Iceland: 4 Days in the land of fire and ice
City to Shore and Volcano to Glacier - Iceland Offers a Little Something for Everyone
With only a few days in which to experience this incredibly diverse landscape, and with minimal preparation time, here are some of the adventures, and tips learned, from my time near the 66th Degree of the Arctic Circle.
With only a few days in which to experience this incredibly diverse landscape, and with minimal preparation time, here are some of the adventures, and tips learned, from my time near the 66th Degree of the Arctic Circle.
WOW Air was my first introduction to Iceland. A discount airline that charges for pretty much anything other than a seat - it still beat out the alternate options by almost HALF of the ticket price ($540 roundtrip including a checked bag (ice ax, crampons, camp stove - generally not plane friendly) and small carry-on for the plane. Mixed reviews online had me wondering if my savings in dollars would be a curse in travel experience. Not at all. One of the easiest overnight flights I've ever done - so easy in fact that I booked WOW Air a few short weeks later for a trip to Ireland, passing through Keflavik once again. See details on my recent Ireland trip HERE.
Winter in Iceland is a beautiful and rugged place. Unlike the summer months with the almost 24 hour sunlight, a November trip to Iceland saw me losing about 8 minutes of daylight each day, averaging about 7.5 hours (10:30am - 5pm) of sunlight each day during my adventure. Having maps, and only a loosely held plan that was rushed together over a weekend, my driving efficiency could have been better. I rented a Jeep Liberty at Iceland 4X4 Car Rental for my time and ended up driving about 700 miles in 4 days in order to head to where the weather promised the best chance of views and rain free adventure.
Before I get into the details, here are a few stats and info details about this trip that are needed to set the stage:
Time: November 7th direct non-stop flight from Boston Logan to Keflavik International Airport, returning November 12th mid-afternoon.
Visit: All adventuring for this trip was localized to the southern half of Iceland, as I never went further north on the western side than on the ice road past Gulfoss Falls in my adventure to follow the Mountaineers of Iceland. I also never reached beyond Jokulsarion Glacier Lagoon just below Hofn on the central eastern coast. With winter in full force in Iceland, all of my adventures remained on the exterior - most of the interior service roads either being closed entirely, or only passable by full winter adventure vehicles (all rentals being excluded from that catagory).
Weather: Good luck predicting that! Pretty much any day I could expect some sun / clouds / wind / rain - driving rain - sleeting rain - foggy rain / Hail / Snow, and maybe some of Thor's anger reverberating in the clouds above. Temperatures averaged about 40* both day and night - which was unusual. Note that when it rains - it is a wind driven, cold rain - and not one to be unprepared for. I brought full zip Goretex pants, jacket, and waterproof shell mittens to go over my winter expedition weight gloves / or synthetic liner gloves depending on how cold it was. Also note that Iceland has SO MANY WATERFALLS and constantly playing around falls is wet work - so a change of clothing in the car is a must! I used just One Pair of shoes for the entire trip: Altra Lone Peak 3.0 NeoShell Mid (REVIEW HERE).
LINKS BELOW FOR THE TRIP:
1. Day 1 CLICK HERE
2. Day 2 CLICK HERE
3. Day 3 CLICK HERE
4. Day 4 CLICK HERE
Winter in Iceland is a beautiful and rugged place. Unlike the summer months with the almost 24 hour sunlight, a November trip to Iceland saw me losing about 8 minutes of daylight each day, averaging about 7.5 hours (10:30am - 5pm) of sunlight each day during my adventure. Having maps, and only a loosely held plan that was rushed together over a weekend, my driving efficiency could have been better. I rented a Jeep Liberty at Iceland 4X4 Car Rental for my time and ended up driving about 700 miles in 4 days in order to head to where the weather promised the best chance of views and rain free adventure.
Before I get into the details, here are a few stats and info details about this trip that are needed to set the stage:
Time: November 7th direct non-stop flight from Boston Logan to Keflavik International Airport, returning November 12th mid-afternoon.
Visit: All adventuring for this trip was localized to the southern half of Iceland, as I never went further north on the western side than on the ice road past Gulfoss Falls in my adventure to follow the Mountaineers of Iceland. I also never reached beyond Jokulsarion Glacier Lagoon just below Hofn on the central eastern coast. With winter in full force in Iceland, all of my adventures remained on the exterior - most of the interior service roads either being closed entirely, or only passable by full winter adventure vehicles (all rentals being excluded from that catagory).
Weather: Good luck predicting that! Pretty much any day I could expect some sun / clouds / wind / rain - driving rain - sleeting rain - foggy rain / Hail / Snow, and maybe some of Thor's anger reverberating in the clouds above. Temperatures averaged about 40* both day and night - which was unusual. Note that when it rains - it is a wind driven, cold rain - and not one to be unprepared for. I brought full zip Goretex pants, jacket, and waterproof shell mittens to go over my winter expedition weight gloves / or synthetic liner gloves depending on how cold it was. Also note that Iceland has SO MANY WATERFALLS and constantly playing around falls is wet work - so a change of clothing in the car is a must! I used just One Pair of shoes for the entire trip: Altra Lone Peak 3.0 NeoShell Mid (REVIEW HERE).
LINKS BELOW FOR THE TRIP:
1. Day 1 CLICK HERE
2. Day 2 CLICK HERE
3. Day 3 CLICK HERE
4. Day 4 CLICK HERE