Day 2, Saturday, September 2nd: It was a George Popp day!

Yes, you might be wondering who is George Popp and why would we title our Day 2 with his name? Details to follow later in the blog...

We both were satisfied with our first night's sleep, but I was kind of awake and rolled over to check my watch and discovered it was almost 09:00! Yikes! The complimentary breakfast in the hotel dining room ends at 10:00! We get out of bed and put on some clothes and made the short walk to the dining area. Buffet style of course. Pretty decent selection, but mostly cold foods. There were waffles you can make which was my first stop. Cold cuts, eggs, fruit, toast, breads etc. Many types of juice and just regular water. Lana's favourite was a mango chia seed pudding. We think a number of the guests were part of tourist groups as there were large tables with reserved signage.

After breakfast I finally had a shower to get rid of the stickiness. Plus, actually brushed my teeth. It was raining and we knew we would be outside so both dressed in our hiking clothes with rain protection. Plus, Lana wore her hiking shoes while I used my hiking boots. We learn later that was a great decision. 

This goat was right outside our ground floor hotel window checking me out!

Around 11 degrees Celsius (high temperature would be around 14 degrees) when we departed at around 10:45 on our way eastward to Vatnajokull Glacier National Park and/or Skaftafell Nature Reserve. Estimated mileage was around 150 kms. Lana using her app, but cannot find any route to the Vatnajokull Glacier National Park "no route available". What the heck? We continue driving on Highway 1 believing we might find access or at least Skaftafell Nature Reserve although I wasn't sure what that meant?

We received an email from the car rental company indicating we would get discounted fuel at a couple of gas stations and Ób was one of them. On our drive our gas tank reading was getting dangerously low so we pulled in. No attendant or store. Just the gas pumps. We paid $99CAD to fill the tank!

For quite some time during the early part of our drive we were chasing this rainbow!

On the side of the road we saw this waterfall just behind a home. This was a farmer's home as the land was arable. 

It was a long drive along very flat land mostly and some long stretches with black rock/pebbles on each side. More on the terrain later in the blog. Eventually, we come to a couple of huge glaciers and Lana double checks her app and we turn back and find the road that takes us to Skaftafell Nature Reserve. We find a gravel parking lot in the middle of the trees and it is pay parking of course. There are some machines, but only one machine working. We don't have the necessary parking app, but the machine accepts credit cards. Total for parking was $10CAD. 

Skaftafell Information Board.

Another Information Sign with different hikes. 

After a short walk towards the Natural Park office, we see many people and maps/cafeteria etc. It begins raining again so Lana sends me for her umbrella in the car. We decide to not hike to the famous waterfalls, but hike to the Skaftafell Glacier. I recorded 4.23 kms of hiking and about 25 metres elevation gain as it was a fairly level hike, but we got some elevation gain hiking down towards the actual glacier and back again. We learn that this nature park is part of the Vatnajokull Glacier National Park and there are 35 outlet glaciers from its peak. Quite a few fellow hikers wearing all sorts of hiking outfits and in some cases no hiking wear or shoes. Given the lake in front of the glacier you can't actually reach this glacier by foot. 

Lana posing on the glacier scree. At this point the weather is excellent although minutes before the rain was pounding down.

Yes, Randy is a poser too! Go Habs Go!

This glacier has a lagoon or lake just like the glacier from yesterday. The glacier itself is gigantic.

Good chance to see the water that is fed strictly by the melting glacier. 

Another view of the glacier and you can see the bad weather coming in. 

There is a warning sign which includes no swimming in the lake. This is glacier fed water and super cold. 

Icebergs in the lake. 

Lana's favourite iceberg. 

We knew there was a second glacier east of this glacier, but Lana discovered it is actually the same glacier but just a second 'arm' of the huge glacier. After we conclude our first glacier we head back to the cafeteria and treat ourselves to ice cream bars and a banana. Amazing how good a banana tastes with chocolate! Total cost was $17CAD. Yup, Iceland is very expensive.

