the wide, wide view

The landscape seen from Grábrók volcano crater.

Hverir

The fumaroles at Hverir are pretty amazing. You would not believe the NOISE those things make. Like a jet engine running all the time, hissing and rushing.

Wide land under impressive sky

This is yet another picture of the wide and incredibly green landscape of Iceland.

The picture was taken from the edge of Grábrók, a volcanic ash crater in the north west of Iceland.

Eldhraun

This is Eldhraun. A volcanic crater from very far back. Very liquid lava was boiling in this pot pretty much for an eternity. This formed a very thin crater edge that is fully round and has a deep hole in the middle. The hike up towards it is lined with blue berry bushes and birches. We couldn't help but collect more berries than we wanted. 

Eldhraun, Snaefellsnes, West-Iceland

The Green is intense

Iceland presents you with a fabulous array of greens. There are greens that jump right out of the neon colors of the 80s. There are greens that are close to black, there are mosses and lichens, trees and grass, flowers and shrubs, each in their very own shade of green.

Here is an ash crater in Western Iceland. We stopped along the road and climbed onto Grábrók, an ash crater that was formed in a fissure erruption less than 3000 years ago. Grábrók is located in the Ljósufjöll volcanic system and is rather tall. Its a great hike I really recommend when you get a chance.

Berserkjahraun

In August 2012 we finally got to check out Snaefellsnes. It is always said, that Snaefellsnes combines the best of Iceland in a small place. And I bet, there is a lot to be said for this.

We took a trip through Berserkjahraun - the Berserk's lava flow. The story behind this name and location I will reveal another time. It seems to be a very interesting story and stems from Eyrbyggja Saga. For now I just want to show you the beauty of this place: The lava flow is still really young, it is only about 4000 years old.

For me, it is hard to believe that lava will look no more eroded than this after the short little period of 4000 years. 

Craters all over

Since Iceland is of vulcanic origin, most of the surface still bares hints of vulcanism. In a lot of places there are craters of various types and kinds visible in the landscape.

This crater we saw from the edge of another one.

West Iceland, summer 2012

Iceland is wide

Volcanic landscape near Myvatn, seen from the Hverfjall ash crater.

These are my shoes after hiking the ash crater.

out on the moon

The geothermal area of Krafla behind the Myvátn lake leaves you with the impression that you are out on the moon, all by youself. If there was less gravity, it would surely be even more eery. The mudpots and fumaroles (the steam vents) are special and definitely worth a visit.

A fumarole venting the steam out with really loud hissing noises. The smell of sulfur is not very strong. Not every volcano smells the same, we found out.

This looks like a lunar scene to me. This spot is close to the ground, downwinds from one of the big fumaroles. The rocks are covered in minerals and sulfur remains and have this unreal yellow orange color.

Some time steam comes out from the middle of this spot. The place must not be touched, since the surface could get damaged. The area is not guarded by anyone but there are some lines drawn and some signs posted.

A gigantic, blubbering mudpot. This deep hole sends out steam and bubbles grey hot mud. Like a grey version of tomato soup.

Dry cracks in the soil. This spot must - at some point - have been sending up gas or steam. But it was quiet, when we got there.

An overview over the area. Without that the people on the side you could get lost in planetary situations.

Here, more than ever, I thought of different orbits all together.

A mudpot that was very liquid but none the less dangerous. Falling into one of those would be the last thing you do - no matter on which  planet.

High flying steam infront of a sky promising storms. This place is ever changing.

This is seen from a different place in the same valley. The power plant of Krafla is collecting the geothermal powers around the valley and turns them into energy. Iceland is entirely self sufficient with electricity and heating. Electric energy is entirely gathered from geothermal power. Heating is only fuled by other means where absolutely necessary.

the cave

While traveling through the north of Iceland in 2008 we visited the Myvatn area. The geothermal powers are strong and unleashed there. This cave we found in a cracked rock alongside a dirt road somewhere away from the lake. The water in this cave was steaming and warm and the place looked like it was perfect for meditation.

This photo is taken by my husband.

Während wir 2008 durch den isländischen Norden gefahren sind, haben wir auch die Gegend um den Myvatn besucht. Die geothermalen Kräfte sind dort von der Leine gelassen und überall finden sich Spuren. Diese Höhle haben wir in einem gespaltenen Lavaband gefunden, irgendwo am Rande einer Schotterstraße im Hinterland des Sees. Das Wasser in dieser Höhle dampfte und war angenehm warm. Der Ort wirkte, als wäre er perfekt für Meditation.

Dieses Bild hat mein Mann gemacht.

Self Portrait with volcano

One of the rare occasions... no, not the vulcanic erruption, but a selfportrait of us...

