With the seventh day came our second bus trip; this time to Þórsmörk (Thor's Woods). When we saw the modified off-road bus awaiting us, we knew we were in for some serious business.
It was pouring most of the morning, but we got a brief break in the rain to catch a glimpse of two famous volcanoes on the way to Þórsmörk. On the left is that total A-Hole, Eyjafjallajökull, also know as the volcano that grounded us in Scotland last year. On the right, obscured by clouds, is Hekla (once thought to be the gateway to Hell, leading to the origin of the english word "heck".)
We were warned that the bus needed to cross some "small streams" on the way, but all the consecutive days of heavy rain made things get interesting pretty fast.
Our first stop allowed us to view some of the outstanding fall colors on the mountainsides. Iceland has few trees - it's mostly mosses, shrubs, and grasses - but even those turn brilliantly red in the autumn.
With another brief break in the rain we stopped to see a small finger of a glacier and an excellent rainbow over the mountains. I have no photo to document it, but the two minutes I spent out of the bus here were probably the two windiest minutes of my life. I was literally blown off balance and nearly to the ground at one point when I dared to step out from the behind the bus, which had been providing a bit of wind shelter.
On the left with the pipe is our guide and driver, Erlingur. He was a man of many talents, possessing a vast knowledge of Icelandic history and geology, while giving the tour both in fluent English and German, and (as you are about to see) expertly navigating some insane driving situations.
As we pressed onward toward Þórsmörk, the rain returned heavier than ever. It quickly formed massive, torrential rivers over the plains of barren ash. Erlingur kept right on pressing through them, sometimes easily three feet deep with strong currents. We were all probably fairly terrified, but he seemed unphased.
Finally we arrived at our destination and had a warm, indoor lunch break. Erlingur pointed out a beautiful hiking trail we could try and let us know the time at which we had to be back to the bus to leave.
There was another break in the rain, so Maggie and I decided to take a shot at the trail. It started out pleasantly enough, but quickly became a FOOLISH DECISION, as I will show you.
The views were amazing for the first few minutes before the rain returned. Then (as you can see in the 2nd pic) it became difficult to keep the camera dry.
Soon it was really raining.
Then it was REALLY, REALLY raining.
Eventually it just became treacherous. The path snaked around this amazing rock formation, but to reach it you had to cross that narrow bridge of land on the left side. This would be a bit harrowing in good conditions, as it was only a foot or two wide with no wall on either side. But in pounding rain with 40 mph wind gusts, we didn't even try. Despite being just a few minutes from the end of the trail, we turned around and went a half hour back in the other direction, just arriving in time before the bus was going to leave.
Back in the bus, it is clear that our camera and our clothes are both completely soaked.
Our next stop was supposed to be an hour-long hike to a waterfall at the end of a beautiful gorge, but Erlingur had to cancel it. He said it was only the second time in six years of running this tour that the flooding conditions were so bad that he was unable to take a group there safely. This photo shows our "Plan B" area, which is a much smaller gorge & stream.
Already drenched as much as was possible, it wasn't a big deal to have to just start walking through the stream.
The final bus stop brought us to another great waterfall called Seljalandsfoss.
Here we were able to walk back behind the falls, which was pretty awesome.
The right hand picture shows one of the couple of smaller falls off to the left of Seljalandsfoss.
Though thoroughly wet and cold, it was still a fun, unique, and exciting trip. Though the excitement was admittedly mostly due to the CONSTANT DANGER.
I've just realized I forgot to maintain my photographic documentation of our dinners this day. I believe we ate at the Laundromat Cafe again, because it was close and we were exhausted. Maggie was bummed that our avocado sandwiches had cilantro.