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South-East coast
The ferry is waiting for VivaLaVida in two days and I still have several hundred miles to get to Seydisfjordur, so it’s time for me to move on. Without forgetting to stop at some new spots.
1. Same place same hour three weeks later and same rainbow… 😉
2. Short stop on another spot of Jökulsárlón Lake.
3. And another stop at Diamond Beach to shot some pictures especially for Isabelle! 😉
4. Further East, shortly before the Vestrahorn, another gravel bar in the rain.
The Vestrahorn Mountain, so often photographed, turns out to be a real tourist scam. In addition to the fact that it is next to a hugly military satellite antena, it has been appropriated by the owner of a camping-bar that charges for access! He even installed an automatic highway toll style barrier to control access. I am quite shocked by the fact that somebody can appropriate a piece of nature belonging to the state and refuses to lend me to this practice, preferring to go elsewhere. Travelers, keep away of that place, there are enough other beautiful sites in Iceland.
5. I sleep on a small pass along the old road. After a steady rain during most of the night, the morning offers me a nice sky.
6. And here is the Vestrahorn from the North-East, a less “conventional” view. 🙂
7. An example of the large sheep farms of the South coast.
8.After my disappointment at Vestrahorn, I spotted another less known site (but for how long ..?). The weather was not pleasant and I decided to explore the coast in search of cool compositions until it improves. Here is one first with this cove in the rocks.
9. The showers succeed one another, created by the strong wind that condenses the clouds on the mountain.
10. I take the opportunity to observe some ducks who hiding from strong wind behind the cape. Here a female.
11. And there a male who has just caught a crustacean.
12. He rinses it a little…
13. Before swallowing it!
14. In the foam…
15. I also go discover the large beach that runs to the West.
16. Vestrahorn in the distance.
17. Survival…
18. Finally, after 5 1/2 hours of waiting, a brief sunray of just a few minutes allows me to show you another composition.
Last article of this trip coming soon. 😉
Path less traveled…
After the Lakagigar, rather than go directly to the Landmannalaugar on F208, we decided to go to Langisjór Lake via some less traveled trails that proved to be gorgeous…
1. River in the rain, along Southern F208.
2. Rather curious sign, isn’t it? In fact, the trail goes into the lake on approx. 300 yards.
Here is a video of this unusual path done by Isabelle. The weather was windy, with rain and fog…
3. In places, everything is only mineral.
4. Langisjór lake in the rain.
5. Trail…
6. …
7. River…
8. Fog…
9. VivaLaVida riding the moon.
10. The rain finally stops.
11. Invisible track. Thank you GPS.
12. Desolation…
13. … and blackness.
14. But these landscapes are amazing.
15. The trail crosses another lake.
16. Contrasts are everywhere.
17. Our trail seen from the top of a hill.
18. After driving in a lake, here we follow the riverbed for nearly one mile to change the valley! 😉
19. …
20. Fairy…
21. …
22. Another ford.
23. … and another.
24. We walk and play too!
25. Selfie 😉
26. Emile loves it.
27. Late afternoon contrasts.
28. …
29. In places, this track less traveled requires a good 4WD transmission, as here in a steep descent.
Here is another short video showing this trail. In video background, we can see the continuation of the track over the river, which goes up in the hills.
30. Rain showers are back.
31. …
32. …
33. Another particularly saturated rainbow.
34. We spend the night on the shore of a lake, near a shelter already closed for winter…
Hoping that this update won’t have been too long… 😉
To be followed in Landmannalaugar soon.
South coast…
1. As Gaël requested it, here is the whole family. 😀
2. An example of the language at the checkout of a store, inapprehensible and unpronounceable for us.
And to show you what the rain can be there, here is a short video
of Isabelle made the day before where it rained like that almost all day long..!
3. Continuation of the South Coast to the East. VivaLaVida crosses many Gravel Bars, large river beds that regular floods clear of all
vegetation.
4. Showers that offer beautiful skies.
5. Waterfall Foss á Síðu along road Nb 1.
6. Rainbow in frontof the Vatnajökull ice cap in the distance.
7. Another one to celebrate VivaLaVida.
8. Gravel bar.
9. Shower on the coast.
10. Vatnajökull ice cap, the largest in Iceland.
11. It is crossed by many volcanoes more or less active.
12. In the evening, VivaLaVida finds a nice boondocking place to camp near a glacial lake.
13. First colors at dawn.
14. Camp of VivaLaVida, close to the glaciers.
15. Light beams…
16. … on raw elements.
17. I couldn’t not show to Isabelle, a jewel fan, the “Diamond Beach”, famous for the icebergs that stand out from the Vatnajökull and flow
into the ocean by Lake Jökulsárlón before stranding on the black beach! 😉
18. Photo souvenir…
19. Jökulsárlón Lake.
20. Larger icebergs must melt before crossing the channel leading to the ocean.
In the next update, we will leave the coast to discover the Lakagigar area where new small volcanoes appeared only some decades ago.
En route to Utah, well… not fast ;-)
1. In the previous update, I left you with this image of Black Rock that I leave it here again, you’re gonna understand why… 😉
2. The Wake up was quite unexpected with a rainbow in the mist that lasted only a moment.
3. Here is Black Rock again, all crowned with a hairs of rising sun. So you have it in the evening and in the morning! 😀
After a walk the day before to see the state of the trail, I decided to cross the high desert of Black Rock which seemed to have dried well four days after rain and snow. At first all went well, about ten miles without a hitch. Then suddenly, without I could notice any change on the track, VivaLaVida lost all grip, as if he was driving on ice! Even at leass than 5 mph, difficult to maintain it on the fine line of the track. Too late to stop, I drove about 3 miles till a simple tilt of 1 ° or so “draged” VLV on the left without the steering wheel reacts. Obviously, out of the trace, the two left wheels were driven into the mud and despite the four-wheel drive and differential locks, VLV has stopped, stucked right..!
Well, I am alone more than 35 miles away from the first living soul, he’ll have to take out the nearly 5 tons of VLV by myself. So I pulled out the shovel and made a small fitness session to arrange “ramps” to all four wheels, not only to allow VLV out of its gangue but also to guide him back on the track, only trace capable of supporting its weight. I didn’t succeded at the first attempt,you can imagine. But after a few hours of fitness, “muddy” from head to foot, VivaLaVida had regained a semblance of presence with the wheels out of the ruts. 😀
All for nothing as two miles away, a river still flooded prohibited any crossing. So we turned backd and return to the Black Rock Hot Spring with the same trail – to wash Pschitt, shoes and shovel at almost nightfall… 😀
4. Here are the tracks that VLV was doing just before to get stucked, despite largely deflated tires.
5. Gloups, it’s called bogged!
6. Mud is good for the skin, isn’t it? 😀
7. We’re out!
8. No, these are not new wide tires mounted for a better look of VLV… 😉
9. After all that, I had to make a detour of more than 150 miles to find the road that would lead me in Utah. However, with stunning scenery.
10. In the high Black Rock Desert, mineral colors are impressive…
11. … sometimes incredibly saturated.
12. It almost sounds like some molten lava, isn’t it?
13. Sometimes softer and pastel…
14. Last sunrays over Pahute Peak.
15. The sunset gratified me with very soft pink colors.
16. The next day, when I joined Utah, it was full moon on the plain…
17. The shadows lengthen over the southern Great Salt Lake.
Upcoming episode in a few days…
D5 Creation