Last summer I went to Iceland, but I never got around to writing about my trip. Here is my [belated] effort to do so. My friend, Cooper, and I drove the entire ring road, and then ended with a few days in Reykjavik. The post is mostly pictures with a few stories mixed in. Sorry for the halfway effort.

Iceland is stupid expensive. We paid about $1000 for our little compact rental car for 10 days. The average dinner was $30. At one point, I paid $18 for a single pint of beer. Lodging wasn’t terrible though. Regardless it was worth it. You MUST leave the Reykjavik area and the Golden Circle and drive the ring road to really get away from the crowds and get a feel for the amazing country. That’s exactly what we did.

Selandjafoss Waterfall

We stopped by here late in the afternoon on the first day in Iceland, after zero sleep and being awake for nearly forever (28 hours). Somehow I got a second wind and wound up running to the top. There are some funny stories about this waterfall but you’ll have to ask me in person.

Hot Springs

There are lots of cool hot springs around. We hit this one, which was originally a warm-water pool for Icelanders to learn to swim. It took a 10 minute hike (or so) to get there. The pool was loaded with algae but fairly warm.

Skogafoss

Heading south from Reykjavik you find Skogafoss, which was loaded with lupines and had an amazing hike equally loaded with waterfalls.

The Waterfall Hike from Skogafoss

Good Eats

This place had the best steak sandwich I’ve ever had. Great soup too. I’m not sure why I don’t have pictures of the food.

Reynisfjara

A strange word, but the name of the black sand beach just south of Skogafoss. Since it was July and it never really got dark, we were able to do many things in a day. These pictures were taken around 11pm.

Other Random Views

Iceland is picturesque everywhere. I can’t remember the names of these areas, but they were cool.

Hiking

One cool part of Iceland is that you can hike on any land that isn’t fenced off. While driving the Ring Road I caught a glimpse of this glacier and we decided to make the short hike to the top. I guessed 10 minutes. More like 60… whooops.

Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon

Kayaking

We also had the chance to kayak in a small glacier lagoon. You can’t kayak in certain ones as the icebergs can flip over and capsize your boat, drowning you or at very least instilling hypothermia. Yay. This one was safe though, and it was a cool experience.

Dyrfjoll hike

This was a cool day hike through a valley, ending in a rock-filled lake at the base of a super cool mountain.

Lava Fields

Happy 4th of July

On the 4th of July, we hit this geothermal pool. In our opinion, it was way better than getting into the tourist trap of the Blue Lagoon. But we didn’t go to BL, so who knows?

Lake Myvatn

Beer Bath

There are only two places in the world where you can take a beer bath. Prague, and Iceland. Enough said.

Reykjavik

Landmanlauger

No Iceland trip is complete without a visit to the highlands.

Eating in Iceland

Iceland was epically expensive, so a normal meal was hot dogs at the gas stations. Hold that thought. These hot dogs were made from lamb and are wonderful. Maybe not the healthiest eating ever but it was good!

I have hundreds more pictures and plenty of stories. Perhaps later down the road I will get around to writing more. If you have questions about Iceland feel free to post a comment and I’ll be happy to help. Cheers!