Iceland: Dettiifoss, Namafyall, and More

On July 24th our NatHab group was treated to a Möðrudalur floor show at breakfast.

I don't think he needs any coffee!

We made a quick getaway afterwards to beat the crowds to the Dettifoss waterfall, one of the top attractions in this part of Iceland.

Katherine was pointing things out, probably cautioning us, but it was hard to hear above the thunderous water.

Looking down with people to provide scale.

Both the volume and agitation of Dettifoss were impressive, almost overwhelming. This video holds clips from two different viewpoints. A short walk upstream from Dettifoss is a scenic but less aggressive waterfall, Selfoss, not to be overlooked. Water spills down from a wide sweep of cliff.
A closer look.

After a brief stop at Selfoss we had to scoot back to the bus and head towards Mývatn, a premiere tourist area; cruise ships even dock at Akureyri and bus people there. Our first stop in Greater Mývatn was the Námafyall geothermal field.

The view was otherwordly.

Steam vents! A strong whiff of sulfur when you're downwind.

Bubbling mud! (More sulfur.)

 
Then on to Grjótagjá we drove, where the stresses of the deformation zone between North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, about 100km wide, can be observed on the surface. Click on the images to enlarge.

One of many rifts in this part of Iceland. Some guides will tell you that here you can stand with one foot on each techtonic plate, but it's a more complicated terrain than that.

The water in the bottom was a popular bathing place -- warm water is always welcome in Iceland's climate -- until the 1975-1984 eruptions of nearby Krafla injected magma flows under the area. Water temperatures originally rose to 60° C, but now are between 43°-46° C, or 109°-115° F.

This section of the rift belongs to a farm, but the landowner graciously allows tourist access at no charge. Thank you. Pick up after yourself.

Off to a generous buffet lunch at the Hotel Myvatn, after which we walked across the road to investigate Skútustaðagígar, a walk through a landscape pocked by steam craters. These formations weren't created by lava eruptions, but by steam explosions generated by subsurface magma heating the wet terrain above it.

The view from an observation point demanded two panoramic photos.

Otherwise it's just a spaghetti strip!

 Birdwatching is a primary attraction here. Plenty of ducks.

An arctic tern. I learned that one way to distinguish it from the common tern is that the arctic's beak is entirely red, while the common's is tipped in black.

Our walk completed, we drove to Sigurgeir's Bird Museum, the largest private bird collection in Iceland. After Akureyri lent the museum a sea-eagle the only bird that breeds in Iceland remaining unrepresented here is the grey phalarope.

Note the water feature in the floor, right.

The museum is named after the young man who started it, but who died early, drowning in Lake Mývatn at age 37.

Next door is a boat museum featuring the Sleipnir.

This vessel has a long history.

There were two different info sheets!

As you can tell, this was a very busy day. The time had come to drive back to the east end of the lake and check in to the Hótel Reynihlíð. Outside sat a whittler.

In the lobby was a conglomerate partition.

 

Front view --- Side view

The scene outside our room included a stone fence and horses. Icelandic horses, for no other breeds are allowed in Iceland.

A few of our NatHab group chose to visit a nearby (short drive) geothermal steam bath after checking in, but Joan and I gave it a pass.

We wrapped up with a wonderful dinner at the hotel. For a while a singer was on the first floor of the hotel conducting a sing-along (John Denver, the Beatles, Willie Nelson, etc.), but the event disbanded early enough that it didn't interfere with our collapsing into bed.