My Adventures in Iceland 2004
These pictures are from my trip to Snæfellesnes with Chris Willeby in August, 2004. We started out early on a Saturday morning and headed north out of Reykjavík towards Stykkishólmur. We decided to take the road over Rauðamelsheiði to check out the lava fields at Gullborg.
After Gullborg, we stopped in the town of Stykkishólmur for Danish days, which is a big festival held there every August. It was fun, but we had more exploring to do, so we headed to Helgafell. Helgafell is a hill just outside of Stykkishólmur that has been used since Saga times as a meeting place. At the bottom of the hill is the grave of Guðrun Ósvífursdóttir from Laxdæla Saga (10th century).
After leaving Helgafell, we went to the head of Kolgrafarfjörður to hike up the stream and see the series of waterfalls. We didn't take any water because the water here is pure enough to drink straight from the stream. The hike took about 2 hours and required a little bit of scrambling but it was a lot of fun. We went really high, which can be seen in the picture looking down at Chris' red truck.
After our fun hike at the head of Kolgrafarfjörður, Chris and I headed to the town of Grundarfjörður. The town sits at the foot of Kirkjufell, also called Sukkertoppen by the Danish. There isn't much to do in Grundarfjörður, but Kirkjufell makes a perfect backdrop for pictures.
After leaving Grundarfjörður, we made a quick stop in Ólafsvík before taking the mountain road up to Snæfellsjökull. (Jökull = glacier) Along the way, we passed a black sand beach and a few cool waterfalls. We made camp below the glacier and cooked a good dinner of cheese weiners and spaghetti.
The next morning we headed down in to Hellnar to check out the bird cliffs and a few other sites. The weather wasn't as pleasant as it had been the previous day, but we still had a good time. The sea arches near Arnarstapi and Hellnar are amazing, and the walk between the two towns is definitely worth the effort.
After leaving Arnarstapi, we stopped at a slot canyon near Búðir. The canyon is a few hundred feet tall, but only approximately 5-10 feet wide. You can go back into it a few hundred feet, following the stream. It is really cool, and worth the quick stop.
