The Golden Circle

For our last full day in Iceland, we drove the Golden Circle; a circular, scenery filled, roundabout route frequented by many a tourist and native Icelander alike. Our first stop found us at the mid-Atlantic ridge, the tectonic origin of the North American and Eurasian plates. Straddling two continents, we admired the scenery while discussing the formidable geothermal forces at work beneath our feet. After a quick lunch, we continued on to the site of the Geysir and Strokker geysers, the former of which has given us the word geyser itself. Although Geysir has long since sputtered its last sulfurous breath, its younger sibling Strokker still puffs along, reliably sending forth its terrestrial fumes every 5 to 20 minutes. While its pyro-tectonic show is not as impressive as Geysir's was, at only 7 to 25 meters tall (as opposed to a maximum of 70 meters for Geysir), the display was gratifyingly geyseresqe, with a violent expulsion of water and egg-mort odors into the sky. Much humbled by this powerful show of force from within the Earth, we proceeded to the falls of Gullfoss. Meaning golden waterfalls, perhaps because of its heavenly appearance in the sunlight of the never ending twilight during certain parts of the year, the river drops twice in a short distance, its tumultuous waters gushing incessantly on-wards for quite an impressive show. Starting our return trip to Reykjavik, we left the watery fury of the falls, stopping on the way at Kerith, the crater of a long dormant volcano. Its desolate crater extends beneath the water table, meaning that a small lake sits within its stony embrace. We circumnavigated the crater once and continued on. Our return trip contained just as much scenery as our site-seeing filled day. Striking across the Nesjavellir mountains, we experienced grades as high as 16 percent while weaving our way through twisting roads and dodging falling rocks and sheep alike. Leaving the moonscape of the mountains behind, we were presented with a stunning view of the ensuing plane leading to the coast and our destination, Reykjavik. (NS)

Maryrose, mom and Theodore at the ridge

A cooled lava flow

The ridge separates at the brisk pace of 2 cm per year

Between the rocks

Theodore, Maryrose, and Nathaniel in the ridge

Pools near the ridge; divers brave these cold waters to see what lies beneath

Mom tempting fate on a rock jutting out over the pools

The author, Maryrose, and Theodore in front of Strokker

Steamy runoff from the geyser

Although not as impressive as Old Faithful, Strokker erupted approximately every four minutes for us, considerably more frequent than the former

Strokkur erupting

Theodore, Maryrose, and the author in front of the Gullfoss falls

Maryrose in front of the second drop

The falls drop twice, cutting through a layer of soft, sedimentary rock

The falls

The crater Kerith

The author and Theodore in front of the crater

Travelling is easy with helpful signs such as this

Part of our route through the mountains

More mountain driving

A steep descent ahead

The author, mom, and Maryrose