Follow the yellow sticks

Today we drove out to Asbyrgi to hike and then were supposed to drive down to Dettifoss, the largest waterfall in Iceland. It was a two hour drive from Akureyri to Asbyrgi in overcast and cloudy weather. The Asbyrgi visitor center, for the national park, is nice and is the trailhead for several trails of varying difficulty. We took a red trail, which is medium difficulty and marked by sticks with yellow paint on them. The hike was about 7 or 8 km long. We hiked to the top of the basalt wall, granting us a good view of Jokulsargljufur canyon below; we also hiked through some birch woods and moorland. After lunch, we hiked down to a small waterfall and pond. We then were supposed to travel down to Dettifoss and hike in that area, however the both roads leading from Asbyrgi to the falls were closed, thus we could not get there today. We are hoping after tomorrow’s excursion through the lava tubes and caves near Myvatn, the road to Dettifoss will be open.

So that was our excitement for the day. We are still not getting great weather in general; it is lousy for great pictures with things being very overcast, and very little useable light to create contrast.

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