ICELAND 2016 Day 9 Rounding up the horses

In the morning I got invited by Eva lina to join her group in a sightseeing tour around Hvatness Peninsula. I have been trying for the last years to catch a glimpse of the area around here, and Hvitserkur especially. I managed to get to Kolugljúfur last week. But of course I joined the group on this mornings sightseeing. Starting off with going to Hvitserkur.

Hvitserkur is a standing alone rock, I suppose a part of what once was a crater in the bay nearby. It is shaped like a prehistoric rhino x dinosaur crossbred. I expected it to be much taller than what I saw, but still its impressive.
Due to time we didnt have time to climb down to see it on eyelevel, but at least I could take it off my want to visit list.

Right after this visit we went to Borgarvirki, another dormant crater in this area, I had seen the roadsign for it but thought like with most sites ending with -virki thought it was a powerplant or another local utility. Driving in the middle of nowhere high up we reached it and it was no lie that the views were amazing. Here at this place, every year in July there is a summer concert to be held, which draws everybody from here and Hvammstangi to attend. I could only wonder how they get all the equipment inside this crater.... :) And one of the woman in our group who has been here, said that a man riding a white horse asuming to be Odin and Sleipnir, rode all the way up here, on the rims and looked quite eery in the midsummer darkness. It must be interesting to go here once I moved to Iceland.

After enjoying the views, we moved on once more and I felt it could only be Kolugljufur to be next. And it was. Well as it is for me Icelands most beautifull waterfall so far, that was not a bad thing. I took even more pictures here. It looks like fairy land to me sometimes! So much colors...

Our morning was gone quickly and after lunch (hurray soup again) we drove to the sheepcorral to get our horses ready for the rounding up. This year the weather was good, and the herd arrived extremely quickly after we arrived. They wont leave before 2 from here so it was no problem. But they arranged a few things for the better in how everything goes.

Sunna has become sooooo dirty.... Hehehhe my luck and reason why I probably dont want to own a paint horse with too much white. :p

We were riding out ahead of the herd calmly, mostly in walk or a slow relaxed tölt. Then when we crossed the first river, we rode up away from the river bank and waited there for the herd to catch up with us, giving plenty of opportunities to film, take pictures and watch. It was no longer possible nor allowed to ride within the herd. All riders waited here, and when the herd came in sight, those who wanted to be in front, left long before the herd crossed the first river. I think this was a good thing. I remember how epic it was last year when I ended up in the middle of the herd while crossing the rivers. But also realise this is very dangerous too as those loose horses can lash out, or bump you off your horse.
But watching from here to see the herd passing by was another thing that I totally loved. In some ways the herd doesnt look big, in other ways when they form a line, it seems endless.

We cross this river before the herd does and wait for the herd to pass us by from aside.

We followed the herd crossed some more rivers and ended up at the place we always have a longer break for coffee and kleinur. There we wait for the other herd to give signal to arrive at more or less the same time as our herd at the other side of the bridge. Once riding horse walked loose and managed to cross the barfence that avoid sheep to cross to no grazing zones. Usually those are made horse friendly, they wouldnt cross it, but if they do, if not too paniced they get out of them. This horse did, but its leg doesnt look good... Poor thing, it didnt want to put weigth on it, usually signaling either broken bone or torn tendons. But over time and a few check ups later it looked slight better. I hope it got better, because in Iceland, unless it is an expensive horse, they usually go to slaughter not really awaiting recovery. I think and hope this one was lucky, but it is not a nice sight to see... But if you let your horse walk free things like this can happen. I wonder though what this horse was thinking, they learn as foals that this is no go zone. And he confidently took this way.
Once given the signal to move on, we did move on, full speed to the second stop where we wait for the other herd.

And then we saw stupidity unfolding before our own eyes. A touring car with obviously Chinese (seeing so much flashlights...) made its way toward Kolugljufur. Insisting to go there, just when the other herd is expected to arrive. So yeah this bus ended up within this herd, and one guy fell of his horse with his face torn open. Ambulance had to get there, also through 2 herds, but ours was on a meadow, much easier to pass. The guy is ok, for your information. Wounds on faces and heads always bleed like crazy, looking worse and more dramatic than they are. But I guess this touringcar was just too much for some horses to pull through a herd of about 2-300 horses.  

