Thursday 15 July 1999
The first glimpse of land makes us stunned. The fog almost covers snow-white mountain peaks and as we pass through the fog we examine how the mountains gains color and how the dimensions begins to fit into perspective. It looks very much like the scene approaching the secret island where “King Kong” lives. As the small cars and houses appears we realize how big the cliffs really are.
Shortly after the ferry was at the quay we go to the Danish consulate that is located in what looks like a warehouse. This place also works as Smyril Line’s information office, but there isn’t much help to get. Instead we catch a bus to a small village named “Egilsstadir” where we find a small tourist information and signup for the “Fire & Ice” expedition that takes off the day after.
We buy some food in the grocery and studies this “Klondike” type of place, that reminds us of an oil drilling place in the outskirts of Alaska, last stop before the wilderness. Not, that any of us ever have been in Alaska, but it’s cold and desolated and all cars are big vans with winter coats. I buy myself a woolen scarf, cap and mitten ready for tomorrows hike. Close to 3pm we say farewell to our roommates Sabine and Claudia from Germany, who has decided to travel southwards the “Vatnajökull” glacier. We continue by bus towards “Reykjahliö” at the Myvatn-lake. The bus is a hefty four-wheel driven Mercedes, a very common type of vehicle here.
The drive was some three hours as the 150 kilometers crosses several defiles and rivers. We get our first impression of what Iceland is all about: Rock desert. On the ferry we saw a map over Iceland where a large area was hatched. That area which covered 1/3 of Iceland indicated where all roads were flooded or iced over. The map for this week showed a considerable less hatched area so our vacation seems timed perfectly.
The bus arrives “Reykjahliö” at 6pm after passing near by “Drettifoss” the most powerful river in Europe, bubbling sulfur springs and a Silica plant. The latter pump up mud and extract the Silica from the insects that are buried in the mud. “Reykjahliö” is located near the 37 square-mile large Myvatn-lake, which is surrounded by grassy banks and harden lava. Some 10,000 years ago the lake was covered with ice and was made by volcanic erosion under the ice and melts water from glaciers.
Myvatn is known for it’s good weather as the area is located in shelter by the Vatnajökull glacier. Unfortunately the area is also known for the huge amount of aggressive mosquitoes. We seems to avoid most of them as we camp, maybe we smell to bad even for bugs? This is our debut putting up the expensive scout tent, but we succeed in first try. Later we go for a short walk, looking at souvenir stalks and return home to eat some canned dinner and save our strengths for the coming three days “Fire & Ice” hike.