Fri, Aug 12 2016, Sat, Aug 13 2016, Sun, Aug 14 2016, Mon, Aug 15 2016, Tue, Aug 16 2016, Wed, Aug 17 2016, Thu, Aug 18 2016, Fri, Aug 19 2016, Sat, Aug 20 2016, Sun, Aug 21 2016, Mon, Aug 22 2016, Tue, Aug 23 2016, Wed, Aug 24 2016, Thu, Aug 25 2016 - Iceland Backpacking (View Original Event Details)
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September 22: made a photo album. Hi everyone, I know I’ve been tardy with posting write-ups. I was particularly late with Abbot Hut (which is still due!). It’s been a busy summer and a lot of my time was consumed by preparations for Iceland. The trip was everything we expected, and more. I could write a 20,000-word essay about the trip that would take 6 months and no one would read -- so Bob and I got together and jot down the highs and lows of the trip.
HIGHS
The sights and scenes of Reykjavik. The exquisite seafood dinner at the Sea Baron restaurant.
Views and hiking around Landmannalaugar. The incredible diversity of scenery. The volcanic vents. The smell of sulfur. The natural geothermal hot springs. The surplus oxygen our Alberta lungs found at lower Icelandic elevations allowed many of us to run up the hills like mountain goats.
Extreme camping in Hrafntinnusker. The half-moon shaped rock piles to shelter tents. The fog. The cold. The rigged tarp that made for a little picnic for us campers.
Incredible views from the ridge just before Alftavatn. Most dropped their bags and sat for an hour to absorb the beauty. A green plateau, stretching all the way to the big glaciers Myrdahlsjokull and Eyafjyallajokul, littered with numerous cone shaped volcanoes. I named this place volcano-alley.
All the waterfalls – from Skaftafell, to Skogar, to Snaefellsness. One’s shutter finger will go numb before Iceland runs out of waterfalls.
The sheep and the horses everywhere. At one stop the horses came up to us and allowed us to pet them.
Friendly wardens at all the huts and camp sites.
The tasty lamb at the buffet at Thorsmork and what was cooked and fried up at the hostel and the campsites.
Campgrounds easy to find, cheap, and don’t require reservations. You show up and the first nice place you see in the campsite is yours! Every single major attraction has got a campsite within a stone’s throw. The freedom for those camping in Iceland is truly remarkable (especially after having to deal with Parks Canada!). One day it was foul weather, so we drove on to a different place, camped there and then came back and hiked Skaftafell on a beautiful sunny day.
No less than four artists in our COC gang traveling with their colors, pencils, paper, and other drawing and painting implements. When we all hunkered down at the hut at Fimmvorduhals we had an opportunity to see some of their brilliant work.
This trip exposed us to a new and different landscape compared to the Rockies. Coming back home, we feel that everything is interesting and new again.
Zero bug bites!
Katla (under Myrdahlsjokull) has begun to rumble and there were earthquakes three days after we left the Fimmvorduhals hut! Glad it didn’t act up when we were there!
LOWS
VERY EXPENSIVE. A huge thanks to Shelly Rowe for giving us adequate warning. Most of us took freeze-dried camping foods. It was augmented by various things we bought in Iceland. The Icelandic dried fish was a popular snack and add-on for dinners. To give you an indication of how expensive it is in Iceland – a hamburger with a tiny packet of fries and a coke costs $20! The normal fridge magnet is $10-15. The cheapest thing is the hotdog ($5) – which is quite plain and nothing special. For those of us staying at the hostel, it cost us $85 per night (in a hostel dorm room!!!).
The liquor Brennevin, which is supposed to be the national drink, tastes like nail-polish remover has been added to cheap vodka.
The roads are narrow, so one has to be very careful when driving not to hit the holes and birds. (note: this was added by Bob after nearly suffering a dozen heart-attacks from being Raihan’s co-passenger).
Most of us needed to bring more snacks. Especially the campers carrying the extra gear required more calories. Most of us looked a little on the thinner side at the end of the big trail.
The Canadian Dollar’s tanking made the trip more expensive. Many got very adverse rates from their banks here for Icelandic Krona. Recommendation would be to take Euros – which are accepted by pretty much all retailers in Iceland (and can be bought in Canada at reasonably good rates).
IN CLOSING
Bob and Slawek have made nice videos. We’ll share the links on the COC Facebook page. We will also share photos there. We’re not doing a photo album for the trip as it will take too long to pull together and both Bob and I have some busy days ahead.
We highly recommend the Laugavegur trek to our COC friends. It’s something you should have on your bucket list!
Cheers,
Bob and Raihan