When the herd finaly mingled with ours, we rode in the back following the ribbon of horses to their overnight pasture. And after a fast we are going home ride, we put our horses in the pasture at Litla Ásgeirsá the farm belonging to the horse round up. And we went back to Gauksmyri to await dinner. What a surprise... soup again. But now Kjötsupa, very welcome after a day like this. The vegetarians got a great looking veggy dish. Im jealous... after 2 days only soup you start to long for something else to eat. Though me even as vegetarian, wants to eat least eat once kjötsupa when in Iceland. Because its so delicious.

After diner we got invited to go over to Hvammstangi for a relaxed evening. I guess I will consider staying here next year, as Gauksmyri changed ownership also made the price double for the programm. Its gets too exopensive for me now. If I stay here for the same price, I save money for car rental and food. I can rent a car when they return me to Keflavik and travel out to South Iceland. It sounds like a plan. And they have a hot tub and oceanview with horses and whales in the garden. Well the whales in the bay. ;)
We had some beers and while the others did or did not go to the dancing later, I and the Finnish girl went back to Gauksmyri to close the day.

ICELAND 2016 Day 8 Riding tour Galtanes

As is usual the first day of my stay here is 2 riding tours. The programm told me we would pick up the horses and ride them to Gauksmyri in the morning and in the afternoon to the sheep corral where we would start the round up tomorrow. I was already happy that would mean fairly easy riding, no rivers to cross. I though the rivers would be deeper than last year due to all the rain last week, and last year we already crossed a few rivers touching the horses belly and made foals need to swimm.

But programs change, we did the same riding as last year, which means crossing rivers... Ai I am really not so fond on crossing rivers. But that has more to do with my current insecure situation on my life. I loose balance easily :(

Since this year, Steinbjorn who basicly executes this horse round up tour, took over the people who do this tour from Gauksmyri, I and a Finnish girl still booked with Gauksmyri but the other 8 woman stayed with Steinbjorn and Eva Lina in Hvammstangi. So a bit lonely for us two but we didnt have less fun. We met with the group and saw back the one regular who is every year in this program. And went to the horses staying at Galtanes.

I decided to take another horse for this ride. Thorra is very nice but maybe I outgrew her a bit, maybe she played tricks with me I dont know, but it was always a tiring job to keep her going, I had the idea I exhausting her to close death. So now I got a more lightfeet horse, a chocolate paint called Sunna. And I love her :)

We in the morning took the ride without the herd, just to feel comfy with our given horses, and we were all very happy. It was just the ride downstream Viðidalsá river, along the ringroad a bit and then back with crossing the river from the other side than last year. It wasnt so deep now, clearly could see the bottom and the boulders in it. Only the wall was quite steep to go down. But oh are the horses so capable... we all got there without wet feet.

Before lunch we went to Hvammstangi for the ladies to buy some booze at the Vinbuðin, the liquor store as in Iceland this is the only place where you can buy alcohol. I didnt buy anything, I had no money with me, and still I dont feel like making this a crazy beer party. Im too decent.

Lunch was just soup and salad. And after that we moved on to bring the herd from Galtanes to the sheep corral. Today we did cross 4 or 5 rivers, but surprisingly not much water in it this time, no wet feet at all. But Sunna has a magic belly and I had like 2 or 3 times check on her girth and tighten it more. The cold water makes the horses bellies flat out so you risk to have a saddle that slides left or right. And if it does, balance wont help you anymore. Its an weird feeling to experience, like being in a slap stick and the last thing you want is to end up in icecold water that way with a lot of horses on the loose around you. But all well and done, we all made it to the sheep corral, where all the horses would stay for the night awaiting tomorrows round up.

Nothing much happened today, I had skipped dinner in Gauksmyri today, saving some money.
Auroras were out again but with much more clouds than yesterday it only returned photo´s with faint green glows... Too bad... but very early in the morning it was all clear skies again and I watched them from my bed. Nice and comfy, and it was ok this way.

ICELAND 2016 Day 07 To Gauksmyri

Well this day is the last day in my touristing part of my holidays. Im heading out to Hvammstangi to go to the horse round up of Viðidalur which is the main reason for me going to Iceland this time of the year. With pain in my heart I left Húsavík, this tiny town had such an impact on me, I just cant explain. I felt like last year when I drove out of Hvammstangi, a sudden feeling of emotions that hit me there, and forced me to park on the roadside to deal with it. But last year I drove towards some more added happiness, which this year, didnt fell part of my holidays. I left Húsavík behind, where I saw this amazing auroras two nights ago. Which led me to so much beautifull places and touched my heart. I doubted to go on a whalewatching tour as the weather was so calm, and the water shimmered like a mirror. But money, I simply didnt have it. I couldnt afford it, despite this week has a 100% ratio of seeing whales. Life throws lemons sometimes.

