Thorsmork
Today was quite the adventure! We booked a “Super Jeep” tour of Thorsmork, which is an inaccessible (by car) wilderness area in southern Iceland. Only jeeps and trucks with large wheels can navigate through the park as there are very few permanent roads (the rivers change every season). There are no bridges, so you need a vehicle that can cross the rivers.
Our guide, Jon, picked us up early this morning and we were off. We drove back along the Ring Road along the southern coast (the same route we took when we first arrived a week ago) for about an hour. Matt and Sharon picked his brain with questions about growing up (on a farm in eastern Iceland), about going away for school at the age of 6 (Monday through Friday), and various other topics about Iceland in general. His family, like the the majority of farms at the time, used turf houses up until World War II. Once we entered the park, we first visited the “Tongue glacier” part of the Eyjafjallajokull glacier. The clouds hung low, giving it that “Lord of the Rings” feeling.
Next we hiked up this canyon
And kept going
Until we got to the very end and were rewarded with this waterfall
This is the view up the top of the canyon
Absolutely gorgeous!
We also did an “Icelandic Forest” hike where we went up through a small patch of native trees. The trees grow slowly and are quite short.
Jon asked “What do you do if you get lost in an Icelandic forest?
Answer: “Stand up!” (hahahaha)
Then to see if we are “true Vikings”… Jon took us hiking up a river in a cave. As you can see, the water got waist high and we were soaked… in GLACIAL water. Tres cold, but much fun! Most importantly, I managed to keep my camera dry the whole time. Bonus! Here are Jon and Matt
So I do believe we proved ourselves as Vikings... now Jon, I want one of those hats. You know, the ones with horns...
The entrance to the cave is on the far lower left.
Sopping wet and very happy, we headed back to Reykjavik.
