July 30 2000
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We wake up moderately early at about 9a.m. We're still very happy with the house and enjoy a quick breakfast. Than we head out to explore, direction of Gullfoss and Geysir.
Sog river and Bláfell
At Nupar it's thinly overcast, but as soon as we pass around our house mountain, ???, the clouds break and we have the most beautifull weather.
We pass a farm and notice the boulders on the fields have small red wooden doors on them - so this is where the hidden folk, the elves, live?
This is a matter Icelanders take quite seriously. Supposedly even the national road planning commission tries to make sure the homes of elves remain untouched, and that roads are built around hills which might be homesteads.
Confluence of Rivers Sog and Hvitá
The air is cool, fresh and has a wonderfull smell to it. The crisp clearness is a sharp contrast to the rather polluted environment we have left behind not even 24 hours ago.
We stop at an outlook over the confluence of the river Sog, which drain lake Þingvallavatn to the north, and river Hvitá, which transports water from the glacier Langjökull to the arctic ocean.
Since glaciers grind down even the hardest rock to glacial silt, the colour of the runoff is a milky white, as can be seen in the picture (the clear blue river Sog is in the foreground).
The views and the surroundings make us feel so good, and we're beginning to be really exited about the days to come. We shall find out the journey will be as great as we hope and think it might.
The sun shines and we have a nice ride trough a green landscape, dotted with a summer house here and a farm there. The road climbs steadily as we make our way through the gently rolling hills. We resist (well, I do) to go directly to Haukadalur which is the home of the great Geysir himself, and continue on to Gullfoss to make good use of the good weather.
Gullfoss, the Golden Fall
Apart from being the largest waterfall (volume-wise) of Europe, Gullfoss, the Golden Fall, impresses us most by its shere beauty.
Wide cascades of white water fall down two perpendicular steps. The roar and mist fills the air, and as if this wasn't enough, a rainbow decorates the whole wild scenery.
Into the Chasm
The geology of the area is quite interessting, too. The steps are created by different layers of softer and harder rocks. The gorge the water falls into follows a rift which created a weakness in the rock.
Haybales and Langjökull
Before we leave Gullfoss we sample the view at the parking lot, giving us a great display of Longjökull, the second largest glacier in Iceland.
It's such in incredible mass of ice. It is ???km long, but "only" ???km wide, hence the name "long glacier". All in all it covers ??? square kilometers.
After a snack we retrace our steps for a couple of kilometers and turn towards Haukadalur, the ??? valley.
Haukadalur Panorama
A short path leads to a viewing point with a disk marking the sights to see. In the distance is the newly build visitor center and an older hotel.
Much more thrilling is the eruption column of Strokkur, the most active geysir in the area. It erupts every 5 minutes or so.
The steaming pool on the left is Bláhver, the blue pool. Behind it lies Geysir, the grey emenince of the area from which all geysirs have their name.
Bláhver
Geothermal activity comes in a number of varieties. While there's no bubbling mud pools here, a couple of clear blue hot springs can be found in the area.
Strokkur, Sleeping
Finaly, a geysir. Strokkur ("Butter Barrel") is the most active spring in the Haukadalur area. Doesn't the pool look innocent? How deceiving!
Every 3-5 minutes Strokkur produces an eruption that varies quite a bit in size. The more time passes between to eruptions, the higher the water is forced into the sky.
But quiet now, let's watch.
Strokkur, Alive
First, the water in the middle stone ring in the pool starts to well up, just to slosh back a second later. This pulsing repeats a couple of times and becomes more vigorous, and it seems the geysir is doing some practise runs.
Finally the pot boils over. Steam forces the water out of the narrow pipe. At first it forms a large bubble which then bursts into an eruption of steam and water. The column rises quickly into the blue sky and plays for a couple of seconds.
Then the outburst subsides and a small flood wave leaves the pool through a narrow channel. The hot water follows a small stream which fans out as it crosses older hard deposits of geyserite. What a show!
We stand and watch for a couple of encores, and each eruption is slightly different from the other. Sometimes it's rather small, but wider. Then again, after a prolonged pause, Strokkur shoots 20m high into the sky.
Old Geysir
On leaving the area we pass Geysir, the Geysir all other jumping hot spring have their name from. Since the beginning of the century it has been rather quiet, becoming clogged with Geyserite (a mineral that deposits from the water) and stones people have been throwing in.
Only on important occasions such as the visit of high ranking political figures Geysir had been coaxed into activity by dumping up to 40kg of soap into its mouth (I guess I would erupt then, too).
We were pretty surprised Geysir was active when we were there, though not nearly as active as Strokkur. Later we read on the Internet the heavy earthquakes on June 17 and 21 had reactivated a number of springs in the area, including Geysir. Cool!