On my way to Hvammstangi, I planned to visit Goðafoss again, assuming it would be on the way to Akureyri. But suddenly I was there on the mountain pass that overlooks the bay and I knew I missed the Goðafoss, by simply not being on that part of the ringroad. I drove by another way to the ringroad than I expected. A nice one though.
It was easy to drive back if I wanted to, but I would see Goðafoss again for sure. I turned right to visit Laufas, the old turf church and farm, to find out it was closed and no where allowed to park the car. I took some pictures and moved on to Akureyri.

In Akureyri I took a little break on this beautifull day to visit the botanical garden there. I have never felt so out of Iceland as here. It was beautifull so un Icelandic as could be, seeing all this trees and flowers, and nice hide outs. I loved it. Really I do. And it was even free to visit. I so love Iceland!
I walked around and took a drive with a friend I caught up with, who drove me up to the ski resort, to have another view of Akureyri, and after that to the large forest near Akureyri which was inhabited by a lot of rabbits looking like Teun Fewspots. My lovely rabbit at home.
So in the end, I still visited some of the things I couldnt due to all the rain while staying in Akureyri. But still the town itself has to wait.

On my way to Hvammstangi again, it was awesome weather, I stopped at Hraundrangar, and it was so warm, feeling like 20 degrees or more. Could easily walk in tshirt there.

I had a quick lunch and went off to visit Glaumbær. Glaumbær is a turf farm museum in Skagafjorður. But it costed money to see everything, and I cant pay everything. I just wandered around and saw what I could, and proceeded my journey. Strange enough it led me to Sauðarkrókur. And after Sauðarkrókur it led me more north and followed another road through the middle of nowhere. It was a nice change of course, less traffic than on the ringroad. I loved it.

I reached my destination shortly after that. Such a nice day. I checked in into my room and just relaxed a bit. Circumstances looked fine for another aurora display tonight, so I prepared my camera for that. But sadly later that night clouds gathered. It was thin enough to see the auroras were going wild again, it flashed all in green like a freaky light show, making the world look spooky. And once in a while I saw a curtain of auroras roll out over a patch of clear sky. It was impossible to picture it, and so I just stood there and watched. Taking only the following picture (not available just yet. Sorry). We cant have luck all the time. I was lucky to be in Iceland during a major solar storm lasting for almost a week, but unlucky to have cloudy nights on most of the nights, to say only one was without. But it was the best night. Lucky enough for that :)


Lets gear up for tomorrow, finally after a whole year touching and riding horses again. But still doubting about wether to choose my Thorra or another horse... choices choices... 

ICELAND 2016 Day 06 Myvatn, Dettifoss & Aurora Blast!

Today I go back to Myvatn again. On my time driving around, I noticed there is a road going directly from Húsavík to Myvatn, instead of going via the Ringroad 1.
I decided to take this road now, as it seemed to look like a paved main road. It all went well for the first km, soon the farms left out of sight and the road changed to gravel. And there I drove up and down the hills on a gravelroad in the middle of nowhere. Luckily it was a good quality gravelroad, but sometimes the uprise was quite large, but a truck also crossed my path so it must be ok.
After a long drive in the middle of nowhere, lake Myvatn rose up in the distance. And must say it was a beautifull viewpoint once the road turned to turmac again.

I planned to go to Dettifoss first, as this was furthest away. Knowing it was only 23 km away from the ringroad, I dared to risk it to drive there with 250km still on diesel in my car. But once I drove on the westside of the river, my navigation told me it was 75km to Dettifoss. Wtf? Why suddenly 75km? Just because I choose the westbank? Well I decided after 20 km to turn around and go back to get diesel in the nearest tankstation, which was of course Reykjahlið, which I passed on my way to here.
Since I was on my way back, passing Krafla and Namaskarð geothermal area, I decided to visit Namaskarð already. Last visit it was raining and I didnt see a lot of this area and they say it is one of the most beautifull geothermal areas of Iceland. Well I didnt figure that one out, but it was nice to for once walk around the many fumerols and mudpods here. And yes some of them had intense colors, but still I was convinced the ones at Reykjanes are more beautifull. Maybe just because of the surroundings, as this was one plain field full of mud and sand with the Earth ever farting and releasing sulphur gasses. Im not saying it wasnt beautifull, I just dont consider it the most beautifull of Iceland. My opinion :)

