We decided to do a day trip to a part of Iceland that we did not see last year - to a place about two hours away called Húsafell!
I mean... can you even believe this?
It almost looks fake!
You have to go around one peninsula and then you go through the creepy Hvalfjörður Tunnel which goes under the Hvalfjörður to get to Húsafell.
I mean. I just don't have any words.
We got a little turned around on Route 518 out by Húsafell. We accidentally took the north route up toward the Cave Vidgelmir (if you ever go here, which I recommend you do, ignore the Google maps route which will try to take you on the northern route cause that road is CRAZY). So we came back down over this little wooden bridge to get back on the main road that goes south of Húsafell. It's a big circle, so you really can't go wrong either way, but the more southerly route is much easier on the car.
The road that takes you south of Húsafell toward the cave is MUCH easier although it does eventually become a gravel road - but it's well maintained. We didn't buy the extra insurance (lol) so we took it slow. It's really flat in this area too- you can actually see the tiny little reception building that they have at the cave in the distance! It's below the hills in the flat spot on the old lava fields.
We finally arrived and got checked in for our cave tour, but because you are going into an underground cave and it's VERY dark in there, they require you to wear a hard hat with a light on it. Temperatures in the cave get down to just above freezing this time of year, so we really had to bundle up. More than usual, anyway!
Our guide had a unique Icelandic name, which was entirely too difficult for any American to pronounce (sorry!) - so he told us to call him Trick! Hard to forget that one!
We followed Trick a short distance to the entrance to the cave - see the snow on the mountain in the distance? That's the Langjökull glacier which is the second largest glacier in Iceland.
This cave is located in a lava field known as Hallmundarhraun, which is the largest lava field in Borgarfjörður (that's the county or administrative district where this lava tube is located in Iceland). Admittedly, it's been a hot minute since I had my natural hazards class at Mississippi State, so let me allow my friends at the USGS to describe what a lava tube is: "Lava tubes are natural conduits through which lava travels beneath the surface of a lava flow. Tubes form by the crusting over of lava channels. When the supply of lava stops at the end of an eruption or lava is diverted elsewhere, lava in the tube system drains downslope and leaves partially empty conduits beneath the ground. Such drained tubes commonly exhibit "high-lava" marks on their walls, generally flat floors, and many lava stalactites that hang from the roof."
We walked down a bunch of steps to physically get into the cave, but they are well maintained.
It's thought that this eruption started around 900 AD and lasted somewhere between 1 and 4 years. And yes, that IS ice on the right side of the picture! In July!
When you reach the floor of the lava tube cave, you look back out to the entrance and notice you are already several stories below the surface.
But we aren't done yet! You keep going down another set of stairs where you really start to feel the cold air of the cave. At this point, Trick stopped to give us the ground rules for visiting the cave, and one of them is "please don't touch anything." And of course, the two people in front of us IMMEDIATELY began touching the walls. (Face palm.) Language barrier or total morons? You decide!
Not too far from the entrance to the cave is the narrowest part which might only be a couple of feet wide at it's narrowest point. I snapped this pic of the man in front of me to give you an idea of how narrow it really is. You really need to almost bend in half to get through here, particularly if you're Todd! Sorry, it's not the best quality photo because I was moving and taking a pic at the same time! You can also see the green rubber mat that they put down because even in July, there is ice on the floor here.
There are some awesome ice formations (stalagmites!) on the ground here but they aren't very tall this time of year, and it was dark enough in this section to require need a better flash than my camera has to offer. But the ice on the ceiling here reminds me of stars in space!
The lower half of the above picture is where the "high lava mark" is located. This is where the lava was flowing after the roof of the cave had formed due to the lava cooling into a thick crust. Think of it like a high water mark, but with lava. How high did the lava get in this tube after the tube formed? It got this high!
HILARIOUSLY, that is not what you think it is. Trick called this a "lava shit" (not a technical term) which is really just lava that had dripped down from the ceiling and dried this way.
Trick also pointed out that there were a lot of rocks on the floor of the lava tube that over time had fallen from the ceiling.
Thank GOODNESS we didn't feel the earthquakes until later because this ceiling would have FREAKED ME OUT (more on that in a bit!) I love the shapes and colors though!
Whoa. Anybody else see that? In this part of the cave, Trick pointed out that there had been some bones, glass and leather artifacts, and even some pearls discovered up there in 1993. Although not much else is known, it was suspected that they came from a Viking era man who entered the cave seeking shelter over a thousand years ago.
Next, Trick hopped over the walkway to show us the "chocolate wall." The chocolate wall is named this because the lava (full of iron and sulphite, giving it the brown color) had squeezed through the cracks in the lava tube and in some spots, dripped down the wall making it look like chocolate. Here, he was pointing out the stalagmites that were "growing" up from the bottom of the cave. Of course, stalagmites don't grow up - they are a result of water/lava dripping from the ceiling onto the floor.
You can see the very thin stalactites hanging down from the ceiling here. They look like tiny ropes!
While not the longest cave in Iceland, it IS the largest cave by volume! Superlative, check! It's about a mile long, although you only go just shy of about a half a mile (600 meters) to this cool "room!"
