66 Degrees North

After a South American style bus day (12 hours, not because the distances are far, but because there are so many stops and layovers), we are out of the West Fjords and onto northern Iceland. We arrived in Akureyri (Iceland´s second largest city) at 11pm and pitched a tent and went to bed with the intention of going to Grimsey in the morning.

Grimsey is an island off the northern coast of Iceland, and therefore is the northernmost point of the country. It is also the only point of the country that is inside the arctic circle (which is 66 degrees north of the equator). So we took the ferry in the morning up there, and hiked around. It´s a tiny place, population 90, and about 6km long. There is a small monmument to the arctic circle that of course we had to pose for absurd pictures on. There are also lots of arctic terns, which are birds that like to divebomb people that they perceive as being in their territory, and clearly the entire island is their territory. There was also a pile of rocks that marked the northernmost point in the country. Woohoo! It was fun, and very pretty.

After Grimsey, we headed to Mývatn for some hiking. Mývatn is a lake somewhat inland (we have been on the coast the entire time, weird). Mývatn is surrounded by volcanos, lava flows, and midges. Midges are annoying little bugs that are attracted to carbon dioxide, and therefore swarm your face when you are hiking. We did a nice 6 mile day hike that turned into a 11 mile hike when no one would pick us up to take us back to town.

Today was another bus day, arriving in Höfn just a little bit ago. We are hoping to find a room in a hostel for the night, preparing for three days of hiking and tenting it. As for now, Onward!

Rather steep trail down the mountain

Northernmost point in Iceland

Grimsey Hiking in Mývatn

Puffins on GrimseyThe arctic circle monument
Fjord out the bus window

Didn´t get to put all the pictures in I wanted, I still have a few more to add once I have a computer with an SD reader.