Flooded roads, Waterfalls, and the Northern lights

Day 4:

Our first stop was a wet one. We hiked up to Fjadrargljufur Gorge which had a beautiful view of waterfalls coming from 4 directions, all flowing together in one point. It was pouring rain and incredibly windy though, and our clothes soaked through entirely. Our "water resistant" pants only lasted about 5 minutes, and by the end of the hike we had puddles inside our shoes. We loved the view, but didn't love that we were soaked before 10am already. Luckily we were only a few minutes up the road from the campsite from the night before, so we headed Bach and used the dryer to dry our clothes before journeying to our next destination. Our next place on the itinerary was svartifoss falls. We got to the parking lot, realized it was still pouring, then found out it was about an hour hike to the falls. We pretty quickly decided that we were tired of being wet and we would just have to see it another time. We continued on to our next spot, the Jokusarlon Glacier Lagoon. After visiting the icy lagoon, we drove through pot hole filled roads to get to another destination which would have been beautiful except for the fog blocking the entire view. We moved on again, striking out a bit with our luck. On our way to find a campsite, we drove through pouring rain, darkness, thick fog, and some of the worst "roads" I've been on in the way of potholes. A few areas the water actually started flooding over the roads and we barely made it through before the highway got shut down due to the flooding. We anxiously drove and drove and drove until we found an open campsite. A huge sigh of relief after a stressful evening of driving.  

Day 5:

Our day began with refreshing showers at our campsite. So far we have had great luck with the campsites we've been to being very clean and having common areas for food preparation and power outlets to recharge all our phones, batteries, and cameras. After making a gormet breakfast of pb&j sandwhiches, we set off for our next adventure. Our first adventure of the day turned out to be our least favorite thus far. We journeyed to Detifoss (another famous waterfall of Iceland) but the roads were not what we expected. When we started seeing signs indicating more gravel roads we started getting flashbacks to the night before, when we drove through fog, pot holes, pouring rain, and more. We kept going, hoping the gravel road was only a short distance, but we were wrong. It ended up taking us about an hour and a half more time than Google maps indicated, each way, due to these roads. We eventually made it to Detifoss, after almost 2 hours on a pothole filled road, to find that there was a dense layer of fog and cold rain and wind. We saw the falls but it was hard to be excited knowing we had to return back through the pothole filled roads to get to highway 1 again. After driving back from this destination, we decided that had the weather been clearer, or had we rented a 4x4 vehicle, the trip would have been much more worth the time and anxiety, but for now we were just looking forward to getting to our next destination. Next on the list: Godafoss! Are you sensing a theme with Iceland yet? Foss means falls, of which there must be thousands here. Godafoss was much more exciting for us and I think we got some photos that will turn out pretty wonderful once I download my camera photos when I get home. When the sun set as we left Godafoss, we made our way to the next town with a campsite, which was akureyri. Here we found an adorable town/city right on the water. We walked around the town and found a chipotle-type of place that we got burritos. It was great eating something warm and filling after a few days of mostly snacking on foods. After walking around the town we made our way up a windy road to find our campsite where we settled in for the night. We checked the aurora forecast to see what the chance was that we might see the northern lights. The forecast indicated we would have about a 32% chance of seeing them IF the sky was clear. We figured the clouds would stick around as they had the rest of the trip. About 15 minutes later, I thought I should at least check outside to see if the clouds were still covering our view. I opened the camper van door and looked up at the sky. I could not believe my eyes and I think I screamed "oh my gosh you can see them!!!!" I started jumping up and down frantically trying to find my shoes and jacket and camera. I was freaking out and over the moon with excitement. I could not believe I was actually seeing the northern lights. After the weather we had been having I thought there would be no chance we would actually get to see them during the trip. The clouds finally dissipated enough to see the magical green colors dancing through the sky above us. I have never seen anything so majestic. We froze our butts off outside but the experience was 100% worth it to see the lights. After a while the lights faded and the clouds reappeared, but I still couldn't contain my excitement. I went to bed grinning ear to ear.  

Day 6:

Today when we woke up we used the kitchen area of the campground to make ourselves breakfast and warm drinks, then we drove down the hill into town to explore in the daylight. We browsed a few shops, picked up a cute Iceland Christmas ornament for our tree this year, and gazed at beautifully handmade wool sweaters that cost an arm and a leg. After walking around town we hit the road for our next stretch of driving. 

Most of the day was spent in the car as we were traveling from the northeastern city of Akureyri to the western peninsula called Snaefellsness Peninsula. We made a few stops on the way to check out more viewpoints and snap some more pictures. Eventually we made it to our next planned stop which was Selvallavatn. Can you guess what we saw? More waterfalls! This country is covered in waterfalls and we have loved every one of them (okay almost every one of them...see above for info on Detifoss). The waterfall here at selvallavatn was another site that has been one of my favorites so far. It's a bit tucked away, but once you walk down the hill some you start to hear the rushing water. We were even able to walk behind the falls! The fall colors all around it were a beautiful touch. The next stop was Kirkjufell! This mountain, known to some as the church mountain, is the most photographed destination in Iceland. It looks more like a witches hat than a church to me, but it's said that from some angles it looks similar to a church. The view of kirkjufell and its waterfalls, kirkjufellfosss, was breathtaking. We stayed as the sun went down behind the clouds. We couldn't get enough of the view, so we are planning to visit it again tomorrow when there is more daylight. We made our way from kirkjufell to our next campsite where we got another quick glimpse of the northern lights! Tomorrow will be spent visiting the areas around the snaefellsness peninsula! But first...some much needed sleep.