Frozen Waterfalls and Pickled Fish - Day 3

25 February 1016

70km out of the city is Glymur, the tallest waterfall in Iceland, or used to be until 2011 when a volcano erupted, a glacier melted back and a new tallest waterfall was discovered. The hike out was labeled as "treacherous, you would be crazy to hike here in the winter" we decided it would be perfect. 

The hike starts by following a narrow gorge, travels through a cave, and is suppose to cross a very thin log that wasn't there, over a raging ice encrusted river. We opted to back track and hike up an old Jeep track.

 The 198m tall falls had turned into a huge chunck of ice except for a thin ribbon of water crashing down sending spray high up into air. A brisk wind sent us all down the trail after snapping a few pictures at the top.

On the way back we stopped at a tiny church surrounded by graves dating back to the 1600s.

That night hopped on the bus for our Northern Lights tour (part of our trip deal) and headed out to the Lagervatn Fontana hot pools 1.5 hours out of Rekjavik. After a buffet of pickled herring and smoked trout we soaked in the lake side pools and watched the moon rise. Despite Patti's pleading, I could not be coerced into jumping into the lake. I try not to swim in things that have ice sheets on them. Her son however followed her in without a moment of hesitation.

We boarded the bus and went in search of northern lights but the cloud cover was too thick. Upon reaching the city we drove out to the Western point of the city as a last ditch effort. Suddenly, there they were! Thin ribbons of faint green threading across the sky then melting into the night. With the wind howling, we watched the show until we were all numb with cold and the lights started to fade.