Digital Wanderer

We live as long as we fly

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Iceland — 13, day 6 — cold

2012-09-21

The next day we woke up, crawled out of the tent shivering, gobbled down our favorite porridge, and headed to the rangers. A sweet girl told us what was what around here, and in the end we chose a route to a volcano crater where a trout lake had formed. This place is called Ljotipollur, which means Ugly Puddle. We really should have listened to this name, which promised nothing good, but alas.

Punk, as usual, was dragging his feet and pouting at the world and me, so along the way I found some Swiss guys and had an unhurried chat with them, of which I’ve had countless numbers with my fellow tourist brethren. I can't really retell you the content, I only remember that we often discussed linguistic questions. As it turned out, the German language in Austria, Switzerland, and the German lands sometimes differs so much that the inhabitants of these regions can't even understand each other.

A panoramic view of a hilly volcanic landscape with green slopes and a lake under a gloomy sky covered with dense gray clouds.

Lake Frostadavatn, if I'm not lying

Iceland Cycling - day 6


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A vast, dark-green landscape with a winding river and multiple lakes under a heavy gray sky; low mountains are visible on the horizon.

The panorama is depressing, but majestic

 

The inner slope of a volcanic crater, covered with alternating patches of reddish rocks and bright green moss. On the far edge of the crater stand two human figures, with mountain peaks visible behind them.

On the way, we peeked into a dry crater

A lake with gray water among green-covered hills under an overcast sky.

But the crater with the lake didn't impress us

A dark lake deep in a volcanic crater, surrounded by steep slopes of dark red rock with patches of green moss, under a gloomy gray sky.

At least the slopes have a funny color

A landscape with a dark, moss-covered volcanic field in the foreground, green mountains in the distance, and a gray, overcast sky.

Lava fields everywhere

The hike didn't impress us, we could have even gotten there by bike, which Andrey chewed my ear off about. The fact that if you go in the other direction, it's sometimes hard to scramble up even on foot, doesn't bother him.

In the end, we returned to the camp in the middle of the day, and we still had time to walk around some more. Unfortunately, this is where those same gray-blue clouds that you had the pleasure of observing in the previous photos decided once again to test the hikers' membrane clothing, pouring down a medium-scale downpour on them, which then calmed down into a light drizzle.

By the way, hikers made up the vast majority in the camp, and there were almost no cyclists. After all, this is where the famous Laugavegur trail starts, which has the same name as the main shopping street in Reykjavik.

Iceland Cycling - day 6b


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After lunch, the rain didn't stop, but we had to go, for our eternal reason: since we came all this way, we gotta stare at things. This time, it seems, it was a mistake. We hadn't even gone a kilometer from the camp when the bad weather noticeably intensified. My membrane jacket, which had been holding up like a champ until then, couldn't withstand such an onslaught, and after half an hour or an hour I became like the mouse from "Alice in Wonderland" swimming in the pool of Alice's tears.

A dirt road stretches into the distance under a pale sky, with fields on both sides: green ones with power lines on the left, freshly plowed dark soil on the right. Several cyclists are riding along the road in the distance.

We walked across a plain divided into thousands of pieces by streaming torrents from the mountains

A snow-covered night road leading uphill past power line poles, surrounded by a dark forest under an overcast sky.

After the sandstorm on the fourth day, I thought rain was nonsense

A mountain landscape with gentle hills in brown and ochre shades, on the slopes of which lie small patches of snow under a gloomy gray sky.

Iceland playfully convinced me otherwise

A panorama of multicolored mountain slopes with patches of snow under a gray sky. In the distance in the valley, a column of geothermal steam is visible above a rocky plain.

Terrible wind again, and you're completely wet

An overcast mountain landscape with multicolored volcanic mountains, a rocky plain, and a stream. Snowfields, a small column of steam, and a waterfall are visible on the mountain slopes.

Here we should have turned to get to some famous thermal fields

A vast rocky plain in the foreground leads to a large mountain with green, moss-covered slopes and winding trails. A gloomy gray sky stretches over the landscape, and another dark peak is visible in the distance on the left.

But I was wrong again, I took too hard of a beating

A mountain landscape under an overcast sky with multicolored slopes, partially covered with snow and green vegetation. Numerous streams meander in the rocky foreground.

You stomp across the plain, jump over streams

Multicolored volcanic mountains with predominant ochre, brown, and green shades under an overcast sky. A thin stream flows down the slope of one of the hills, and remnants of snow are visible on the peaks of the distant ridges.

You think for the hundredth time — why am I here?

