Epic in Iceland Again, This Time with Serious Waterfalls

As we left Thingvillir National Park and headed towards our next destination, a couple of things about Iceland became very clear: First it is filled with water. Streams run everywhere to the sea from the rains that come so often and the glaciers that cap this magical land.  Second, it has a unique beauty that can be jaw dropping.  Take, for example, the stream in the picture above -- an otherwise everyday stream running under the road, except that it was lined with giant lupines as far as the eye could see. If you look closely, you can also see shades of purple on the hillsides in the background -- fields upon fields of lupine were up there. Where else does that happen? I don't know if it does, but I for one have never seen anything like the concentration of Lupine we repeatedly found here. Just amazing.

Our next stop was Geysir, the home of the original, the place that gave every other one its name (Geysir is an Icelandic word).  It is no Yellowstone by any stretch (nowhere is -- that place is special), but it was fun to see.

Here is the fam standing in front of the original, which hardly erupts anymore. Fortunately, its very close neighbor, Stokkur Geysir, is explosive about every ten minutes, and the surrounding hotsprings are filled with flowers.

And below is Stokkur in action. Unlike Old Faithful, when it goes, it is one, quick, sudden blast skyward, no slow building bubble to tower of water. That makes photographs tricky, but I did get one.

As we left the parking lot to head to our next destination,  we spotted this amazing vehicle below.

There are a lot of these in Iceland (Jasper Swenson, eat your heart out!), and I had serious car envy the whole time I was there. These cars ford rivers, cross tough terrain, climb mountains, etc. and they are built for it, without a doubt!  The Landcruisers were especially awesome. One day . . . .

On the way to our next destination, Keegan met a soul brother on the side of the road -- look at that hair/mane combo, it is a perfect match.  Icelandic horses are beautiful and unique, but their most distinct feature is the mane on their head, looking like stoic rebels all.

The next destination was mighty Gulfoss, an amazing waterfall that for some reason was really hard to photograph--perhaps because of all the mist in the air reflecting light in odd ways just messed up my sensors, I don't know. I was very disappointed in the results, but have posted some here to give you an idea of the place.  Here is the fam standing in front of it.

And and unobstructed view. The people standing on the upper left hand side of the photo give you some sense of perspective.  It is a seriously large fall.

The photo above is looking down into its maw, and the photo below is Alden and Keegan contemplating that churning abyss.  Typical of Iceland, not a lot of protection from going over the edge. Glad they stayed back a ways.

Just downstream from that, I took a photo to show how ridiculous the water color is (the above photos don't do it justice).  Black lava and glacial water -- pretty crazy combo!

From there, we headed down and east along the southern coast of Iceland, to Seljalandfoss, one of our favorite stops on the trip.

Here is the family in front of the fall. It doesn't look that big from this distance, but there is a reason we are wearing the heavy clothing (besides the fact that it was generally chilly).

You can actually hike around behind the fall!  Even this photo doesn't do it justice, but Keegan, who was ecstatic, ran to the fall like a boy possessed, he was so excited to be so close. He is that little red spot in the photo below, arms outstretched, soaking it all in (so to speak he he). Gives you a little perspective on the size of the thing.

Then, suddenly, the wind shifted . . .

and it was as if Monte Python appeared, shouting "Run away!"  It felt like a hurricane in that blast of wind, and we would have been soaked to the bone without all our rain gear on.

Fortunately, the sun came out as we departed the cavern behind the fall, revealing wildflowers, falls, and water galore along this beautiful cliffside.

It felt so magical, we spent a great deal of time wandering about, not wanting to leave, and feeling that we might never have an experience like this again.   Finally, it was getting late even by the long day standards of Iceland, so we bid a fond farewell to Seljalandfoss.

Notwithstanding the late hour, we headed toward Skogafoss, our campground for the night and beginning of the next days activities.  I'll close with some of the scenery we saw in the very late evening on the way there.

Safe to say it was another day of epic adventure in Iceland!