Friday, November 30, 2012

Iceland Part II: Between the Start and the End

Day two started out slowly with use sleeping in till 9am. We slept 12 straight hours, probably for the first time since Logan was born.  It was perhaps the highlight of the trip.  This was going to be a big day.  There are a number of worthy sites in the southeastern quadrant of Iceland, so we were going to try to drive as far east along Highway 1 as we could get before sunset.  Originally the plan was to secure lodging wherever we would up, but we the latest forecast forced a change in plans. 
Sunrise just east of Reykjavik
The ability to see the Northern Lights hinges primarily on two factors, cloud cover and auroral activity.  The latter is hard to predict (although NASA's NPOES satellite provides near-real-time data that can be used to make dubious predictions).  As for the former, Iceland's weather service provides detailed cloud cover predictions in 3-hour increments.  Obsessive analysis of these predictions told us we needed to spend the night in Kirkjubaejarklaustur, about 150Km west of our day's eastern turn-around point, so we would be much more hurried than we wanted.
Reykjadalir Geothermal Area.  We soaked in some hot springs here on the return trip.
The upside to our late start was that we could final enjoy the landscape around Reykjavik, which we had only previously experienced in darkness.  The landscape in Iceland is stark, or perhaps even bleak at times, but it is always interesting.  Hwy 1 winds and twists through rolling hills, and you are never more than a few minutes from a beautiful waterfall, striking rock formation, sparkling glacier.
Mt Eljafjalajokul from Highway 1.  This is the volcano that erupted in the Spring of 2010,
causing weeks of mayhem for European air travel.
We passed a number of amazing waterfalls (more to come on this) and glaciers.  The highlight of the drive for me was an amazing rhyolite rock arch I spotted along the highway just east of Kalfafell. 

Kalfafell Arch.  This thing is huge, probably 50 feet or more at the apex.
After Kalfafell comes the enormous Skeidararsandur, which is basically an enormous (20 mile wide) sand flat covered by a spaghetti web of rivers delivering Vatnijokull's runoff to the sea.  The sand in Iceland is all black, and its an unreal setting, with visibility for miles and miles.  The amazing thing about the glaciers to me is how accessible they are.  I've spent plenty of time on some big glaciers and ice caps in Alaska and Canada, but it always seems like it takes a mini-expedition just to get to them.  The glaciers in Iceland are everywhere, and its eerie to drive along a busy highway, passing almost suburban neighborhoods, with enormous seas of ice in the background.
Rainbow in Myrdalsanddur
The first objective for the day was Skaftafell National Park, gateway to the mind-boggling Vatnijokull ('Water Glacier').  The term "sea of ice" gets bandied about, but this thing is bigger than the state of Delaware, and its omnipresent to anyone traveling in this part of Iceland.  Its more visible than the nearby ocean, and almost seems bigger.

Kate & I at Svartifoss.  In 1000AD when the Althing decided the country would become Christian, the "Law Giver" (basically the Prime Minister) threw all of his pagan idols over these falls!
There's a lot to see in Skaftafell, but at the top of our list was the remarkable Svartifoss ("black falls") and the turf house village of Sel.  If we had time, we were also hoping to set foot on Vatnijokull for no particular reason.  The hike to Svartifoss was nice; our first real exercise in several days, and provide gobsmacking views of the nearby glacier tongues.  Sel was completely unspoiled, and all the doors were open allowing use to poke in and out of the houses and underground stables.  The barren landscape provided a real appreciation for the courage and perseverance of the early Viking settlers.

Kate admiring the view at Sel
We jogged the short path to the glacier, and had a fun time routefinding through the gnarled moraine to reach the ice.  I was champing at the bit to get to Hnappavellir, Iceland's premier rock climbing destination, so we snapped a couple pics and headed back to the car.

On the way to Skaftafellsjokull, one of Vatnijokull's many glacier tongues.
It was a bit of an adventure getting to the cliff.  The most pressing problem was the swampy nature of the surrounding fields.  You could see countless puddles glistening in the sun, and was not looking forward to driving down the sketchy, soaked mud roads that lead to the crag.  Fortunately the west end of the cliff is near an old air strip, which has a nice gravel road we could take to get within a 100 damp yards of the cliffline.
The Hnappavellir cliff.  The highest peak in Iceland (2110m) is partly visible behind the cliff
The first crux was to leap across the narrow creek, then we had to hop across the marshy field.  I devised a clever scheme to leap between raised tufts of grass, which resulted in totally soaking both of my feet.  Fortunately this particular cliff sector sits up on a small rise so the ground under the routes was dry. 