The owner of the cave (yes, there is an owner, even this deep underground!) has started to hold various orchestral concerts in here which were apparently awesome due to the amazing acoustics. He even has some big events planned in the future, including a Sigur Rós concert! You can see that there are lights in here, and it's wired for electricity so this is totally doable. If you're wondering how someone can "own" an underground cave, it's because in Iceland, people who own the land also own everything beneath it (unlike many places in America because oil, coal and gas are sometimes beneath the surface, and you would have to own separate mineral rights for that.)
The last thing we did in the cave before walking back to the entrance was not something I could take a picture of. Trick thought it would be funny (not!) to turn off all the lights in the big room at the end and tell us a scary story about the troll Hallmundur who lives in this cave and eats little children! Hallmundur is mentioned in one of the famous Icelandic sagas, the Grettis saga and the lava field here is actually named after him so he is *kind of* a big deal. For real though... the lights were out for several minutes and it was really tough for your eyes to figure out what was going on. It was DARK. The kind of dark where you couldn't get your eyes wide enough to let enough light in because it simply wasn't there.
I'm glad I had humans for scale here! And I'm glad to be out of that cold, damp and SUPER DARK cave! Is it happy hour yet???
I think Grant and I like the lava fields of Iceland the best. It's the craziest landscape!
Next up was lunch in the car before we went to see some more waterfalls! I seriously think this is my favorite that we do in Iceland - vehicle picnics!
This sandwich is weirdly good. Grant didn't like his though.
Not far from the Cave Vidgelmir is the Hraunfossar waterfall. This waterfall is not a single waterfall, but a wide series of them, draining through the lava fields and all emptying into the glacial Hvítá River. As we were standing there, we noticed some sheepers in the upper left corner of the above picture, having some grassy snacks and maybe trying to get a drink of water.
Grant checking out the blue waters of the Hvítá River.
This is just so spectacular!
Me and my boys at the Hraunfossar waterfall.
There are some well marked paths that you can follow between the Hraunfossar waterfall and the Barnafossar waterfall, which gives you a different perspective of the Hraunfoassar waterfall. We kept our eyes out for more sheep! There were now TWO in the picture above - can you spot them?
Goofball Grant was doing this on purpose. We walked up toward Barnafossar and got another glimpse of Hraunfossar- and of the viewpoint we had just been on (above Todd's head).
Barnafossar is a much louder and stronger waterfall that comes crashing through the ravine. This is on the downstream side of the waterfall.
There is a little bridge you can cross to check out the views of Barnafossar. This waterfall's name translates to "Children's Waterfall" because of the legendary story of the two children who died at the waterfall. Their mother went to a Christmas day church service, leaving them home alone. When she came back, the children were gone, so they sent the search teams out to find them. They found footprints leading to a stone arch that went over the river near the falls, but that's where the trail went cold and since the children were never found, the assumption was that they fell off the stone arch and into the waterfall ravine. In her grief, the mother had the stone arch destroyed. I think we are walking across the spot where that "might" have been.
My crazy boys walking on some old lava rocks in the Hallmundarhraun lava field (the same one that made the Cave Vidgelmir since it's right around the corner form here.) Hraunfossar actually translates to "Lava Waterfall."
This ravine was MOVING. I wonder with climate change and more water coming down from the melting Langjökull glacier whether that small arch will eventually erode and fall?
If you're wondering whether Natalie missed us, the answer was NO. She was off living her best life on her Celebrity cruise ship with Nana in the blue waters of the Caribbean!
Meanwhile, we were mesmerized by the Barnafossar waterfall and how rapidly the water was flowing down the river.
I can't ever get over how much natural beauty exists in Iceland!
After our adventures in the Húsafell area, we drove back to Reyjkavik for a little happy hour in the apartment before dinner. Grant was having a snack of chips and salsa at the small dining table we had in the apartment, which was sort of rocking the table a bit. Suddenly, Todd said, "Do you feel that?" And we notice everything in the apartment was shaking! I'm like, "Oh I thought that was Grant moving the table!" Nope. It was a 5.3 earthquake! The same volcano that was active on our visit last year, Fagradalsfjall, was once again waking up.
All of that excitement made us hungry! So we headed out to the Rainbow Road toward our destination - Salka Valka restaurant!
At Salka Valka, Grant enjoyed pizza, and he decided he really liked Appelsin, a fizzy orange soda that he thought tasted like it had alcohol in it (it did NOT.) His favorite church is down the street in the background!
HOLY COW. I'm not even vegan and this was the best meal I had in Iceland! Salad, sweet potatoes, basmati rice, hummus and sourdough bread. Along with the best soup ever - chickpeas, paprika, coconut milk, ginger and a hint of chili. This was AMAZING. You can see Todd got the "fish stew" which isn't really a stew at all. It's oven baked haddock and cod covered in a Béarnaise sauce with leeks on rye bread. He also got the soup!
Yes. Totally awesome Icelandic street art, MEOW!
My boys walking back from dinner under a beautiful sky.
We love a good after dinner drink out on the balcony, but it was cold so we really had to bundle up!
This picture was taken from our balcony around 9 pm.
Believe it or not, this one was taken just after midnight!!!
And this one, with just a HINT of light out on the horizon was taken just after 1 am! What a difference there was in the amount of sunlight/daylight between this year and our visit last year (which was about two calendar weeks later than our visit this year.) Amazing!
This earthquake woke me up! Yes, another one! What a wild day in Iceland!
Next up, the incredible Sky Lagoon!
