We checked out from the hotel early…for us….0800! We were headed to Vik for a long planned “Ice Cave Tour” with Katlatrack, a local tour operator with excellent reviews (the reviews are well founded…book it). We connected with our grisly tour guide, and headed into the middle of nowhere. I kept thinking…there is an Ice Cave near here? We finally showed up at our destination, at the tongue of a local glacier.
This is the vehicle that brought us here. Pretty interesting that the tires can be inflated and deflated as necessary to get better traction. However, I didn’t see a reason to use this technology on our drive. The guide used it, but I could have driven to this spot in my rental car.
We stopped just before the hike into the ice cave to strap ice cleats onto our shoes.
Once upon the ice, the look back is an interesting variation of dirty ice versus green covered lava rock.
Here is the cave we are heading into. These caves occur naturally when water flows through the ice. As the ice melts, these caves disintegrate, only to be replaced by a new cave. Our guide told us this is the 15th cave they have been guiding through in the 20 years he has been doing this.
Our guide was constantly making safety adjustments to the trail as we made our way forward. Regarding safety, it was interesting to me how well the ice cleats work…we spent a lot of time on solid ice, and I never felt myself slipping, even on a rather steep incline.
Entering the very cool ice cave! These wooden bridges over the rivers of water were spread throughout the walk.
Here is a video at the end of the ice cave, leading into the icy wasteland.
Kim exiting the ice cave. If you happened to visit Universal Studios back between 1975 and 1997, and you took the tram tour, you went through “The Doomed Glacier Expedition!”.
This portion of the tram ride took you through a tunnel that looked like ice (barely), and they pretended you were in an avalanche and started rotating the tunnel. Even though it wasn’t rotating (which would have been weird), walking through this tunnel totally reminded me of being on that stupid ride!
Isn’t it interesting how everything from back in the 70’s and 80’s was so out of focus versus nowadays?
The scene beyond the tunnel reminded me of a scene from Interstellar, which actually had the ice planet scenes filmed in Iceland not too far from here.
This small ice cave with a waterfall below it will likely be the size of the one we just walked through within a year. It will also likely be the cave they walk through after the current one collapses.
Everybody had to get a shot in front of the waterfall.
Heading back towards the ice cave. Damn is this thing cool! It just doesn’t look natural, but the guide insisted it was. There are other ice cave tours in Iceland that have fake caves, so buyer beware.
Another shot of us in our safety gear. I felt a rock bounce off my helmet on the way out, so I was glad I was wearing it!
I love the sculpted layers of the ice, worn by water and wind.
You can see the water running below the walking areas. It would be quite unpleasant to fall into that chilly river!
Kim on her way out. This actually seemed a little dangerous, but Kim was a trooper, stating over and over “This is amazing”. It really was!
I just love the juxtaposition of the ice with the greenery in the background! The back and forth of icy river also lends itself to making a great photo.
The view exiting the ice field is amazing. We love Iceland!
After getting back from the trip we had a quick lunch and got back on the road. We had one more stop for the day, Fjadrarljufur Canyon. In doing a little reading about this canyon I just now read they had to shut it down for awhile because Justin Bieber shot a music video here, and the place got overwhelmed. Curious, how many teenage girls can afford to fly to Iceland and get here? And no, I an NOT going to link to the little pussy Justin’s music video!
The Iceland government has had to resort to installing fencing and even barbed wire in some spots to keep teenage girls from being lured to their potential death while trying to get the perfect “selfie”.
The canyon is 1.2 miles long and 100 yards deep. It was created by a forceful glacial river moving through it about 9-10,000 years ago, pulling out all of the soft rock and leaving the hard rock behind.
There is of course a waterfall to be seen. It would actually be shocking to find a highlight of Iceland and NOT find a waterfall!
During the last part of our drive to our hotel we passed some beautiful glaciers, both part of Vatnajokull National Park. The first one is Skaftafell Glacier.
This one is Svinafellsjokul Glacier. You can literally walk right up to them.
We will be visiting these shortly. Next post, however, is a visit to the Joklulsarlon Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Beach!