It’s been a long time since my last blog post and I’ve been meaning to type something up about my visit to Iceland on the way home from Cambodia. Most of the following is taken from my journal over those days. Enjoy!
Reykjavik, Iceland…the Northernmost capital city in the world. I arrived at the airport at 3:00pm local time. When I originally made plans for my stop over in Iceland, I verified on their web-page that the airport had long-term storage for extra baggage. After asking at an information desk, I discovered that the airport did not in fact have storage, but they thought there was a car rental service ½ kilometer away that had a storage option. I shouldered my three bags for the walk, totaling about 80 pounds of luggage and lugged them to the car rental, who did indeed have storage for the week at a very reasonable price of $5 per day. A 45 minute bus ride from the airport put me into the city center, a clean, beautiful city which was a lot colder than I was used to in Cambodia. I set off on foot around the small city running errands…rented a rain jacket, booked my bus tickets, bought food for the week, picked up my rental camping equipment and carried it all out to the city campsite on the outskirts of town where hundreds of tents were set up in two fields. I fumbled through setting up my new tent for the first time, ate some of the food I had purchased and sorted the rest into small bags for packing. The air was crisp and cool, probably in the 50’s as I climbed into my sleeping bag at 9:00pm…still daylight out!
I woke up and it was light out…I checked my watch…10:30…oh no, my bus ticket was for 8:00am! My mind raced until I looked outside and saw no one else had left either…I checked my watch again…it was 10:30pm and still light out! It eventually got dark for about four hours, although I didn’t get much sleep with all that had changed in the past 48 hours, then got up early to walk 45 minutes to the bus station. The bus ride would be about four hours in total. It only took a few minutes to leave the city limits and enter into a landscape of distant tabletop mountains, ancient lava fields covered in small grasses and areas where steam fled from the ground with geothermal activity.
After two hours the bus turned off the one-lane “highway” and onto a dirt road similar to Cambodia, except the ground was black with ash and dried magma. It was unbelievable that this behemoth passenger bus bumbled over this terrain, rocks, bumps, over mountains, descending steep switchbacks, fording small rivers, etc. The scenery was jaw dropping, big sweeping black hillsides covered in thin layers of neon green grasses and moss and even tiny wildflowers. The slopes looked like running mascara the way they alternated green and black to the paths of rain runoff, it was as if their creator used a wide paintbrush with long continuous strokes, integrating the peaks, slopes, valleys, and plains.
As we climbed deeper I had a gut feeling of nervousness, or anxiety, or worry…it had been drizzling all day and it was cold out…I was concerned about my preparations: my clothing, my physical fitness, my lack of knowledge of the trail, etc. Finally, around noon the bus pulled up to a small city of tents and a small wooden building or two. Not knowing what else I could do, I put on my rain jacket and pants, threw some socks on my hands as gloves, shouldered my pack and got to work!
The views were instantly rewarding, massive swaths of ridges, snow fields, lava formations and expansive green plains…but keeping my rain hood on limited my field of vision and it was difficult to access my camera in the rain, still, my spirits were high. As the day progressed and I climbed higher and higher into the wild, the temperatures dropped, the winds blew so hard I had to walk at an angle leaning into the wind, and I was concerned about being blown down the steep slopes at my sides by powerful gusts. Soon the sporadic snowfields became the norm and the drizzle was always there to add to the challenge. My spirits remained high and other hikers returned my smiles despite the many languages present.
Still I climbed. A thick white fog accompanied the elevation and soon I couldn’t distinguish the horizon from the white snow I was walking on and the white sky above it. I was warm most of the morning thanks to the uphill climbs and the 30ish pound bag on my back. Still higher the trail climbed, always exposed to the string winds and rain and cold. The snow became so thick that I could no longer find the trail markers at times and had to blindly follow others foot prints across the snow fields. At one point I was in the middle of a snowfield with thick fog in all directions. I stopped and looked around in 360 degrees…all I could see was white, nothing else, only the seamless snow and fog surrounding me. Luckily, I caught up to a couple at that point so I felt a little more confident should there be any problems. It didn’t take long to discover that the “rain pants” I rented were only a thin wind shell and soon my shoes, socks, and pants underneath were completely wet. I had been out for over three hours and had only drank a smidge of water and had eaten nothing since breakfast nine hours earlier. I couldn’t stop up here, no stopping to eat, or to change clothes, or check a map, stopping felt dangerous once the hard work of hiking was no longer heating the body’s core temperature from the inside. I was very wet, I was hungry, I was sleepy, and I was now getting concerned about my well being. But I could still force a smile or a happy thought to pull me though.