After visiting here, I drove to Reykjahlið and took the chance to go to the toilet. I remember how last year I got so uneasy never knowing where to use the toilet and left places way too soon because of my need. Now I know toilets are everywhere life gets easier ;-) But thats another story. With a full tank and empty bladder I hit the road again back to Dettifoss. Only to find out I turned around only few km away from Dettifoss parking. This summer, there has been constructed a very convenient parking and paved roads to deal with the mass tourism on the once challenging and barely accesible westflank of the river. Everybody went to the east side as this was a little bit easier to access for 2WD cars, but the climb down to the falls was and still is a tricky maybe even dangerous one. So I choose for the westflank where it was safer but the road less accesible. I assume the navigation would have send me all the way up north to end up again at the eastbank on the other side. My only guess...

But everything was paved up to the wide parking with facilities, and a newly constructed trail led to viewing platforms to watch both Dettifoss and Selfoss. Probably also Hrafnagilfoss which I so badly want to see. But it is a loooong walk away. And I need to have a goal for a next visit :)
The path to the falls goes through moonlike landscape. Only rocks, wherever you look. All black and grey, barely any color. A few herbs and plants tried to pioneer here. It was also a long but not unpleasant walk to Dettifoss, despite in rain and wind it would be a killer. I took the photos on my iphone though, and havent found a way yet to get them on my computer as my prehistoric Imac cannot sync anymore with Iphone 5 and newer. Via iphone 4 I only get the low resolution photos.

Selfoss

Selfoss. Hard to believe this calm looking waterfall and low flow turn into the fury of Dettifoss just 500 meter downstream. This photo I even took almost at the rim of Dettifoss, because I was too tired to walk all the way up to Selfoss....

At Dettifoss it is always raining. Lots of fogs rise up leaving you wet on this sunny day. I find my way out of the worse fogs. The fall has awesome rainbows over it though, and the sight of it was beyond imagination. This monster is HUGE. I didnt go to the lowest platform where you can almost touch the water, I was a bit overwhelmed, maybe scared to do so. You have no idea how impressive this waterfall is until you see it with your own eyes. On the photo's here, there are 4-5 people on the rim on the leftside other side of the fall. Can you see them? Exactly.... This fall is 45m high ( thats about 12 stories building) and 100 meter wide going diagonal down in this canyon that maybe is 50-60 meter wide. And what amazes me most is that the river in it looks so shallow, yet creates this massive monster.

I stood there for a while, rethinking 2 years ago; when I wanted to visit, but couldnt due to the Holuhraun eruptions and it was restricted as they feared Bardarbunga would create a huge jokullhaup, destroying or even set dry this waterfall forever. I cant imagine this to happen, sure it is possible but... the idea. Nature can be so brute so powerfull. Even Dettifoss is not gonna be like this forever thats for sure. Bardarbunga is still snoozing, and when it wakes, which is as we speak quite actual, Dettifoss will change. This is a sight to behold. Nothing lasts forever, but I hope I will see it another time again.

After I returned towards Myvatn, I followed my plan to go hiking at Krafla. My last visit I didnt go further than Krofluvirkjun, the geothermal electricity plant. This time a camper gave good example and  drove on. I followed a bit unsure. Im so used that places like this are fenced in like fortresses, and made impossible to come close to. But everything feels so open. And I ended up at a viewing point. It was at Viti, Kraflas blue crater lake. It has warm water but you cant reach it, unlike Viti at Askja volcano in which you can swimm if it is not too hot. Viti means hell. So you can imagine the name isnt used for no reason. I am happy to see Viti as a pleasant surprise. Because I didnt plan nor expect to visit it, while it is on the bucket list. I take pictures and enjoy the views before I drive back for a little bit to go to another parkingplace, where the trails start. No idea what to expect here, but the information told me it was the lava fields created by the Krafla fires in 1986. An impressive fissure eruption going a lot of km wide.