Kate negotiating swampy terrain to reach the crag.
I started on a brilliant 5.11, which started on a slight overhanging up amazing, hidden, sculpted water pocket jugs.  The climbing was super fun with gymnastic long reaches and heel hooks between huge jugs.

Climbing at Hnappavellir
We still had one major objective another 50km down the road, so with light snow falling we packed it in.  I would have loved to climb more at this intriguing place, but we were clearly here in the wrong season, and we didn't really have the time to stay longer anyway.  I hope to have an oportunity to return here (in the summer!) some day.
A crazy rock arch on the way to Jokulsarlon
"Jokulsarlon" translates to Glacier Lagoon, and this is one of the coolest spots in Iceland.  Its a small lake situated at the toe of the Breidamerkur glacier tongue, with a short river at the south end flowing a few hundred yards directly into the Atlantic Ocean.  The lake is full of beautiful sculpted icebergs, and we were fortunate to arrive just before sunset.

Jokulsarlon
My favorite part of Jokulsarlon was watching the icebergs flow into the ocean.  It really brought home the "tip of the iceberg" metaphor, as seeming small blocks of ice would constantly high-center on the river bed, creating temporary heaving ice dams.  When the bigger swells hit the ice blocks would break free and continue their journey to the sea. 

Sculpted ice blocks on the beach
The nearby beach was littered with ice blocks of all sizes, creating some outstanding photo opportunities.  I convinced Kate to stand on one of the flat icebergs nearest the waterline so that it would look like she was in the ocean when the next wave came in.  This worked out a little too well as the next wave was a doozy, and it looked for a while like she would have to wad through the icy sea to get back.

Kate standing on an iceberg!
Next we headed to our hotel in Kirkjabaejarklaustur.  Long story short, we stayed up for hours and never saw the Northern Lights (though we did see some amazing stars).  It was completely clear, and we could see a really faint glow to the northeast, but that was it.  According to NASA if we had been about 100 miles further north it would have been brilliant.  We had one night left to accomplish our primary goal.  Would we be so lucky??  Tune in next week to find out! 
Sunset over Jokulsarlon

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Christmas Tree

We went out into the forest to cut down our Christmas tree this year. Its a big Colorado thing-- I did not realize how big until we joined hundreds of other people in the solitude of the woods the day after Thanksgiving. I've always just gotten a pre-cut tree from a tree lot, but this year some friends invited us along with them, so we decided to try it.  The day started with meeting Smokey the Bear.  That did not go over so well with Logan.  It does not bode well for our visit with Santa Claus. 
Logan clinging to Mama when Smokey gets too close

Then we hiked around the woods for over an hour combing through spindly crooked trees full of holes, searching for one that was good enough.  Kendall and Logan gave up and sat down to play with the iPhone.  Mark & I searched on, but eventually we too got tired and grumpy and took a lunch break.  We went back out after lunch and quickly found the one.  I'm not sure if it was better than all the others, or if we had just lowered our standards. 
The tree, back when it was living

Its actually grown on me at this point, and I like it despite the fact that you can see through it.  It has character.  But I feel pretty bad about cutting down a tree that would have had a long life if not for me.  I think next year I'll stick to the tree lot.



And one random picture, just because:  Miss Arbor's birthday party pizza picnic.
Jack, Logan, and Arbor... 21 months, 23 months, and 2 years

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Iceland

Ya, that's right, Iceland.  Why wouldn't I go to Iceland?  In the winter.  For four days (technically we were only there for 83 hours).  Why would anyone stay any longer?  Especially in the winter.

"Why Iceland?"  This is the most common statement you hear after uttering the words "we're going to Iceland".  Well, Kate has this friend visiting over the summer and told us about a friend of her's who works for Iceland Air selling travel packages to gullible Americans.  Apparently this year is supposed to be one of the very best in our lifetimes for viewing the Northern Lights, so Iceland Air is promoting it.  Kate's long wanted to see this phenomenon and as a result of the 2008 financial crisis (which hit Iceland really hard) its currently cheaper to visit Icelend from the continental US than any North American destination where one might see the Aurora Borealis.