When I was pushing my limits, I then saw a beautiful thing…a tiny cabin in the middle of a snowfield! I stumbled and slipped through the distance, dreaming of hot chocolate, a warm, dry sleeping bag and shelter form the cold, wind and rain.
I opened the door and it was so full of wet, cold, tired people that I literally could not fit through the door…POOF…my dreams were gone. I took off my pack and forced my way in to hear the woman in charge of the cabin telling everyone that they were at capacity and we had to go because it was too crowded and the registered guests were arriving. I briefly entertained the idea of pitching my tent on the snow outside, but after looking there were no good sites and the winds were too strong. I quickly tended to my primal needs, I changed into dryish clothes, adding two layers to my chest and forced myself to eat and drink despite my lack of appetite. I looked at an elevation chart on the wall…I was currently at the highest point on the trail and had hiked 11 kilometers today…the next hut where I could camp was 1,500 feet lower, but an additional 12 kilometers away. It was awful trying to convince my body that we had to go back out in these conditions and it shivered uncontrollably and struggled to agree. And so, at 4:00pm, I plunged into the whiteness with quick feet and a driving madness, I kept a positive mind, but let being pissed off at the situation fuel my steps across the abyss. Snow, wind, rain, whiteness. I could not longer enjoy the views, only the rhythmic plodding of my feet and trekking poles seen through the hood of my rain jacket. I navigated snowfield after snowfield, being careful to stay on the right path, keeping far from the edges and crevasses so the wind couldn’t sneak me over the side.
It wasn’t long before the dry pants I had put on were soaked, but it made the several stream crossings easy to go straight through when your already wet! I followed a couple from a distance, they moved well and even jogged in the flats, they were a great chase bunny and it was easy to follow then and let them occupy my mind a little bit. We soon had a long descent and the snows became less and less, but my quadriceps screamed from reverse contractions. The descent was covered in a sticky/slippers peanut-buttery mud…as I tried to control my descent, the strong winds were at my back, blowing me down the hill and I struggle to control my speed and footing so as not to slip in the mud and ride down the mountain on my butt. Finally it flattened out into a mossy, grassy valley and I put it in cruise control for the last 2.5 km towards the campsite. The temperatures may have warmed up a few degrees at the lower altitude, but the wind and rain persisted. I set up my tent for only the second time in the driving winds and it took about 20 minutes to secure all the straps and cover the stakes with large rocks to prevent them from coming up in the winds. I climbed into my tent at 7:00pm, still daylight, changed into my only dry clothes, pulled my sleeping bag on tight and laid down giving a few minutes for my body to warm itself. I sipped water from my Camelbak and feasted on camp food to stoke the internal fire. All the while the winds attacked my tent and tested the stakes I had driven…the walls of my tent would blow down on my head in strong gusts and challenged my sleeping bag for body heat. At some point I drifted off to sleep, still light out, still windy, still cold, but knew I had risen to a new challenge this day, confident in my strength and humbled by the experience. Between the epic scenery and the mental and physical challenges of the day, I never even noticed the weight of the pack on my back or the rubbing of the straps on my hips.
Being too cold and tired and lazy in the middle of the night to get out of my tent to pee, I rolled over and attempted to pee out the door…not so great…I ended up peeing on my tent, on my legs and pants and on my sleeping bag. On my next attempt I simply peed into a Ziploc bag and poured it out of the door.
Something was missing when I woke up this morning…after a night of continuous wind gusts, there was complete calm and silence now! I ate breakfast in the tent and waited until after 7:00 to talk myself into getting going. The problem being that it is essential to keep a dry shirt, pants and socks to sleep in…all my other clothes were soaked from the day before. So I got out of my nice warm sleeping bag, took off my nice warm clothes, and slipped into wet pants, shirts, socks, and shoes. Luckily, it was a beautiful, mild-temperature day to dry the clothes out. The trail climbed slowly away from a large lake and along large gulleys formed by snow runoff. Most of the day was spend trudging through vast lava field valleys surrounded by mountains and the huge Myrdalsjokull glacier always looming in the distance. The days stop was another campground in the shadow of enormous mountains and glaciers with a cold, natural spring alongside. I ate again and wandered around for a bit letting my equipment and clothes dry out in the afternoon breeze and even a little sunshine!
