Katla Ice Caves, Fjafrargljufar Canyon

Today we explored the Katla Ice Caves, visited the Dyrholaey Peninsula, explored the Hjörleifshöfði Cave, hiked the Fjafrargljufar Canyon, and visited the Dverghamrar Cliffs and nearby Fossálar Waterfall.

We started our day with a hearty breakfast at our hotel(including lots of pickled herring on rye!), and then met our guides for the Katla Ice Caves at a shopping center. Our ride for the day was another big rig, and we drove through many miles of black sand to get to the glacier the ice caves were in. The morning was stormy, and our arrival at the glacier was met with a blanket of fog. Thankfully, as we prepped for our climb up to the cave the fog started to burn off! We put on some crampons, and hiked a short while up the glacier to a large cave that had been hollowed by the river pouring out from it. We ventured into the cave and got a great look at the ice, even being able to see the layers within it which was really neat. It was also awesome checking out the path the water had carved through the ice, and the color variations of the ice within the glacier.

After we’d had enough time to enjoy the cave, we hiked back to our vehicle and made the drive back to our car. The drive on the way back was much clearer, and we got great views of the green foliage covered mountains rising out of the black sand; in fact, a scene from game of thrones was shot at just this spot, as was a scene from Star Wars Rogue One.

Once we got back to our car, we headed to the Dyrholaey Peninsula for views of a massive sea arch rising out of the ocean, as well as a black sand coastline. We took a number of photos and then stopped in the nearby town of Vik for soup. The soup was quite good, and we both thought it was pretty neat to find a restaurant that specialized just in soups!

After our meal we continued on to Hjörleifshöfði Cave. This cave is unique in that it is shaped like Yoda from Star Wars, and it’s quite large and set in an impressive cliff face. We walked the exterior and interior before heading on to Fjafrargljufar Canyon. This canyon is super neat in that it is filled with interesting rock columns, all of which are covered with moss. It gives the area a mystical look, especially because there is a river running through the center. At the end of the canyon there was a very cool waterfall that really set the scene.

Our final stop of the day was the Dverghamrar Cliffs and nearby Fossálar Waterfall. The cliffs were essentially small mounds of basalt columns, and these were really neat to see due to their geometric shape. The nearby waterfall was also interesting, as it was wide and low to the ground, differing quite a bit from the bulk of the waterfalls we’ve seen in Iceland.Read more