This is in spring of 2010 in front of the Fimvörduháls erruption in Iceland, which later became the Eyafjallajökull erruption and stopt airplanes all over the world. If you look closely you can see the smoke rise from the erruption.

The Volcano Expedition

Going to see the volcano in March we took a picture of the information sign. To show where every thing was located, I marked the main points of interest on the photo. Red for the erruption of Fimvörduháls, blue for the icy glacier that will later on - just short time after our trip there - will become "that volcano in Iceland" that stopped air trafic forever.

The green marker above these spots is where we parked to watch the erruption and took these pictures and videos. After the Eyjafjallajökull errupted that valley was not visible anymore but turned into the run off for the melt water.

click to enlarge, then you can actually read a lot of it!

On the drive to the volcano we saw the drastic demonstrations of accident risks.

drastic!

valley of Thorsmörk

The valley into Thorsmörk was not drivable on the Throsmörk side but on the opposite side of the valley. On the map you can see where that is. This is the view towards the erruption from the valley side. The steam marks the lava flows.






Amazing view of Eyjafjallajökull from the valley side - when it was still a glacier and all calm.

the glacier that is no more

The glacier that is no more...

we happend to be in Iceland in April 2010 when "the" volcano errupted and stalled European and American air travel.

While we were there we went to see the erruption, which then was the first, smaller erruption at Fimvörduháls. Videos and pictures of that erruption I have already posted in this blog. Search for "volcano" in the tags. It was expected then that a bigger erruption would follow and the general consent was, that the larger erruption would be the volcano to the east of Fimvörduháls.

The picture here shows the mountain to the west of Fimvörduháls (with the view southwards in this picture). The mountain is called Eyjafjalla and therefore the glacier is called Eyjafjallajökull. Well, you know the name, don't you? It turned out that the erruption to follow was that of Eyjafjallajökull and the main run of water that you got to see on all the news was that glacier tounge that you see in this picture, reaching down.

This picture, therefore, shows the last of the glaciers life in former form. It is not that the mountain disappeared, it just is that the glacier melted majorly and most likely will look different, now.

Icelandic volcano

Iceland has a new volcano erruption. I found this picture and information on the web:

In Island bricht ein neuer Vulkan aus. Dieses Bild und diese Informationen habe ich im Internet gefunden:

Grímsvötn

And / Und:


Grìmsvötn

Grímsvötn is a volcano in Skaftafell national park, southern Iceland. We are planning to go to this national park this summer and wanted to take a special trip to Svartifoss, a spectacular waterfall from black basalt collumns. See here.

Grímsvötn ist ein Vulkan im Skaftafell National Park in Südisland. Wir planen einen Trip in diesen National Park und wollen auch endlich den Wasserfall im Süden des Nationalparks besuchen: Svartifoss, hier zu sehen.

Eyjafjallajökull and Fimmvörduháls

In March 2010 we were about to set out to a trip to the USA, stopping over in Iceland for a few days. Just days before take-off the volcano erruption of Fimmvördurháls began. 

First we thought the airport in Keflavík was going to be for the time being. We thought we might not be able to go. But the airport opened up just about a day before our flight and we did get to Iceland.

The options to get to the volcano were just posted in some places. But the heli flights were mad expensive and the jeep tours that went all the way up to the flowing lava were really tempting but also very expensive.

We finally opted for more liberty and rented a little Jeep from cheep jeep in Reykjavík and drove out ourselves.

Suzuki Jimmy from cheepjeep.com, the steam in the background is not the erruption

First we went to the southern coast at Skógar Foss and tried to start the hike up to Fimmvöduháls to see the lava. But it was majorly cold and regular heavy winter gear was just not enough. The polar cold between the glaciers got down to about -30 degree Celsius around those places and we were just not set up for that. We talked to the hikers and they told us that if we did not hike in through freezing mud for six hours we would not see anything.

Ponies along the roadside

We could not drive in to Thorsmörk behind the eruption, because that road had been closed and Thorsmörk was about to be evacuated any moment. Then we were told that the road to Fjallabak was on the far side of the valley of Thorsmörk and that that road was open and used by volcano watchers. 

Eyjafjallajökull, from Thorsmörk / Fjallabak Valley, not long before the erruption tore off that cap

Thorsmörk / Fjallabak Valley

other curious people near us on a ridge

We did drive out there. The term road was a little far fetched since most of it was driving through river beds and river runs. The little jeep held up well and got us to the perfect viewing place.

Fimmvörduháls in the daytime from Thorsmörk Valley / Fjallabak

we have a million different pictures of the erruption with different lava spurts

We did spend about 7 hours there in an icy car because the spot was perfect but the view was supposed to be better at night. And it was. Here is the view we enjoyed.