Thórsmörk, Thurs, 8/11/22

 

In this land of fire and ice, I didn't know what to expect with today's tour to the mountain ridge of Thórsmörk in the Icelandic highlands, except the place is named after the God of Thunder, Thor (or þór in Icelandic).  That must mean fierce-eyed and ready to do battle.  But what we got, all of us, was a wonder of wonders!  Fire and ice and sheep and horses and glaciers and waterfalls till we were goggle-eyed.  Simmi of Gravel Travel delivered.

Out of Reykjavik, we traveled the Ring Road (Hwy 1) to the southeast, driving past quite a few thermal areas, steam rising.  The sunshine lady was capricious today, smiling sweetly in one moment, turning weepy the next, but mostly just veiling her face.

Iceland has horses, lots of horses.  Seems like everyone owns one or several or a herd.  They're all the same breed:  Icelandic.  Unusual in that they have five gaits, rather than the usual four.  So we're told.

In his Land Cruiser, Simmi took us over this decrepit bridge that may fall apart at any minute, but not today.  (insert smiley face).  Due to all the rain the past couple of days, rivers are in spate.

Not only does Iceland have horses, they have sheep.  Millions of sheep.  Kinda like New Zealand, only different.

After crossing the bridge and driving north on the gravel road, we came to one of the river braids -- a shallow, but swift river to cross.  Nannie said something about it, and Simmi replied, "You ain't seen nuthin' yet!"  OK, it's best to believe a statement like that, but, again, we had no idea.

We weren't alone out here, either.  These people on horses were on a five-day trek!  Now in high summer, the multi-colored hills and valleys of Thórsmörk were breathtaking. 

Like a crazy man, Simmi got us through each crossing.  This is ICE COLD glacial water.  You would not want to fall in or get dumped in.

This is where "the shit came down." Above is the tongue of Eyjafjallajökull; it covers the caldera of a volcano 5,466' high. Between March and June 2010 a series of volcanic eruptions at Eyjafjallajökull caused enormous disruption to air travel across Western Europe.  Simmi, our guide, went on at length to explain what happened, because he saw it happen -- how a monstrous river of glacial meltwater blasted down the mountain.  (Jökull is glacier in Icelandic.)

For this crossing, we had to unbuckle our seat belts "in case the current flipped us." Freaked Nannie out, but truthfully, I never felt unsafe. (kinda fun zipping thru the wild river).  This is meltwater from both Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull -- glaciers in the south highlands.

Another shot of (blackened tongue -- volcanic dust) Eyjafjallajökull.  Don't worry, I don't spell this word out every time, just copy and paste.  My pronunciation isn't so good, either.  I love the light green/yellow moss covering the volcanic rock.

Woohoo!

Looking toward Mýrdalsjökull.

I'm including the map in case anyone wants to enlarge it to see whereabouts we are.  At this point, we were at Basar, sort of dead center with a red dot.

A lot of hikers and even campers are in the area, more than you might suppose.  Icelandic (mountain) huts allow folks to trek from place to place, offering sleeping and food and rest.  But how to cross these deep whitewater sections?  Answer:  A moving bridge!  Tractor fella is moving the bridge to a new spot so people can cross.  The river(s) is so braided and constantly changing channels, keeping tractor fella busy.  In the distance is Mountain Hut #2.

We stopped here at Hut #1 to look around and use the facilities.  I was surprised to see camping tents!

Of all days to forget her jacket, Nannie chose today!  When she asked at the tiny store/check-in hut, she was told they'd just sold out of ponchos (which we all also forgot today), but he had an extra black trash bag, would that help?  Latest style!  She and Simmi are talking about the sign.

Made it across the main river channel to Hut #2.  Simmi dropped us off at this point, and we four would hike across the hill to Hut #3.  About a half-hour walk.  Jimmy begins ....

Wildflowers still blooming!

Lookee.  Mountain Hut #3 even has yurts (or tents).  We stopped at the "restaurant" and had a bowl of soup.  I tell you what:  Eating is VERY expensive in Iceland.  But everyone has to eat, so you bite the bullet, so to speak, and shell out the dough, so to speak.  VERY expensive.

Back to our day:  Another shot of Mýrdalsjökul.

And a parting shot of Eyjafjallajökull.  Wow.

On the move again in the Land Cruiser, we drove to Seljalandsfoss and Gljúfrafoss, stopping at the latter first (above).  Gljúfrafoss is about 130' high, hidden in a gorge just 2000' from the famous Seljalandsfoss.  Remember "foss" means waterfalls.  Exquisite, almost dainty, falls and the bottom half is out of view.

This entire cliff face is full of waterfalls, but the main attraction, Seljalandsfoss, is coming up next.  This one is meltwater from Eyjafjallajökull, and it's a real beauty.  It drops about 200' into a quiet pool.  Steps on either side of the falls lead to a hidden trail behind the falls.  We didn't do this because none of us wanted to get wet, especially Nannie with her trash bag, and we saw all those steps, which looked intimidating by this time!

No, I'm not pregnant.  I'd zipped my daypack inside my jacket to keep the camera dry.  Very windy at this particular point, with flying mist.

You can vaguely see people behind the falls.  Anyone returning from behind the falls was soaked.  On a warm day, that might be nice, but we haven't seen a warm day yet!

Simmi had one more waterfall to show us before we got back to Reykjavik.  Urriðafoss is the most voluminous waterfall in the country -- it's huge!  It's located in the Þjórsá River, Iceland's longest river at 143 miles. With a flow rate of 360 m³/s, it has the highest average water flow of any waterfall in Iceland, which translates to 12713.28 cfs.  Wow.  Reminded Nannie and me of Niagara Falls.

That's the highlights of today ... I hope I gave you have a sense of what we experienced.  We didn't get back till after 6pm, with lots of steps on our fitbits, but in awe of the day's wonders.  Thórsmörk had it all.