On Thursday, we slept in a bit as we were finally getting used to the time difference. We got re-packed, and went up to the main house for breakfast. Once again, it was a standard Icelandic breakfast with a spread of breads, meats, cheeses and skyr. This skyr was much thinner than what I had before and had a different tang to it, making me think maybe it was even made from sheep’s milk or goats milk instead of cow’s milk. Still unsure, but I prefer the thicker. Nourished and ready to go, we caught up via facebook on our friends back home all clammoring for a concert happening in April in Stillwater (IYKYK!). Today, we were headed north up the coast, transitioning from south to east to North. We were excited to get away from the major tourist stops and see a little more nature. Boy howdy, did we! This ended up being our Icelandic Animal Checklist day! We tuned our apple music to some Cross Canadian Ragweed and started cruising.
First up, as we cruised along the ring road, we passed the inlet of the Lonsfjordur bay. As we were crossing the bridge, I saw a huge pile of kelp and on it were about half a dozen harbor seals, just relaxing in full poses! By this time, we had seen all of about 3 cars so we pulled over (*note, Icelanders discourage this activity) on the shoulder and I hopped out to grab some amazing pics of the harbor seals. They look HAPPY… with smiles on their faces! I was ecstatic, as yesterday, all I could get were heads of harbor seals while they were swimming.
Not much past the harbor seals, I spotted my first wild reindeer! Now, tbh, I had two fall back plans on reindeer. #1, I had the pic and address of the reindeer rescue on my phone and totally was directing us there and #2 my dear friend Jenna’s parents own a reindeer farm in the US (Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch) and I plan on going there sometime soon. However, Jenna explained that there’s a bit of controversy when it comes to the differentiation between caribou and reindeer. They are the same taxonomic classification, but many will die on the hill that wild reindeer are a subspecies and NOT the same. These were much more gray/white than the domesticated reindeer I have seen, and even when we saw the reindeer hides in the shops, those hides were brown and tan, where these are most definitely more gray and white. Diet? Condition? I’m not the biologist to determine that, but if you are, please chime in with a comment!
At Breiðdalsvík we turned and took F road 95 across the mountain. There was no snow, and the road was dry, even though there was a heavy dense fog overhead at the top elevations. As we wound our way up, and the fog got thicker, Ray was chuckling that he was going to let me pick ALL the roads- my reply was something to the fact that “If I pick it I can’t whine?” The grades of slope were much steeper than we see even in the mountain roads of the San Juans. 14% grades, in almost zero visibility, but Ray and the Dacia handled it with ease (and my eyes shut a few times!) We drove past the top of a beautiful waterfall that had started getting frosty around the edges.
The area we drove through is called Breiðdalsheiði , a heath and mountain road between Suðurdal and Breiðdal . The heath is 470 m high. Road 95 runs through the heath and it descends steeply from the heath in Breiðdal. There is a small lake on the moor, Heiðarvatn.
The Eastfjords are Iceland’s oldest region, geologically speaking, with landscapes carved from the Ice Age and ancient, dormant volcanoes. Breiðdalsheiði is an ancient, eroded volcano located in Breiðdalur along the main highway and is an ideal hiking stop with excellent views over the area.
We saw some beautiful sheep and horses and Ray’s favorite Icelandic animal, the Whooper Swan, (Cygnus cygnus). They are Iceland’s largest bird, and in October, its estimated that there are 10,000 Whooper Swans on the island as they are migrating.
When we made it back to highway 1, we pulled into Egilsstaðir, home of the Reindeer Rescue. We made tracks to the rescue and found it was really a couple of pens in this guy’s back yard! EEK. I saw a path and a sign and after getting my cold gear back on made my way towards the entrance when a lovely blonde young woman greeted me warmly in English. She welcomed us down to the animal area and it was actually quite nice. There were two adult male reindeer and a baby female, named Reynis. The young woman was actually Danish and had just moved to Iceland to be with her professional basketball playing boyfriend. We had a fun talk about Denmark and she introduced us to the animals, and even let us in the pen with Reynis while the young deer ate hay and moss. Then, owner Bjorn arrived and made a couple of bottles of milk for Reynis and invited me to feed her! She inhaled the two bottles quickly! Then, he started making clicking noises and out came a male Artic Fox!!! They don’t look like what most would think a fox looks like by north American standards. I think their faces look more fuzzy like a teddy bear. They are quick and furious, and Bjorn had him conditioned to coming out to get a snack of Reindeer meat he collects from a local butcher (yes, its on the menu but we did not consume any this trip)
After our visit, we headed back into town to grab some lunch and decided it was a great time to try the Icelandic hot dog. They were GREAT and so cheap… we had two hotdogs and two cokes and it was the equivalent of $2.62 TOTAL. The hotdogs are beef, pork and lamb, and absolutely delicious.
We then headed further up north, and I had marked Stuðlagil Canyon as our next stop. To see the beautiful canyon full of Basalt columns and icy blue river, there are two ways to access it… one, is a long, sloping walk from one side of the canyon from a parking lot near the waterfall of the same name. The other is a parking lot on the edge of the canyon with stairs to the overlook. I chose the stairs, thinking it would be the “easier on a fat person” route. Needless to say, 7 flights straight down and 7 flights back up were NOT EASY on this fat girl! 50 mile an hour winds at 25 degrees and lets just say, it was good the view was worth it! There were words said and decisions regretted!
We then mapped to our stay for the night with high hopes of auroras and clearing skies! We took a mountain road that was just barely dusted with snow that turned into a post apocalyptic scene our son Connor couldn’t have scripted better. After a few tense turns and gusts, we came down onto a large volcanic field of the Vatnajökull National Park and the tiny little village that was our stay.
