Glacier snowmobiling, off-roading, Gulfoss and Geysir.

Our group with our "super Jeep."

On our Wednesday off, Casey and I booked a “super Jeep” Golden Circle tour plus glacier snowmobiling. Nothing but the words, “it. was. awesome.” can describe it!

 

Our day started out by being picked up at 8:30 am by an over-sized, modified white Jeep and meeting our tour guide and “snowmobile guy.” It was an eight passenger Jeep and Casey and I climbed into the back seat when we picked up the other two people on our tour from their hotel. They were a really nice couple visiting from Canada who were just here for the week.

 

From there we headed straight off into the tour. We got some general Icelandic history lessons and had some points of interest pointed out to us in the countryside, like the house of the famous Icelandic author, Halldór Laxness, who won the Nobel Prize in 1955. His house has been donated to the country since his death but his beautiful Jaguar was sitting in the driveway for people driving by to see.

 

Þingvellir National Park.

Our first stop was at Þingvellir National Park, where there were quite a few interesting things to see. The first was the huge gap between two main pieces of land. This is some of the most visible separation of the two tectonic plates (North America and Europe). Because of the divide, there are things like rivers and waterfalls that weren’t there hundreds and thousands of years ago. The main site to see here though was the Alþing (general assembly). At this location, marked with a flag pole, many major events in Icelandic history took place. It was created in 930 and was still used up until 1798. At the assembly meetings, members would sit in a circle and discuss important country matters…it was basically the Icelandic government’s site for all those years and is now protected land.

 

Gulfoss.

After walking from the North American plate across the gap to the European plate, we got back in the Jeep and headed to Gulfoss. This waterfall is one of the most popular things to see in Iceland so I’m now officially one of those tourists who has experienced it firsthand! Similar to some of the things I saw on the south coast/glacier tour, but in its own unique way, Gulfoss was amazing. The water falls in tiers almost, making sharp turns before a massive drop straight down. What was the most exciting about this site was how close we could get to the water. We were within a few feet of actually touching the water, but with the speed and power that it was moving at, I was nooot going to risk falling in! Haha truthfully I was pretty surprised that the only “barrier” to stop someone from falling into the waterfall was a thin, blue rope along the edges of the rocks.

 

Another interesting thing was that the landscape around the waterfall wasn’t particularly special. If you didn’t see the water, it looked like just plain land, almost desert-like. So after taking more self-timer pictures than any normal person should, we went to Gulfoss Cafe to eat our PB&J sandwiches and prepare for three hours on the mountain/glacier.

 

Since our super Jeep was the kind to handle all kinds of terrains, it was definitely well-equipped for off-road driving and that’s exactly what we did on our way to the glacier. All the off-roading we did that day was SO much fun, I can’t even explain! I think it was a combination of the excitement of uncertain driving conditions, knowing I was in a suitable vehicle to handle these conditions and just where exactly I was, getting to do this! We drove over rocks, up sides of hills (I was literally looking out my window at the road we were just on…) and my favorite: through rivers! Looking out the window seeing water a little below eye level is unbelievable.

 

Snowmobiles and a driving "action" shot.

When we finally reached the glacier, we stopped just before the ice to suit up. We climbed into a bus filled with snow gear and layered on our blue snowsuits, “overboots,”ski masks and sweet helmets. (I wore my own gloves…) Then Casey and I perfected our “moon walk” on the rocks while we waited for the two other people who were joining our snowmobile group. When they arrived, we hopped back into the Jeep and drove up onto the glacier. Yet another amazing first that I got to experience here!

 

Once we got to our row of snowmobiles, we got ourselves situated in our outfits while they got our rides up and running. After a quick “how-to” driving lesson, we were off! Unfortunately our timing was a little off as our guides told us the best time to go snowmobiling is around February-March, and the worst time is in August-September. Nice. It’s because by now most of the snow has melted and there is a lot of ice, while earlier in the year there is tons of fresh snow. But, I still had a blast–especially once we made it out past the iciness and into the snow.

 

We drove around through the snow, up and down hills, circling and enjoying the empty glacier. The sun was out then so it made the scenery that much more beautiful. It was white as far as I could see and although it was really cold (~2 degrees Celsius), it didn’t even phase me. We stopped after a while and got to ask our guide about snow sports and activities which made me really motivated to come back in the winter sometime to experience a different kind of Iceland. It’s supposed to be ridiculously cold but I’d love, one day, to come see it snowing here and see the Northern Lights, etc. that I couldn’t see this summer.

 

On the way back to our starting point, I managed to snap a few “action shots” and some video of the experience. Noooot the easiest thing to do: drive/steer a snowmobile with your right hand, take photos and videos with your left, all while trying to maneuver over ice and snow staying on course. But I got some pretty cool pictures so it was worth it!

 

After returning our gear to the bus, we left the glacier and headed toward Geysir. On the way we had the choice to do some more off-roading or take the easy road…is it hard to guess which we chose? This sesh had two high points: one was an answer to a question Casey asked earlier in the day, “How deep in water can the Jeep drive?” Well we came across a pretty full river–I would guess it was a little less deep than I am tall, so maybe about five feet? It was one of the cooler things I’ve done in my short life. The second thing was driving up and down a big sand dune. I’m not sure exactly how tall it was but I would guess about the height of the Jeep, and decently steep. In the video I took, our tour guide tells us, “This is what we do when we’re bored,” after we go over the sand dune. (To which Casey replies, “Really? Can ya’ll call us up?”)

 

Strokkur.

Our final stop was at Geysir, a high temperature geothermal area filled with hot springs. Geysir is the original geyser in this area, hence the name of the site, but is no longer active. The largest, most active now is Strokkur, that erupts every 5-7 minutes and reaches between 25-35 meters (~82-115 feet). I found the most amusing thing to be the crowd surrounding Strokkur holding their cameras up waiting to snap the perfect photo. We saw three eruptions while we were there, two close-up and one a little ways back, standing in front of Geysir. Note to future Geysir visitors: use the “continuous shot” feature on your camera…works like a charm!

 

Finally, our tour was over and we got back in the Jeep and headed home. All in all it was one of the best days this summer. I saw even more unbelievable things than I already have, which makes me appreciate this country that much more… We made some new friends, Jim and Michelle, that thankfully didn’t mind the crazy Americans and extra off-roading that we opted for… And I got to drive a snowmobile over a glacier! I’m not sure that was even a thought in my mind a few months ago, but I loved every minute of it and highly suggest it to all of you!

 

We have a game tomorrow in Selfoss–our first game of the tournament. We’ll be playing without Dufa but if we play as well as we know how, we should be fine. Tomorrow night is also Culture Night in Reykjavik, a huge festival with concerts and everything, so stay tuned this weekend for a game and “culture” update!

 

Photo albums: Iceland – Golden Circle Tour and glacial snowmobiling! and Iceland – Golden Circle Tour and glacial snowmobiling 2!