Touring The East Fjords- Easter Break

Touring The East Fjords

Easter break became the first opportunity for me to get out and explore for a few days as it was to be our only true break for the year aside from Christmas, which is a long time from now. So, I packed up my trusty Toyota Hilux and headed to the East Fjords in search of adventure and beauty, I found both. Most of this post will be pictures, and I hope they speak for themselves.

The east is rugged country, with waterfalls around every bend, and small creeks feeding into the endless fjords.

I hiked up this creek for a little while
Waterfalls, everywhere

Typical scenery along the coast

More waterfalls around every bend

And beautiful river valleys leading to the ocean

Such an nice, relaxing place
And some cool plant life along the way
The landscape is rife with colorful scenery, you just have to look closely

I spent the first night at a neat little guest house that I just happened to stumble upon while taking pictures and enjoying the rivers I found. I did not take any pictures of the place, but it was a nice, quiet restful night, I was the only one in the house with a German elderly couple sleeping outside in their van. I did not even see the care-taker, but it was a nice find in the country.
I woke up and continued on my way down the coast, finding more beautiful things around every bend.

The usual scenery from the Ring Road

I drove as far as a place called Hoffellsjokull, a tongue of the Vatnjokull, the largest glacier in all of Europe it covers 9% of Iceland's landmass. At this point I was at least 500km from my home of Akureyri.

I drove up a dirt road for a while, up a small hill, and was greeted by a glacier!
Clearly stoked to find a glacier out here
The lake at the toe of the glacier was full of ice and melt, an awesome, peaceful place.

I walked out onto the glacier for a little while, it was really neat, and it was very restful and nice to be so in tune with nature, very silent and a quite spiritual place for me.
I stayed for a while and then headed into a small town nearby called Hofn (pronounced like hob). Stocked up on supplies and headed back north on the road in search of a campsite for the night.

Not a bad place to spend the night

A nice valley all to myself

A quite lovely place to be

And a nice waterfall to sing me to sleep all night

The moon even poked out from time to time

I spent that night in the rain, on and off, and the tent I had borrowed was not exactly the driest place I have ever slept in, but a good sleeping bag kept me warm all night. I woke up and it was a little cold, it had even snowed a bit in my little valley of solitude. I packed up my camp and started to make my way back home. I only spent two nights out on this trip, but I feel like I saw a whole lot, and I enjoyed every minute. It was quite an adventure.

I snapped a panorama just to try to capture how expansive it is out here

I made my way back to Akureyri, slowly but surely becoming home to me. It was nice to sleep in a nice warm bed and take a nice hot shower. After this trip, it felt like Iceland was truly home for the next year or so, and it was nice to get out, relax and be alone with nature for a short time.
More to come very soon.
Paulie