The Iceland Traverse - Day 3
We started slow today. We hadn’t got that far to go really and had a lot to see. We planned this day to be shorter and to give us more time for some little side hikes to see what this part of the trail had to offer.
We started out on the road again but only 5km this time. Down over the Jökulsá á Fjöllum river bridge before turning south into the national park. The path started to climb up the side of a large basalt canyon almost like a sunken plateau. We hiked along large cliffs with equally spectacular cliffs on the far side of the canyon. This was Ásbyrgi Canyon! Quite a spectacular view and a very unique landmark.
Ásbyrgi Canyon
We continued up onto the moss covered rocky plateau above just as the sun started to shine. The sun just makes everything so much better when hiking. A better day and a better mood. I needed that after yesterday’s long road walk. It took the fun out of the day and very quickly makes me question what I’m doing. Also, where would we have gone if we didn’t choose Iceland. Maybe we made a mistake. A trail with so much road walking and has not coming close to capturing the feeling we had on the GDT.
But we were hiking well today and enjoyed the sun as it shook off the morning chill. We came upon the most pointless style (probably where a fence used to be) but Miranda had to try it anyway. It was a half falling apart and almost falling over coming down and she almost ended in a heap. Lesson learnt!
Basalt Cave
From here we started on our first big highlight of our trip. Jökulsárgljúfur canyon. We would spend all afternoon here and the following morning. There were caves, cliffs, strange basalt formations that made for a some good little side trails.
We got to camp. A nice quiet patch of grass with a small stream beside. I felt good by the afternoon but never great in the morning. I don’t know why. I’m a morning person but those first few miles I just question everything. Undergoing mental battle every morning to enjoy the afternoon on trail. Maybe my heart isn’t in this one. But the views are so spectacular yet alien, very out of this world. Take it a day at a time. Let’s just see how I feel.
