
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