Onion River Exploration Project: From North to East

Rainbow at Dettifoss

Day 8 (8/7/13)

Because of the weather some things had to be changed in our itinerary so Wednesday morning finds us on our way to the other end of Midge Lake. The first thing that I thought when I got off the bus was that if this was the states they would build a golf course here. Lake Myvatn “Midge Lake” lives up to its name, although one of the most beautiful areas we saw in Iceland, with its pseudo craters and diverse wildlife, we were constantly harassed by the little black flies (midges). It is worth inhaling a few however to see such an awesome sight. During the early nesting season much of this area is off limit to humans but by now most of the babies have taken to the water and you could see families of Horned Grebes, Whooper Swans and Redshanks just to mention a few. Again we had a long road ahead of us so after a hike around the lower end of the lake it was off to the east coast but not before we had made a couple of stops on the way. Our first stop was Dettifoss, Europe’s most powerful waterfall. An interesting side note is that the road to Dettifoss is so new and so remote that it didn't show up on the bus's GPS mapping system which I found intriguing. Dettifoss is awesome, not exactly in a beautiful way, but one cannot help being overwhelmed by the sheer size and power of it. It runs through a volcanic wasteland with only the sparsest vegetation. The river/falls is gray in color due to the erosion of the volcanic area that it runs through. You can hear the falls long before you see it except for the spray mist which seems to hover over an otherwise empty wilderness. You have to keep reminding yourself that you are in a cool wet climate and not some hot dry desert. When we got to the falls there was a beautiful rainbow that rose up out of the gorge making for some spectacular photography. After a picnic lunch at the falls we continued east. It wasn't long before we started having our first glimpses of glaciers. Our next stop is at Modrudalur, the highest year-round residence in Iceland. From here you can see Herdubreid, the queen of Icelandic mountains. The farm includes a few shops, accommodations and a cute little church, which a previous farmer built as a memorial to his wife in 1944. We also caught glimpses of an Arctic Fox that was scampering along a fence row. After one more stop at another barren wasteland to build some cairns and another beautiful waterfall in another beautiful valley we make it to the Fljotsdasherad region. Its narrow glacial lake Logurinn is the home of the famous “Lake Worm”, Loch Ness Monster of Iceland. When we stopped for the night at the Hótel Hallormsstaður we were treated to a buffet of traditional Icelandic food including horse, lamb heart and tongue, mutton tongue and many types of fish both raw and cooked. After supper Eileen and I went for a walk where we found yet another waterfall and an opportunity to build another cairn.