Iceland
Chapter four
Dyrhólaey and the Golden Circle.
May 19. Dyrhólaey.
The road to Dyrhólaey opens at 09:00. Upon checking out of the guesthouse, I stopped by the grocery store in Vik to pick up croissants for breakfast only to find it closed. Disappointed, but eager to begin my day, I stopped at a nearby gas station to fill the tank of the car and drove off to the park.
I am the first to arrive at the gate. I’m 15 minutes early and I get out of the car to stretch my legs and admire the landscape. A car creeps in behind me and we sit and watch our clocks. At 08:58 a car creeps down from the plateau. A man gets out and unlocks the gate and beckons us through.
I drive the main road until I find a dirt road winding off to the left. I turn onto it and make my way slowly back and forth up the switch backs to a parking lot with access to a plateau overlooking the ocean.
The views from the plateau over the surrounding area are majestic. Before me is the sea, behind mountains and beaches of volcanic rock. I walk to the lighthouse and then down the hill, following the coastline to view Dyrhólaey from another angle. On one of the beaches I watch as terns huddle by a rocky outcropping; their white bodies dot the black sand.
Back at the car I wind my way back down to the main road and follow it to the end, where I can access the rest of the park. I had seen it as I had walked for a bit along the coast and realize that I could have walked all the way down.
A small structure sits by the path that leads to the coast. It turns out to be one of the most beautiful bathrooms I’ve seen. Inside, the washbasins are set against windows looking out over the ocean. The grey wood and glass matched perfectly the skies.
Drangurinn Rock and the Kerid crater.
Driving back along the ring road it started to rain. From the window I spied Drangurinn Rock and stopped to take a look. It’s believed elves live among the grottoes, though the rain must have kept them in their warm homes. I didn’t see a one.
Near Hveragerði and with time to spare, I turned off the ring road and drove north to the Kerid Crater. I paid the entrance fee and circumnavigated the rim before climbing down to view the lake. The rain continued off and on, but it was light enough to allow me to sit on the small bench installed on the shore to watch the droplets fall upon the surface of the lake.
Gullfoss Falls.
It was another 45 min to Gullfoss, one of the main sights on the golden circle. It’s a beautiful two-tiered waterfall, with a visitor center and a parking lot spacious enough to accommodate many tourist buses. I had already been lamenting the return to civilization after the relative emptiness of the eastern parts of the island.
The number of people I had encountered at the crater were more than I had seen in a day as I drove east, and at the falls, the number of people had increased even more. Still, the powerful falls and the landscape drew me in, and the raw force of nature kept me enthralled.
En route back towards the rain road I stopped by the Geysir geothermal field. I had passed it on the way to the falls but hadn’t realized that it was to be my next stop. Even after parking, I wasn’t sure I had found the right spot until the geyser erupted behind me, spewing water far up into the skies.
Bruarfoss Waterfall.
It was getting late, but the sun was nowhere near close to setting and so I decided to do one last hike for the day. YukWah told me Bruarfoss waterfall was one of her favorites and it was a but a 15 min drive from where I was. From the parking lot it would be a one-hour hike, but I had been driving for most of the day and I was up for a little exercise.
Years ago, it was a quick walk from the parking lot, but visitors would have to drive through a private neighborhood to get to the parking lot. As tourism increased, the patience of the homeowners decreased and now the neighborhood is private. A gate bars entry unless you have an access card.
Parking at a lot in the middle of nowhere next to a van, I passed a group of friends on their way back from the hike. The said it was flat and long but worth it. I thanked them for the information and set off on my own.
The falls were beautiful. Seen from a bridge that crosses the water, they fan out like a horseshoe crab. I walked down to the banks and then gingerly upon a group of rocks set in the river to get a better view. The water was clean and clear and impossibly blue. I knelt down to take its temperature and took a drink. After the hike, it refreshed me like nothing else could, and I felt the crisp cold hold of the land upon me. 🇮🇸
