Day 6: July 12, 2007 Around Mývatn
Trip Start
Jul 08, 2007
1
6
21
Trip End
Jul 23, 2007
Reykjahlið,
Iceland
Thursday, July 12, 2007
I can only describe my sleep as delicious. I slept soundly and awoke knowing that my jet lag was over. After breakfast, we loaded the van and started our circuit of Mývatn in a counterclockwise direction. Our first stop was on the lakeshore near Námasfjall where one can see nine different types of volcanoes:
1) Calderas
2) Stratovolcano
3) Icelandic Shield
4) Tuya
5) Spatter Cone
6) Cinder Cone
7) Rhyolite Dome
8) Rootless Craters
9) Tuff Cone.
Next, we drove to the south side to hike through the rootless craters of Skútustaðirgígar. I chose to hike the trail around the lagoon. I had walked the west side before but never the east. We crossed a footbridge where the water from the lagoon drops about 40 cm into Mývatn over a distance of about 2 m, perhaps the world's shortest river. It makes a nice miniature delta in the lake. It was beautiful in the bright sun. We walked back to the hotel and boarded the bus. We continued to the stacked lava flows south of Dimmuborgir where I've stopped for lunch since our driver, Sigi, introduced me to the place in 2002. As usual, the students loved climbing over the rocks.
We proceeded to Dimmuborgir and did a counterclockwise walk through the lava flow, marveling at the incredible slickenside exposures. We missed the neat lava tube and continued through the arch toward Hverfell.
I climbed Hverfell with Rain, Mal, and Sydney. The bottom part was much harder than I remembered, going straight up the slope. Once we reached the switchbacks, it was much easier.
The view was the clearest I've had from the top. I shot a lot of fotos like everyone else. We walked clockwise to the descent trail and met Bill on the way. He had walked with Shirl to the bus and then climbed the volcano on the northwest trail. We descended by that trail to the bus. Only Motley and Curt decided to hike back to camp. We got back around 4:00. By 6:00, we realized that Motley and Curt were two of the evening's cooks. By 8:00, we were getting more hungry than concerned when the lost boys finally returned. They had taken a wrong turn and ended up at the Mývatn Nature Baths. Motley made some superb salmon patties for dinner.
After dinner, I took a much-needed shower. It felt great. I went to my tent and wrote for a while before turning in around 11:30.