Interesting that for the second time we saw a fellow tourist using a drone around a glacier. We guess they look at the footage later and it would give them a totally new perspective on the glacier from high in the air. 

Information board for the second 'arm' of this glacier that we hike in to view. This parking lot is free and there is nothing official. We thought this was actually superior to the first arm of the glacier and way cheaper given it was free. 

For this hike to the glacier my Garmin indicated 2.66 metres total walk inclusive of physically going down to the glacier and walking on it. Plus, some exploring around the perimeter on trails in the gravel scree. Elevation gain 62 metres as we did a lot of exploring. Pretty cool getting on the glacier and walking around and seeing it from different angles. In the distance, on the glacier, it looked like an ice climbing group was scaling a sheer ice wall. Some other hikers were on the glacier and hiking up the middle. 

Interesting that each glacier is different. This one has a very beautiful look with many 'fingers' cut into its edges. Very large lake as well. 

Randy & Lana posing high above the glacier and its lake. This is before Lana stepped onto the side of the glacier and her sneakers sank ankle deep into the mud! She is a little distressed that her shoes and socks are caked in black mud. 

I love this glacier's beauty!

Very interesting feature and this is all ice. 

Picture of an iceberg floating on the lake below. 

If you look at the left of the rock feature you will see the actual huge arm of the glacier as it goes up the mountain.

Randy's pic of what he thinks is a rock on the edges of the glacier lying in the lake. 

It starts raining really hard so we decide our fun on the glacier is over and hike back to our Jeep. As we get closer to our vehicle we notice the sun is now out. The weather has been changing all day from rain to sun and back again. Sometimes little if no wind and then howling winds. When the sun is out and not windy it is fairly warm, but that doesn't last. No matter as for most of our experience outside today the weather has been pretty accommodating. 

Randy kept bugging Lana about how this must have felt like for her driving on the Canadian prairies all those years before she moved to Vancouver. She takes this picture to demonstrate just how flat the landscape is here. As well, you can see quite a distance ahead so easy to figure out best opportunities to pass slow drivers. 😏 (miles and miles ahead!)

Yup, another example of the terrain at various spots which is basically black and more black. Fascinating and a great segue to the title of the blog and more pictures!

I have a good friend since high school, George Popp, who graduated UBC with a degree in Geology and worked in this profession before getting a second UBC degree and becoming a teacher. He is an expert on geology so he would really appreciate the landscape and terrain of this part of Iceland and in fact all of Iceland. We have a number of pictures of the landscape along the road and the terrain. I am sure George could explain each picture. 

We love this picture!

Another great picture by Lana and as you can see the sun was shining at this time. 

We arrive back at the hotel a little after 17:30. Lana needs to spend considerable time and effort to clean her hiking shoes and then blow dry them in case she needs to use them tomorrow. While Lana is doing that I load the pictures into our blog which takes quite a long time. By close to 19:00 we are both hungry and keen on getting dinner. Lana finds Smidjan Brugghus located in Vik and highly rated for casual pub food which makes sense given it is a brewery. We get the last available table and enjoy our meal. We are not getting used to the extremely high prices, but the food has been great. 

Somersby Apple Cider. This English made cider is very popular here and we like it. 

Lana's Flank Steak. It was smoked and cooked perfectly at medium rare. Very tender. Great chimmichurri sauce. 

Randy's Chicken Burger with Fries. The burger was delicious and the fries tasty. 

Back to our hotel and it is raining again. Super strong winds so you need to be careful when opening your car door as it could bash the neighbour's car. In fact, when we were driving from the airport yesterday I pulled the Jeep over as I thought maybe the front tire was flat as the car was always pulling to the left. I now know that it is strictly the strong side winds pushing our Jeep either towards the oncoming traffic or the side of the road. The winds here are that strong! Both hands on the wheel please. 

My Garmin statistics are close to 15,000 steps for the day. It has been a good day for exploring and seeing scenery that we have not seen anywhere before. There probably are some parts of the world with some aspects of this terrain/landscape, but not sure where?