Day 3 - Skogar Museum, Waterfalls & Glacier Hike

To begin our day, we woke up early in the morning to catch the bus at 8am, functioning on minimal sleep from the night before since we only arrived at our hostel at 10pm. On the hour and a half drive to our destinations, the fatigue caught up to us and we all slept in the bus, waking up to a collection of sights filled with intricate rock formations and various farm animals, including horses, sheeps and mountain goats.

We took a quick pit-stop at a convenience store before arriving at our first destination, Skogar Museum. For some context, Skogar Museum holds a collection of artifacts which are relevant to Iceland. In the main facility, there were multiple rooms, dedicated to farming equipment, ancient clothing, kitchenware, etc. Outside, there were smaller buildings that was once an entire village which included a church, various houses and a school in the distance. Our tour guide took us around certain parts of the main building, introducing us to the traditional clothing of Icelandic women and the largest artefact they had in the museum, a ship similar to those of the Vikings. Once we finished, we crowded in the bus again to head to a waterfall close by.

We arrived at the waterfall after around 20 minutes and were immediately confronted by the rumbling sound of the water falling down the cliff and the crowd of people surrounding the base of the waterfall to take their own photos. Once we exited the bus, some decided to inch closer to the waterfall, getting increasingly sprayed by water with each step they took. Others decided to climb up a staircase with over 500 steps, making it to the top of the waterfall and back with just enough time to spare before we left. The most ambitious decided to enter the waterfall itself, while the rest of us ate our bagged lunches on the outskirts. After we wrapped up, we headed to the bus to go on our glacier hike.

The main attraction of the day had come as we waited in anticipation to climb the glacier. We strapped into our harnesses and helmets, layered up to face the chilly wind. In small groups, we entered a school bus, where we received our crampons (shoes with spikes on the soles) and listened to the rules of our instructors. Once everyone was ready, we headed down a 1km trail towards the base of the glacier, viewing the rocky environment that surrounded us. After we arrived, we circled up on the black sand alongside the lake, following the directions for putting on our crampons. The three rules we were instructed to practice were to make sure the crampons were placed directly on the ground, instead of heel first, having a wide stance about a shoulder-width apart and bringing our legs up higher than normal to give ourselves space. Subsequently, we followed each other in a single-file line, testing out the crampons along the way. As we climbed up the glacier, our instructors showed us how the ash from the surrounding volcanos gave the glaciers a black appearance, covering up the blue ice. They also handed us pieces of ice, through which we could see a rainbow being formed by the air bubbles and ash trapped inside. We kept climbing up the mountain, our chills turning into sweat as we kept walking and avoiding obstacles. Once we finally reached the top, we took a bunch of pictures and viewed their scientific machine containing a rope attached to a metal figure for measuring the elevation of the ice over time. Due to climate change, the ice had decreased significantly and as a result, the rope was more apparent now than before. Afterwards, we descended down the glacier, only stopping to put clay on our face, which had formed from the ash mixing with the water and to drink the water that was flowing downwards, using the pickaxes to hold ourselves in place. Once we reached the bottom, we took off our crampons, cleaned them and headed back to the bus through the intial pathway.

After an exhausing treck through the glacier, as we had walked nonstop for four hours straight, we all collapsed into our bus seats, anxious to return to the hostel. But before we embarked on our long journey back, we took a quick pit-stop at a different waterfall, one which allowed us to go behind it. We pulled up into the parking lot and immediately started walking towards the waterfall, which looked similar to the one we had previously visited. As soon as we took the stairs upwards, the water splashed all over us, with some wearing their rain jackets compared to those who only had their t-shirts. The wind was especially rampant during that time as the water kept hitting us until we finally reached the bend around the corner where we were behind the waterfall. Some of us went to the base of the waterfall while others carried onwards, navigating through the wet rocks. When we finally came full circle, we were all drenched in water, forcing us to change or remove our top layers of clothing. When we came on the bus, we were extremely fatigue and tired as we took the bus all the way back to the hostel.

by Shruti Balachander