Tag: Glacier

Iconic Iceland, Greenland & Canada Day 6

Monday, August August 19th, 2024

This morning we arrived in the town of Djúpivogur.

Arriving to Djúpivogur

Our excursion was a full day and was called “Fjallsárión Ice Lagoon by Zodiac”. Our guide pointed out the sights as we traveled by bus.

Passing through Djúpivogur

He pointed out the Icelandic horses. A lot of these horses were along the road. They were smaller than most horse breeds in the world. These horses could survive the harsh Iceland weather. Icelandic horses had five gaits where other horses have three: walk, trot, and gallop. The two that these horses had was tölt and flugskeið. Tölt was a 4-beat ambling gait. The horse always had one or two feet touching the ground at equal intervals. Flugskeið had been nicknamed the fifth gear. It was very fast and a horse could reach speeds up to 30 mph on it. Not all Icelandic horses could do the flugskeið.

Icelandic Horses

We saw swans that migrated from England and spent the summer along the East coast of Iceland. Some bird watchers had counted up to 30,000!

Swans in the bay

The geology of the area was quite interesting. The layers of lava flows were apparent. The jagged steep cliffs were imposing.

A view of the landscape

As we rode along the “Ring Road”,which was an 820 mile loop that connected most towns and villages. We saw spring water flowing that was clear and glacier runoff that was murky.

A Glacier river
A Spring river

We saw potato farms and sheep along the road. The sheep had the right of way. Our bus had to stop and wait for the sheep to cross the road. We also crossed over one lane bridges.

As we approached our destination, Fjallsárlón, we saw glaciers in the distance.

Fjallsárlón was a glacier lagoon that’s about 20 years old when the glacier started to recede up the mountain. Fjallsárlón was an outlet glacier of Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Europe.

We were fitted with a heavy duty parka that would keep us warm and dry when we were on the water.

Dave in his parka and life jacket

After getting our parka and life jacket, we hiked down to the lagoon where we boarded a zodiac boat. It was nice to be in small groups with a guide.

Zodiac Boats at the lagoon!
Our zodiac guide holding ice

It was an overcast day so the glacier and the icebergs weren’t glistening but we enjoyed our time on the lagoon.

Water fall from the melting glacier
The glacier face
Close up of the face
In front of the Fjallsárlón Glacier

After our zodiac ride on the lagoon we hiked up to the equipment shelter and turned in our parkas and life jackets. Lunch was served in the restaurant at the site and it was good.

On our drive back to the ship we drove along the North Atlantic shore.

N. Atlantic Ocean shoreline

We returned from our day excursion in time to hear Sue Stockdale a guest lecturer on board. This talk was called “Magnetic Attraction”. She discussed what motivated her to go on her adventure to the North Pole. In 1996 she was the first British woman to ski to the Magnetic North Pole. She was very interesting and she included videos and pictures of her experience. She was quite an adventurer!

Sue Stockdale’s Adventure

It was another busy day exploring!

RV Adventures: A Trip Out West! Day 14

Friday, June 18, 2021

Our goal today was to explore Olympic National Park. It was another early start because we wanted to have a lot of time in the park. It is 922,650 acres of various wilderness terrain. We downloaded for offline use the park information from the NPS app. It was very helpful because we didn’t have cell service for much of the park.

From our campsite we crossed Puget Sound and drove along Hood Canal which is one of the four main basins of Puget Sound. Annas Bay is located at the mouth of the Skokomish River at the bend at the south end of Hood Canal.

  • Hood Canal
  • Hood Canal
  • Annas Bay
Driving along the Hood Canal

Before heading into the park we learned that we need to fill up our gas tank when we see a gas station. This was the first station and mart that we saw on 101, near Sequim, WA before the entrance to the park! And it was very busy! There were totems around the station and are representative of the S’Klallam Tribe. The S’Klallam Tribe community is located nearby.

Longhouse Market & Deli and Gas Station
  • On our way to Olympic National Park
  • Arriving to the park

We stopped at the Olympic National Park Visitor Center which wasn’t open but the park rangers were set up outside with maps. We used the map and the trail information to guide us through the park. The Beaumont Cabin is located at the visitor center. The cabin was built in 1897 and was moved here in 1962. The Beaumont family lived in the cabin for about 40 years. It sat on a government homestead site of 160 acres about a mile from its current location.

Beaumont Cabin

Once in the park we headed toward the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center. The panoramic views of the Olympic Mountains. Hurricane Ridge is located in land of the S’Klallam people.

Our road to Hurricane Ridge as we travel on Hurricane Ridge Road.

Driving on Hurricane Ridge Rd.
Hurricane Ridge Views
Some non-human visitors!

When we left Hurricane Ridge we drove to Elwha River Valley. We parked and walked the Madison Falls Trailhead. As you walk the trail you are in the homeland of the Lower Elwha Klallam people.

  • Elwha River
  • Elwha River
  • Why the gate is there.
  • Part of the Madison Falls Trailhead
  • Madison Falls
  • Madison Creek

Our next stop was Crescent Lake which is a freshwater lake that was carved by glaciers. The lake is 12 miles long and 624 feet deep! The Crescent Lake Lodge is near where we stopped. We parked and got our packed lunch and sat on a log by the lake and enjoyed our meal looking out over the water. After eating we walked around the grounds and went into the lodge. The lodge was built in 1915 and the lobby has a beautiful stone fireplace and it is furnished with antiques. It has a sun porch that looked so inviting but we had more to see and do in the park!

  • Our log for lunch.
  • Lake Crescent Lodge
Lake Crescent

As we travel in the park our next stop was the Sol Duc Valley. We hiked the Sol Duc Falls trail and we were rewarded with the falls which was really flowing!

Sol Duc Falls

Along the Sol Duc Hot Springs road is a viewing platform for visitors to watch the salmon leap up the cascades to spawn in the Sol Duc river. Of course that time of year is September and October for the Coho Salmon and March through May for the steelhead trout!

Salmon Cascades (not today!)

There is a short loop trail where we hiked through the deep green Olympic Old Growth. It was a peaceful walk.

Ancient Groves

We continued around the park to the Hoh Rain forest.

In the Hoh Rain Forest we hiked the Hall of Mosses trail and the Maple Grove trail. At the trailhead we saw the sign below. Needless to say we were paying attention as we hiked along!

Bear Warning

Below are pictures of large ferns, moss covered trees and the Taft Creek. The moss is everywhere and really covers some of the trees but the moss doesn’t hurt the trees. The moss feeds on air and light.

  • Maples
  • Moss covered arch
  • Taft Creek

Some of the coniferous tree trunks were huge as you can see from the picture below!

The tree trunk is wider than Dave’s arm span.

The Hoh Rain Forest is named after the Hoh River which runs from Mt. Olympus to the Pacific coast!

Hoh River

Our last stop in the park was along the Pacific Ocean with a lighthouse in the distance and the sun getting low in the horizon.

Olympic National Park was definitely the most diverse park we have visited with four regions: the alpine areas, the Pacific coastline, east side drier forests, and the west side temperate rainforest! Several times as we drove around on route 101 we would leave Olympic national park and then we would enter back into the park and the entrance gate. Our drive back to our campsite was uneventful and we were exhausted after a long day exploring Olympic National Park.