Úlfstaðir

Day 8:

We've hit the midway point and it feels like this trip is moving way too quickly! These days have been stacked with sights, activities, and short nights. We're all ready for the slower pace of the East and North to recharge us.

Along the coast, we stopped a few times to look at the serene coastline on our way to our first stop, a tiny little fishing village called Djúpivogur, which sits at the mouth of three fjords. It may be tiny, but the town has an extremely interesting history. First and foremost, there was a man named Hans Jonatan, originally from Saint Croix, who was taken as a slave in Copenhagen. He escaped slavery, joined the navy and was a war hero during the early 19th century, so Danish royalty granted him freedom. The woman who "owned" him, sued to get him back as her property, despite the fact that slavery was and had been illegal in Denmark. Basically, the legal outcome of the case was that he was to be sent back to Saint Croix, but he escaped again and nobody knew where he was. Turns out that he made his was to Djúpivogur, where he became the first person of color in Iceland. He owned farmland, was an incredible guide and helped map the rugged terrain of Iceland, ran a trading post, and was married with children. This year, almost 200 years after his death, researchers were able to isolate his genome from samples taken from his descendants. The first time this has been done without remains. So he was AGAIN the first at something. Simply incredible.

The early 20th century saw the addition of a tiny orange lighthouse called Æðarstein, which is ridiculously adorable. In more modern history of Djúpivogur, an Icelandic artist named Sigurður Guðmundsson created large granite replicas of the eggs of all 34 bird species that nest in the area. The town is also the only in Iceland to join an Italian movement to slow down the pace and improve the quality of life. Overall, it's a pretty neat little town.

After a stop for coffee, we made our way up through a winding, gravel, mountain road. This was our first sight of snow, not glacier, on the trip. Snow covered mountains and grasslands, absolutely full of streams and waterfalls. It wasn't the easiest road to drive, but it was a lot of fun to see everything and make pullouts when we could.

The next point of interest was Hallormsstaðaskógur, a large national forest, which is a big deal in Iceland. As previously mentioned, the Vikings and their sheep decimated the trees that had covered about 40% of the island, so giving the native species a place to grow and reestablish themselves is extremely important. To be honest, we didn't do much here, namely because there isn't much to do.

Within the forest is Lagarfljót, a large lake with its own little bit of folklore. According to local legend, Lagarfljótsormurinn lurks under the surface. This lake monster is obviously not as well known as Nessie, but why not look over the lake for the "Lagarfljót Worm"?

Our last stop in the forest was Hengifoss, or more accurately, the tiny falls beneath Hengifoss. We could see the top of Hengifoss, with its layers of black basalt and red clay, but the uphill hike was too much after a night of little sleep. Luckily, there were sheep and an adorable little waterfall at a lower altitude for us to enjoy before heading to our accomodations.

We stayed at a dairy farm and horse ranch in the middle if nowhere, which is right on pace of what we were looking for! Snow covered mountains to the east, a stream going through the property to the south, Lagarfljót to the west, and farmland all the way to Egilsstaðir to the north. A hearty dinner of fish and potatoes, and we were ready for bed. Then a knock came at the door of our host letting us know that the Northern Lights were out. The third night in a row for us! They stretched across the wide open sky, still not powerfully bright, but experience is indescribable nonetheless.

Up next, the loooooong drive to the north!Read more