Chasing the Aurora, and other Iceland Sights

Noah and I have just returned from our much-anticipated trip to Iceland.  Before we moved to Europe, neither of us ever had Iceland on our radar as a place to go.  Nothing against Iceland, but like many people, we just don’t really think about it.  Proof Iceland can get looked over – quite often over the years they would be completely left off of maps of Europe.  

First few results of a Google search from today

We planned to go in April because I really wanted to see the Northern Lights (this was always on my radar), but I knew this wasn’t a guaranteed thing.  I figured if we went in during the ‘peak’ time in the dead of winter and didn’t see them, there would be little chance for other sightseeing with only a few hours of daylight.  April looked like a good compromise – it’s still considered part of the Aurora season, but has plenty of daylight so that you can really enjoy the rest of what Iceland has to offer. 

We started out our trip at one of the most tourist-y destinations you can find in the country – the Blue Lagoon.  While this is definitely a tourist trap, it is something very unique and totally worth it.  It is an amazing experience to swim outdoors at freezing air temperatures and feel completely comfortable thanks to the geothermal heated pools about 98 F.  Plus the powdery blue waters amongst the black rocks makes for incredible scenery.

To help set the scene (and explain the variations of weather in the photos), Iceland is known for its continuously changing weather.  In the span of less than an hour, we sometimes saw sunny blue skies, then rain, then extreme winds and snow, then hail, and then back to blue skies.  I read a saying, ‘if you don’t like the weather in Iceland, wait 5 minutes and check again’.  Anyways, we arrived during a wind/snow storm, and left with blue sunny skies – both were equally enjoyable in the pools.  After slathering ourselves with the natural algae silica mud and letting the water turn us into prunes, we left feeling ready to face Iceland.  And since we flew straight from three days in Copenhagen (see previous blog), we really needed some recharging.

After an evening of perfect sushi/fish dinner in Reykjavik, we began our tour of the south.  First stop: Thingvellir National Park.  What makes this an interesting place is this is one of the few locations in the world where the continental drift between North America and Europe can be seen above ground (versus way in the depths of the oceans).  The weather wasn’t ideal, so I probably ruined a few other tourists’ photos for the short amounts of time I threw on my bright orange poncho (sorry! Just a little payback for all the hordes of people exiting tourist buses who have photo bombed me).  This is also where we encountered our first of many, many waterfalls on the island. 

Top picture shows my photo bombing skills 

Speaking of waterfalls, our next destination was Gullfoss – a giant set of falls which we were lucky to see.  Back in the first half of the 20th century, some pioneers wanted to generate electricity from the falls.  This would essentially ruin the pristine nature of the area, adding huge electrical devices.  Thanks to Iceland’s first environmentalist, Sigríður Tómasdóttir, the plans were defeated and the falls remain a treasure for us to see today.  Side story: Icelandic people do not have surnames – they simply use first names, and their ‘last name’ is their father’s first name + son/daughter.  Hence Sigríður was the daughter of Tómas.

That night marked our first attempt to see the Northern lights, and the first night we were foiled by the clouds.  This would become a continuous theme in our trip – chasing the Aurora to no avail. 

The next day we continued on our waterfall tour and hit up Seljalandsfoss.  From my internet research, I had read that you could actually climb up behind the falls.  The reality is this would only work in the summer, or if you have crampons – the ice makes it way too dangerous.  This didn’t stop Noah (and a few others) from doing it.  Part of his bravery was we ran into two German guys who did have the right gear to climb on ice, so he followed behind them.  Thank goodness for those two, because they were able to help Noah through the roughest parts, and I still have a husband.

Next waterfall on the list: Skógarfoss.  We completely lucked out with the weather/crowds here – the sun showed up in just the right place to give us a beautiful rainbow in the waterfall spray, and we somehow timed it right between the tour buses.  When you are travelling as individuals, it feels like you won the jackpot whenever you avoid large groups.  We also stopped for lunch and ran into the two Germans from earlier in the day, though this wasn’t too crazy since many people go from one fall to the next.

The plan for the evening was to see the sunset at Reynisfjara beach in Dyrholaey.  Well the weather made this plan pretty worthless.  As we drove east, we left the beautiful sunshine and entered an extreme windstorm that blew around snow from the nearby glaciers.  I read that it rarely snows in Iceland, and what you see is actually snow carried around by the winds from the mountains/glaciers.  Don’t quote me on that, but it sure seemed true from what we saw.  We went to the beach anyways, and fought to stand up amongst the hurricane winds– though we still managed to take too many photos while we were there.  

Noah struggling against the wind

Back at our hotel, the weather was a bit clearer and we could enjoy the views while we waited for nightfall for another chance at the Aurora.  What do you know – the clouds again blew in to ruin our chances.  It isn’t fun waking up to three alarms in the middle of the night to check the weather.  Oh well – there is always the next night, right?

The next morning we ventured back to the same Reynisfjara beach since the weather had cleared up.  This time we could see the signature rock formations out in the ocean, and enjoy the beautiful black sand beach a bit more.  

Back on the road, we continued to head east, stopping whenever the views motivated us.  We also finally entered some areas that looked more like the Iceland we were expecting before we read up on it – the snowy roads and black lava fields. 

