Iceland Day 6 - Northeast

Despite a late night enjoying the Aurora borealis, we left Seydisfjordur at about 630am, making a quick stop at the Gufufoss waterfall on the way back up the mountain. We then stopped at the top to make coffee and oatmeal overlooking Egilsstadir and the lovely Lagerfljot valley.

After a fuel stop at the N1 in Egilsstadir, we regained the Ring Road and headed northwest. Yet another warm and sunny day greeted us, and before long we had turned southwest and made a quick visit to the Rjukandafoss waterfall along the side of the road. Shortly afterwards, we turned off onto the 923 before taking a gravel road in to Studlagil Canyon.

We parked in the first lot and walked, as the second lot was down a much rougher stretch of dirt and gravel road. This did add about a half hour to the hike, but felt like the safe thing to do. Another day, another three and a half hour hike....but to a unique basalt canyon that only appeared a few years ago when a hydroelectric project diverted the glacial source waters of the Jokuldalur valley.

We could have done the relatively easier approach from the west side, where you can drive right up to some steep stairs down to the valley. Instead, we opted for the much longer walk into the east side of the canyon, where views are more scenic and diverse. We were tired but not disappointed! 

From Studlagil, we returned to the Ring Road and continued west, through a stretch of completely barren and almost lunar landscape - for at least 100 km, we saw no gas stations, no other roads, no restaurants, no shops, no sheep, and no vegetation. It felt like driving on another planet, but for the occasional transport passing the other way on the narrow and elevated roadway.

We stopped at Dettifoss in the afternoon, the most powerful water fall in Europe. It's hard to believe that with SO many waterfalls, we keep finding more that can still wow us.

Moving on, we passed through some fumaroles and geothermal vents before arriving in the town of Reykjahlid on the shores of Myvatn, where we grabbed beer and a few groceries before setting up at the Hlid campground in town for the night. 

After dinner, we were treated to a glorious sunset, some sheep walking through the campground, and more than a few of the area's famous midges - Myvatn literally means "lake of midges" in Icelandic.

Gufufoss

Pressed coffee and oatmeal with a view

Rjukandafoss

The long walk into Studlagil Canyon

Beautiful Basalt 

Well worth the long hike

I felt like Q-Bert!

Another triumph for the new knees

Dettifoss in northern Iceland

More waterfall rainbows

That's a lot of water!

Sunset over Reykjahlid

We're still the blue dot!

Burgers for dinner - they sell both patties and buns in packs of TWO!

Lava flows in our campsite