While the main purpose was to see the Northern Lights, Iceland is a really cool place with a lot of intriguing things to see.  Geologically speaking its absolutely fascinating, with volcanoes, continental rifts and plentiful glaciers (including Vatnijokull, the largest glacier in Europe).  Throw in countless waterfalls, rugged coastline and hot springs everywhere you look.


The Mid Atlantic Ridge runs right through Iceland
Of course, to see the Northern Lights you need to go in the winter.  The darker and colder (and further north) the better.  This limited our options somewhat, but due to its location near the Atlantic Gulf Stream, the island never gets terribly cold (the lowest temperature we experienced was about 20 deg F, in the middle of the night).  Day time temps were always between 32 and 40 degF.  The problem was the incessant wind.  If it was calm the place was downright tropical, but occasionally gail force winds made the outside completely unbearable.

Hjalparfoss
The key to this trip was that Kate's sister Kendall agreed to care for Logan while we were away.  Kate & I were very much looking forward to this aspect of the trip, and that is part of the reason we only went for four days.  This was our frist time away from Logan for more than 24 hours, so we were pretty psyched but a bit apprehensive.  But mostly psyched. 

We took a 7-hour red eye from Denver direct to Keflavik, arriving in Iceland at 6am local time.  I had mapped out an extensive itinerary for each day in order to "maximize fun" as we like to say.  The first day was the most demanding, but I figured with the early start we would have more time than any other day.  I failed to account correctly for the darkness though.  The sun didn't come up until 9:45, and even then you couldn't really see all that well for another hour or so.

Interesting rock formations in Thingvellir National Park
A rental car is pretty much a must, and they are really expensive; in the neighborhood of $100/day.  We opted for 4WD, which is probably a wise choice no matter the time of year.  There are icey roads all over the place in the winter, and numerous worthwhile dirt roads to explore in the summer.  Driving in Iceland can be somewhat treacherous, due primarily to the narrow roads and heinous weather.  All of the tourist guides go out of their way to warn travelers of the perils of driving, but we're from Colorado so we know how to drive in bad weather ;)  By looking at off-brand companies I was able to get a nice 4wd Toyota Rav 4 for 10,500 ISK per day (about $80) including taxes and insurance.  By the way, this insurance is mandatory and almost worthless, it covers almost nothing except a total loss to the vehicle, in which case you still have to pay a $1500 deductable.  Driving on dirt roads or through water voids the insurance--good thing there is none of that in Iceland!

The plan for Day 1 was to basically follow "The Golden Circle" tourist route with a few added excursions.  The first really excitement came as the sun was rising and left Highway 1 (the major loop road that circumnavigates the island).  We had been buzzing along at 90 km/hr when our vehicles suddenly lost traction and we started fishtailing all over the road.  Apparently we had been driving on a sheet of ice for some time.  Once I got things under control we got out to see a solid 1/4" layer of perfectly invisible ice covering everything; even the gravel on the side of the road was slippery to walk on.

A look at Heckla, near where we almost totalled our car
This provided a good opportunity to check out a nearby heard of Icelandic horses.  These hearty steeds are quite a bit shorter than regular horses (but they aren't ponies!), with wild manes that remind me of Mad Max mullets.  They are far more friendly than most horses, and have been pure bread in Iceland for more than 1100 years (the importing of horses to Iceland has been banned since 983 AD).  We were also just below Iceland's most active volcano Heckla.  Europeans of the middle ages considered this peak to be quite literally one of two gateways to hell (the other being Stromboli in Italy) after a massive eruption in 1104 AD covered half the island in noxious ash.

These burly horses thrive in some really awful weather.
We proceeded northeast (at a much slower speed) past moon-like volcanic landscapes en route to the ancient Viking village of Stong.  This village was completed buried by the 1104 Heckla eruption, and was excavated a la Pompei in 1939 to reveal the only remaining turf homes from the Viking era.  We visited the worthwhile Hjalparfoss en route to the impressive Gulfoss (Golden falls).  This waterfall was the site of some early environmental activism when Sigridur Tomassdottir threatened to throw herself into the falls to prevent the construction of a dam in the early 1900's.  The falls were very impressive, perhaps more so due to the crazy ice formations lining the canyon.