 Not surprisingly, we also found a few more waterfalls that drew us off the main road to check out.

After a few hours we made it to our furthest destination east – Jökulsárlón.  This is a glacial lagoon near the ocean, and is growing due to glacial melt.  It is now Iceland’s deepest lake.  It is filled with small icebergs, though right now most are still stuck in the lake.  In the summer, many icebergs will make their way into the ocean.  This is also a popular place for seals to hang out to catch fish that get sucked into the lake. 

We decided to end the evening by hiking into Skaftafell National Park to see the Svartifoss… yet another waterfall.  As Noah and I were about 2/3rds of the way there, guess who we bump into?  The two German guys again!  At this point we decide we should introduce ourselves, and took a group shot. 

The next morning Noah and I got up before the crack of dawn to take sunrise photos back at Jokulsarlon, since it was such a beautifully unique place.  Here are some of the photos taken, and technically I guess you could say Noah did all the hard work. What can I say – we set alarms for 1am, 2am, and 3am, hoping to catch a glimpse of that elusive Aurora.  Still no luck.

Me working hard taking photos at sunrise

Back at breakfast, we naturally run into the two German guys again.  They didn’t stay at the same hotel, but apparently our hotel is known for having a good breakfast.  Turns out we are all going on the same glacial hike that morning – what are the odds?  Back at Skaftafell National Park, we meet up with the tour guide from Icelandic Mountain Guides.  We join up with a group of Canadians, and all get fitted with our crampons and snow picks.  The snow picks, we later learn, are more used as walking sticks – this wasn’t an intense climb or anything.  

After suiting up, we head out in the van to get closer to one of the glacial tongues – Svínafellsjökull (pig mountain glacier).  On the ride there, one of the Canadian guys asks us if we saw the Northern Lights last night.  Wait – excuse me????  Noah and I got up THREE times in the night to try to see them.  Oh – turns out they were visible at 11pm, so we were 2 hours, 3 hours, and 4 hours too late.  You can only imagine how frustrating that was for us to hear.  During this frustration, we did learn one valuable piece of information: nights where the Aurora is a bit weaker, she only looks like slightly glowing wisps of clouds, and it isn’t until you take a long exposure photo that the colors really pop.  Wait a minute – did Noah and I possibly see the Aurora a few days ago when we saw a faint blue mist in the sky that looked like clouds?  Hmmm…. does that count?  We decide ‘no’.

Back to the glacial hike – this was a pretty amazing tour.  We get to stomp around a glacial tongue with a knowledgeable guide to keep us from falling into a crevice or hole and killing ourselves.  I really got a sense for how dangerous these things can be.  In one seemingly harmless hole , our guide dropped a large rock into it.  It was about 5 seconds (maybe 100 feet later?) before we heard the thump.  Yikes – I don’t want to be that rock! 

We were led to a small cave (not those huge ice caves that can be pretty dangerous to enter, seeing as they can collapse at any moment – especially in April where things are starting to melt), and were able to get into the mouth of it with the help of a sturdy rope.  As it is my turn, I hop in the rope and ease my way down to the entrance.  As I lean to take a photo, next thing I know my ice axe decides it wants to see more of the cave and fall in about 20 feet further down into the cave.  Oops.  Glacier 1, Julie 0.  Luckily the guide said he could easily retrieve it later, once he didn’t have a bunch of amateurs watching him and getting ideas (or at least that is my guess why he wanted to wait).

After only the one casualty on the glacier (sorry ice axe), Noah and I rested up in the afternoon to give us energy to chase Aurora again.  While the few websites available to try to forecast this thing were showing little to no activity, we were not going to miss this by going out too late.  The others saw it at 11pm the other night?  Then we are going to head out at 10pm and drive until we find an opening in the cloud coverage.  An hour later, we see stars.  We pull into a picnic area and wait.  20 minutes later, what do we see??  Nothing – more clouds came in.  Time to pack it in and drive back an hour to the hotel.  Again we set our alarms for 2am and 3am to no avail.  Dang clouds!

The next day we pack it up to head to Reykjavik for the night, briefly stopping again at the Blue Lagoon for another dip in the pools.  Noah and I were down to our last night to see this mythical beast Aurora.   As we were stuck on the whole ‘11pm’ thing, we again left the hotel 10pm and drove for 45 minutes to get out of the city and find clearer skies.  Again – we find some stars, pull over, and wait.  Nothing.  After an hour, we decide to return to the hotel for a power nap, and think about trying again at 3am.  We are now down to our last hour or so, and we head towards the airport/Blue Lagoon area.  Noah spots some lighter wisps of ‘clouds’ overhead, and he hops out to set up the tripod.  He takes a shot, and what does he see?  The green Aurora!  WE FOUND IT!!!!  After jumping up and down for joy, we try to grab a few shots before it dissipates.  Since the exposure is over a minute for each photo, we were only able to take a few good (Noah is correcting me) amazing Aurora photos. 

We also drove the last 5 minutes to the Blue Lagoon to see if we can get that in some pictures.  It was successful, but you can see the Aurora was a bit weaker by then.  I have to say – this wasn’t quite what I expected.  I thought it would be a dazzling light show.  And maybe sometimes it is – but we have to take what we can get.  And I am very happy with what we did finally see.  Our Iceland trip was officially a complete success.