I saw my first animals today…a small spider on a rock by a waterfall and a bee in the wild flowers near the spring…there’s just nothing at all out here, natural and untouched.
Let’s talk camp food for a minute! Cheese curls, sour cream and onion spirals, a dense nut bread (I thought it was a chocolate cake), tortillas, some toasted Icelandic pita/tortilla type bread, gummy snacks, spicy crackers, chocolate flavored granola, a block of cheese, pepperonis, Ramen noodle squares, and trail mix consisting of dried fruit, peanuts, caramel peanuts, cashews, almonds, and chocolate covered black licorice! Mmmmm-Mmmmmm good!
I woke up early on day three, but rolled around and ate breakfast until packing up camp at 8:30. It drizzled last night and today there was a high cloud cover. It was still possible to see the nearby mountains, just not the peaks of the highest ones and the two glaciers dominating the horizon, which I now have the game plan to climb between on my last day. Today’s hike was scenic and not a lot of elevation change, it mostly followed snow melt rivers down huge canyons as the water flowed South to the Atlantic Ocean. I ran into a friendly couple from Germany, we were walking in opposite directions, yet we were both heading for the same destination. A quick check of the map and compass showed that they had gotten turned around.
I later saw of family of five short cut a corner of the trail, trampling the vegetation and creating a path for erosion, it irked me. Hours later I saw them again at a river crossing, calf deep and maybe 20 feet across. When I arrived they were all pant-less, standing in their underwear, men and women both, with camp shoes on and holding their belongings as the dipped their toes into the water. I just walked straight across in my shoes snickering to myself, everything was already wet anyhow. Towards the end of the day the trail entered a beautiful lowland forest filled with trees and teaming with purple and yellow wildflowers!
At the campsite I met two Appalachian Trail thru-hikers from 2013, I saw the patch on their backpacks. They were from Michigan and going in the opposite direction, so we traded information on the upcoming sections. I arrived early, so I set up my tent, threw any extra weight inside and put on a nice light pack for a loop around a nearby mountain…a beautiful summit of maybe 50 feet in diameter and 360 degree views, mountains and glaciers in every direction and a massive river confluence flowing out to the ocean. Another side trail took me on a two hour loop down a spur in the middle of the confluence and came back on a rather sketchy trail along the mountain side of steep, loose rock fields…one missed step or if the pebbles didn’t hold, the very serious injury would have occurred. I was happy to get off this trail and questioned the fact that they had it on the map at all for the public to travel. Finally, back at the tent around 6pm, I dried out some clothes and ate dinner. I’m pooped! And getting sick of the same camp food for a few days in a row.
I woke up this morning with a stomachache and small headache, the thought of standing up for especially eating my camp food made me nauseous. Luckily, it was an extra day and I was just going to do local day hikes. I laid in my sleeping bag and chomped away at my book, “A Calculated Risk” (I wouldn’t recommend it). Around 10:30am I finally got out of the tent, walked over to get water and I inquired with the local staff about today and tomorrow’s forecast since I was going to go up and over the glaciers tomorrow. The man said, “Today will be like this all day (partly sunny and partly cloudy), but tomorrow will be bad…very bad, I recommend that you do not hike over to Skogar tomorrow.” Oh no, my grand finale! My mind was made up in an instant, I hurried to my tent and began packing! The hike duration is estimated at 7-10 hours, but luckily it doesn’t get dark here until late in the evening, it had to be today, my window was closing.
While I packed I dumped out my camp food and tried to decide what was least likely to make me vomit. I managed to get down two flour tortillas and maybe five small chocolate cookies (called Marylanders!) I shouldered my pack…here goes nothing! My motivation was high and the weather was beautiful, but my stomach was tied like a bow. The climbing began and continued up, up, and up making yesterday’s mountain look like a speed bump.
The scenery was outrageous in every direction, as usual. After crossing a large table top, I was poised at the base of the snow, ready to make another ascent. My stomach was even worse now, but I knew I had to eat something because once I was exposed on top there would be difficulty in stopping. I’d been thirsty all day and sipped the cold glacial water to soothe my stomach. I attempted another flour tortilla, but it made me wretch. I had to take small bites, then just wash it down with a mouthful of water to trick my body. Then, it was up to the snowfields!