Gulfoss

A look at the ice formations down-canyon
Somewhere in there we stopped for gas and what turned out to be our best meal of the trip, a big loaf of fresh bread and a block of some type of sharp local cheese (I should mention gas is very expensive as well, around $7.50 a gallon!).  The next stop was "Geysir", which is the root of the  english word "geyser".  This turned out to be about the least interesting of the three geothermal areas we visited in Iceland, but it did have an active geyser ("Srokkur") that erupted every 5-10 minutes or so.  Frankly the geysers of Yellowstone are far more impressive than anything we saw in Iceland, but Iceland is special in that these sites are pretty much everywhere and its easy to have such a place to yourself, unlike Yellowstone.


The next and final stop for the day was Thingvellir National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Thingvellir is primarily revered for its historical significance as the site of the "Althing", Iceland's original parliment.  When Iceland was originally colonized in the 800's, each Viking settler became the "Godar" (literally God, but more like lord) of his local lands.  After a few decades problems began to arrise between neighboring Godars, so they decided to assemble once each summer at Thingvellir (literally, "Fields of Parliment").  This is assembly still exists today and is considered perhaps the longest running parliment in the history.
"Law Rock", site of the Althing. The foreground is the Eurasian Plate, the cliffline is the edge of the North American Plate.
In addition to the  human history, the Logberk ("Law Rock" where the Althing convened) sits directly on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (the divergent boundary of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates).  The cool little canyon is growing at a rate of about 1" per year, and the Oxararfoss waterfull tumbles into the Ridge, flows down it a while, then spills out.  The area is litered with cool little fissures and other signs of geologic activity.
The Flosagja fissure is filled with glacial runoff and is a popular spot for SCUBA diving.
Next we cruised into Reykjavik to check into our hotel. The trip package included lodging in an Iceland Air-owned hotel in Reykjavik, which was probably our biggest mistake.  If going to Iceland, there's little reason to spend more than one or two nights in Reykjavik.  Best to spend the other time out in the country.  After a brief stop we decided to head to the Blue Lagoon, Iceland's most famous hot spring.  This place is a Disney-style operation, with conveyer-belt style efficiency design to funnel heards of people in and out.  Fortunately there were only 30 or so other tourists there that night so it wasn't a circus.  The minerals in the water give it a milky blue color, and are said to be really good for the skin.  Although the place is a bit of a travesty from an ecological perspective, it was a really fun, relaxing experience, and the pool is interesting with little bridges and waterfalls. 

The Blue Lagoon, not as blurry in real life
We got back to the hotel at about 8:30 pm, completely exhausted (having been awake for about 33 hours).  That's about enough for Part 1, I promise to skip all the endless rambling about history in Part II.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Maple Canyon

We headed to Maple Canyon in Utah for a 5 day climbing trip with Lee, Linda, and Dylan, our friends from Albuquerque, and Steve & Sam from Wyoming.  We rented a house, which made it much more of a vacation than our typical climbing trips where we usually stay at the cheapest roadside motel.  This place had a kitchen, a kids play area complete with new-to-Logan toys, a big backyard, and it was walking distance to the park.  Logan rode his bike there every day.  It was also serviced by the local baker, who make to order cinnamon rolls, cookies, and a chocolate cream pie and delivered them to our house.  I could get used to that.

We've never been city people and always seem to live out in the boonies, but being in town certainly has its advantages.  In addition to the park and the bakery delivery, we got trick or treaters!  Our driveway in Colorado is way too long and dark for any trick or treaters to come down, and I don't think we've ever actually been home for Halloween anyways.  So it was fun to get trick or treaters.  We also went down to the park for the trunk or treat, where people hand out candy out of the back of their car.  Logan expertly dug through every bowl of candy presented to him, carefully sifting through all the good chocolate bars to find the lollipops hidden in between.  Fortunately Mark bought way more candy than needed, so there was plenty of chocolate at home.


Logan and his pumpkin
It was a really scenic area with lots of fun climbing and hiking.With all the helpers around, I got in way more climbing than I usually do.  Even when it was just the 3 of us, the iPhone was a good babysitter for a couple routes. 

Mark climbing at Pipe Dream

Linda & Dylan building rock towers

Fall leaves

More fall leaves-- we were about  a week too late, so they were mostly on the ground, but it made for good crunching walks

Logan doing a big swing


Summiting a little rock tower. He was very proud of himself

Give me the camera!

Sheep traffic jam on the way to the crag