Friday's Part 2. After leaving the Town of Vik behind, our little tour group returned to the Ring Road on the South Coast. Easily seen from anywhere near Vik or the vicinity is Sólheimajökull ... an outlet glacier of the mighty icecap of Mýrdalsjökull. About five miles long and just over a mile wide, Sólheimajökull is impressive. Due to the way it descends from Mýrdalsjökull, however, without a clear distinction between the two, it appears much bigger, as you see below. Hard for the average person to differentiate.
Many different colors in this shot!
Or maybe I should say different layers.
We parked and started walking, eyeballing the muddy-appearing lagoon ahead of the glacier, with big ol bergs captured in it. Other folks were walking ahead of us. They looked so tiny. (right side of pic). Sadly, like all the glaciers in Iceland bar one, Sólheimajökull is shrinking rapidly. The lagoon at its base reveals how quickly it is receding: the length of an Olympic swimming pool every year. It seems like this change is already an irreversible consequence of climate change, and it may be gone within decades. Good that we can see it today!
We stopped at an overlook, spotted all the people near the glacier (and even on the glacier, see "ants" at the red check mark?), and we asked our guide if we could walk down to the ice, too. Answer was affirmative! Down we went! Methinks you'd have to enlarge the photo to see the "ants."
A closer-up of the previous picture of folks on the glacier. I'm not sure if there's four or five groups visible. All the black is volcanic dust from years or eons of eruptions that melting ice is exposing. Looks like a moonscape. We didn't have time or proper gear to do a glacier walk like the groups seen above, but we were content to see, step on, and touch the thousand years' old ice.
Some fella fished a piece of ice out of the lagoon. We all held it (uh-huh, cold), but crystal clear and who knows how old this ice might be?
Photo op? None of us wanted to spend any time a'tall at this spot, after seeing cracks in the surface.
Where we stood in the previous photo (not the hole!),
actually standing on dust-covered ice.
Many shades on this old ice.
I spy Jimmy and Serge and Bubba in the above pic.
Such vivid coloration that dances between a gleaming white, electric blue, and ash black.
Well, now, if I'd seen this sign before schlepping onto the glacier ice, I might have held back. Quicksand? Ice collapsing from the glacier? Egads! As it was, I saw the sign as we were returning to our vehicle. Sure was fun being Out and About in this place!
Our final stop was to see the mighty Skogafoss -- one of the largest and most elegant waterfalls in all of Iceland -- at 195' high and 75' wide, it was awe-inspiring. We could walk up close to the base, but, of course, the closer we got, the wetter we became from spray. We chose not to take the stairs to the upper observation deck -- we were pretty tuckered out by this time. With many, many steps on the fitbit. As it was, we didn't get back to Reykjavik till after 7. Tired and happy. But ... the rainbow!
The rainbow!
What a full day this was! Puffins and basalt columns and black beaches and glaciers and waterfalls. Another day of wonders, all compliments of Mother Nature and Mother Earth. We are thrilled to be here, witnessing and experiencing all she has to offer us in Iceland. Lucky, lucky us.
You go to the coolest places!
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