Viti crater

I took a long hike here, to Leirhnjúkur. Another geothermal area. And here the mudpots had the most bright colors you can imagine, from lemon yellow to blue, green and sparks of bright red, with in the background still smoking lavafields as far as eyes could see. Walking over plates of lava, earth that has surfaced 'only' 30 years old, still too hot to walk on. Sizzling sounds come from deep below. I could imagine lava to still flow there, maybe in the darkness still glimmering through the many cracks. Which is of course bullshit. But imagination... Lava isnt very far below my feets. Its a scary idea, but on the other hand a safe idea that it all has chance and places to release the heat, captured in electricity and hot water to heat the houses.
Its outerworldly here, and I understand completely why they use this area to train and test space missions and equipment. Húsavík has a space museum and if I wondered why on earth in Húsavík, I understand now. Woow....

Impressive colors

Without this walk, it would be impossible to see the beauty. The ground is very hot in some places, full of cracks and huge plates of lava hiding off caves and fractile ground.

The earth is steaming from every crack you see, lava flows quite close to the surface here, freely thank goodness. Here you shouldnt walk off the beaten tracks. You see one in the middle. No wood walks here.

Sometimes its hard to believe Krafla fires where back in 1984, so much years later it feels like yesterday. Well a bit longer... ;)

One of the many craters formed by Krafla fires. Its my wish to once do a guided trip to the inlands here. I could walk, there are trails, but there are many km to be made. And amazing things to see.

Pieces of the earth shuffled up on a big pile. The earths forces are so unbelievable

Steamvents.... Here the earth is very hot, its steams, sweats, moarns and rumbles once in a while. Dont leave the trail :) It's possible this is also a meteorite crater, there must be one in this area, but I have no idea where.

Well the many walks I took, made the day end here too. I drove back around Myvatn, seeing it all from the other side. Beautifull area... It still calls to be explored more. I doubted to go visit Grottagjá knowing that visiting Iceland again is getting harder and harder, and that I should take chanced to visit anything I can. But it was late, I was tired after so much walking and driving today and previous days. My mind overloaded with information, impressions, thoughts and emotions. This journey had not been easy and my life is already full of too much things to worry about. In Iceland I usualy release a lot of this worries and stress, it helps me to recharge, to reset and to make life worth living. But it eats energy. And the bad news I got also had its bad share in it all.

I went back to Húsavik, but today was the day they predicted massive aurora displays. While driving back, I looked out for spots to catch the lights, I choose to go to Goðafoss. But in the evening, I drove off north, to the parking that faces to the northpole. Impossible to have light polution there. If only I didnt forgot about Kopasker still being there. Ah well... I drove off at 19.00 when it was still light. Roads can be so dark... and last thing I wanted is to drive off a cliff somewhere and no one to find me. By the time I was there, it was dark and I drove by 2 parkings as I didnt see their entrance before I checked my navigation giving a blue line where I left the road. Here it was... And at 20.00 the first auroras appeared... woow they must be strong, still some sort of twilight. And it was so cold... but happily I had the car with me, and I sat there. I took many pictures but it wasnt really the show I expected and after 1 1/2 hour clouds came drifting in, and I decided to head back to Húsavík to the airport where there is also a parking lot. But there were a lot of cars there already, and I dont want to be together with Chinese or whatever.  I drove on, with another car close behind me. I turned over to a road towards a farm hoping to rid them, but of course they had to be at this farm. My luck... Sigh.

Lots of auroras colored the sky green, but still not the impressive ones, and a few clouds, though faaaar less than before. I drove back towards Húsavík. And when I drove by the golfclub, I decided to park my car here, just to check. And just that moment, the hell broke loose. I was standing there almost crying for what happened here. The cosmic shower was turned on, ribbons of green and purple bare eyed poured down from east to west from north to south, rippling down like dancing on the music of the stars. Fireworks are nothing. And the auroras were so bright it lit up the whole area like a bang. And the most epic was the silence where you would expect fairybells, twinking, crackling and other fantasy sounds. But nothing.... all silence and this awesomeness... I stood mesmerised for a loong time. Tried to take pictures, but at a time thought, what the heck with pictures. Im gonna watch, Im gonna feel this through all my body and senses, I make this glued on my brightest memories forever. What a blessing to be here right now. So I barely have pictures.

After 30 minutes the big dynamic activity started to subside to the more common weaving green ribbons with occasional outburst of cosmic showering. I drove back to the guesthouse in full satisfaction. This was what I wanted to see for so long. And finally no clouds to disturb it. This aurora storm lasted for many many days, but this was the only one with clear skies. But happy to have seen them at least on the best day possible.

And the night was a short, but the dreams of memories so beautiful. Húsavík is such a blessed place to be!