All in all, an elevation gain of maybe 2,500 feet. Did I mention the weather was perfect? High clouds so we could still see everything, and no mist, absolutely no wind, and ideal temperatures…even at the highest elevation I had on less clothes than any of the other days! I took so many pictures, this is the most beautiful place I have ever been. Sloshing through the snow wasn’t too bad and I got to walk through jagged lava fields from the last eruption in 2010.
Coming down the back side of the mountains was still beautiful, but a bit dull as we mostly followed a car path through endless rock fields. My feet hurt and my stomach was still a nuisance. Twice I threw up in my mouth, a sweet tortilla and water concoction! We followed a river chasm for mile after mile as the glacial snow melt cascaded down the mountains featuring some 20+ magnificent waterfalls.
The scenery changed from barren rock fields to lush green grass with grazing sheep and finally down the home stretch we looked out on the Atlantic Ocean to the South!
The final waterfall, Skogarfoss, was the biggest and most beautiful and plummets nearly 200 feet! Many wise tales speak of a treasure chest hidden behind the falls.
I was pumped to finally be at the campsite 7.5 hours after I began, at 6:30pm. Mostly because there was a restaurant here! I still don’t know the conversion rate of Icelandic Kronos to the American dollar, but it didn’t matter…spicy vegetable soup, arctic char fish with garlic mashed potatoes and apple juice! And after that a side order of french fries. I waddled out to my tent and slid into my sleeping bag happy to be off my feet with a full belly! It’s hard to believe I pounded out that trail for 26 kilometers, 2,500 feet of elevation and 7.5 hours on just three tortillas and five cookies…my body never ceases to amaze me and tolerate everything I put it through!
Caution: bathroom talk coming up, read at your discretion! Last night I couldn’t get to sleep. There was a group of people camping nearby who were up late talking, and more importantly, my stomach was so gurggly and full of smelly gas, bloated and in knots. The men’s bathroom had only one stall which meant that when I urgently ran over around 8:00 I had to wait several minutes, and I couldn’t take my time because someone else was waiting behind me. I made that run to the bathroom again at 10pm and another dime during the dark hours. Unfortunately, when I was sleeping, some of that of that gas must have been making it’s way out…but it wasn’t alone…I woke up, touched my butt cheeks and realized that I just pooped inside my sleeping bag while I slept. A small amount of liquid covered my waist area, my sleeping bag, and now, my left hand. Not knowing hot to rectify the situation, not even Peace Corps had prepared me for that, I used the pants leg of some clothes I had hiked in to sop up the mess before slipping on pants to walk to the bathroom to clean myself up. Now I could finally get some shut eye! That is until I woke up a second time covered in diarrhea in my sleeping bag…come on! I now cleaned up with the other pant leg and went about the process much the same as the first.
I slept in until 7:30am when I packed my belongings and tent and boarded a bus back to Reykjavik. I hit the bathroom every time we stopped and sipped a Gatorade on the bus knowing that hydration was paramount. During the four hour trip, it was cold, windy, and rainy and I decided I would treat myself to a hotel room instead of camping in the weather in a poopy sleeping bag at a campground with a shared bathroom a considerable walk away. I stood and sat in the hot shower for many minutes before climbing into bed. The TV only had eight channels and they were all news and stock market information with the same topics on every show and reruns every few shows. It was around 1:30pm and I still hadn’t eaten anything today. My stomach said that the Domino’s pizza I passed along the way would be edible. I trudged through the rain and wind to collect my treasure, although eating it back in the room wasn’t very satisfying and I couldn’t eat that much. I spent all afternoon and evening lying under the covers and dashing to the toilet about every 15 minutes and tried to drink plenty of water. Sometimes I would finish in the bathroom, stand up to walk out and immediately turn around for a second round. And so it went until I hit the lights and went to bed at 9:30pm without dinner.
My last day was spent in the hotel room and I walked around the city a bit for some air, some food, and a view of the area. I found a Thai restaurant for dinner and decided to eat some foods familiar to my stomach…delicious soup and fish with vegetables…and of course, rice! It was 9:30pm when I walked back to my hotel in the sunlight. I laid in bed, closed my eyes, and said, “Tomorrow, I’m going home!”
Joely the Goalie 