Pale sunrise through the fog
A herd of sheep being brought to the village...
... and causing a "sheep-jam"
I bet that in Iceland like in New Zealand, sheep vastly outnumber humans.
Steam from the geothermal area of Namaskard
All that sulfur is not helping the vegetation !
Leirhnjukur
and lava fields
Viti crater in Krafla filled with aqua blue water
The parking is close to the crater so easy access. We did not dare walk inside the caldera although there is trail. The color of the lake is beautiful even with a very cloudy sky
Not far from the geothermal station there are 2 constant hot water showers available to the public. What a fun spot! A free warm water shower ! I have been raised to turn off warm water immediately after use so just this is funny, and what possibilities !
We waited for a nice model to demonstrate the proper use of the shower...
... but Thao objected that although the water was nice and warm, the ambient air was pretty cold !
Dettifoss waterfall, 45 m high and 100 m wide, on the Jökulslá river
It was very windy and raining, and few tourists were there
And right above is Selfoss
Jökulsárgljúfur Canyon in Vatnajökull National Park. It was drizzly and not pretty so we first stopped at the Visitor center that had magnificent exhibits (plus clean restrooms and hot chocolate 😉!). The geology of this canyon was fascinating and it is apparently the model for chaotic flooding, called by the Icelandic name of Jökulhlaup. In this Jökulhlaup, a volcanic subglacial eruption forms a gigantic subglacial lake. That lake is sealed by the ice cap above, until it either lifts the ice cover or erode a tunnel underneath with massive discharge of the subglacial lake. The cliff in the images below represents the edge of the tunnel that was created. It is 25 km long about 2.5 km wide and 100 m deep: Some flood that cause that erosion in very short burst !!! Apparently the "English channel" is another massive example of Jökulhlaup. I had just though this was an early manifestation of Brexit 🤣
Some little trickle made a pretty green pond
Common Horsetail, a "living fossil", the only living descendent of the "Equisetopsida" that was a predominant plant of late Paleozoic forests (540-250 mya). Some Equisetopsida were large trees reaching to 30 meters tall. They reproduce by spores (unicellulars) and not seeds (multicellulars).