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And there is only one answer

A mountain landscape with hills of dark volcanic soil, partially covered with green moss and small islands of melting snow under a gloomy gray sky.

If you can do something, you should do it

An overcast mountain landscape with patches of snow on the slopes and vegetation in shades of green and brown on the hills and foothills.

Because by and large, there's nothing else in life

A mountain landscape under a gloomy gray sky, with gentle slopes covered with dark soil and occasionally green vegetation, as well as white patches of snow. In the foreground, a winding river flows over black soil surrounded by hills with touches of ochre shades.

Besides torment, interspersed with rare moments of happiness and beauty

A mountain landscape with multicolored slopes under an overcast sky, where a branched network of small rivers flows in the valley. Patches of green moss and rare streaks of unmelted snow are visible on the mountain slopes.

Moreover, the latter exist only through contrast with the former

A panoramic view of a steep mountain slope with bright transitions from golden-yellow to dark-gray rocky patches. Sparse vegetation is visible on the slopes under an overcast sky.

Everything was clear and simple out there, albeit tough in places

A man in a wet black hooded jacket and glasses looks to the right. In the background — a rocky hilly landscape under an overcast sky, with a barely noticeable figure of a person climbing a distant slope.

But here you have to keep living

On top of the mountain stands a large cairn stacked from dark, wet stones, against the backdrop of a gloomy sky and mountain ridges blurred by fog with patches of snow.

Putting life together from the days you've lived

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And nothing is clear, and nothing is simple

A gentle green hill covered with moss, against the backdrop of a lake hidden by fog and distant mountains under a low gray sky.

But you have to live

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There won't be another chance

A view from above of a green mountain valley with branching riverbeds under an overcast sky. Gentle mountains rise in the distance, partially covered with snow and shrouded in fog.

So we stomped through the icy horror, downpour, and wind that almost blew us off the mountain

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And we kept thinking: "if we can only make it to the camp, then somehow to the hot spring"

A gray SUV with large off-road tires is parked on a gravel area in front of a wooden house with a green roof and a 'LANDMANNALAUGAR' sign, against the backdrop of moss-covered hills under an overcast sky.

And that's exactly what happened

It only remains to add that up there, it was so unbearable from the cold, wet clothes, and wind, that it could easily rival the storm, when I was at least dressed warmly. I'm willing to suffer for the cause, sure, but when from the mountain you see a rescue helicopter landing in the campsite, the thought too easily creeps into your mind that after such weather conditions it'll come back again — for you.

A person walks along a trail in the foreground amidst a hilly landscape covered with green vegetation and moss. In the distance, gentle mountains with streaks of snow under a cloudy sky and a valley with a winding river are visible.

We did get into the spring, and sat there for about three hours, but sooner or later the moment comes when you have to climb out, and go to the freezing shower, because we didn't have enough coins, having forgotten to exchange them with the rangers.

Then it turns out that your clothes are mostly wet, and you won't be able to dress warmly. The sleeping bag is too thin, and without clothes you'll keep waking up from the cold all night, as I already described.

A lone human silhouette against the backdrop of an extensive hilly landscape and dark mountains with patches of melting snow under an overcast sky.

You get up in the morning, your whole body aches from fatigue, but you have to pack up the tent in the rain, brush your teeth, and look for slightly dried but still damp clothes among crowds of gloomy brothers in reason, or rather the lack thereof.

It also turns out that you stuck your stuff behind the thin, slightly warm radiator for nothing — because in the morning, squinting slightly from the spray, the rangers in rubber boots wash the toilets, radiators, and basically everything around them with water from a hose.

A person in dark clothing walks along a vast rocky slope with rare patches of greenery, against the backdrop of blurred mountain ridges under a gloomy sky.

All this time you are very cold, because the temperature outside is barely 10 degrees, and again there's the omnipresent water from the sky. Out of desperation, you want to go to the info center and pester the rangers; at least you can warm up there. A good idea, by the way, because one of them is a cyclist himself, and can tell us whether our plan is realistic, how many fords are ahead, where we can spend the night, and where it's possible to cross the river, and where it isn't.

Several people are in a brightly lit communal washroom, washing up at the sinks. In the background, hanging clothes left to dry are visible.

This day and morning were so mentally exhausting that even my stubbornness gave way, and I decided that I should never end up in cold and wet places like Iceland in the future. However, as they teach you in yoga, thoughts are like clouds, they come and go.  Back then it felt like absolute hell, but now the feelings have dulled. You sit and think — what's the big deal anyway, it's just cold and wet, complete nonsense compared to

This too shall pass.

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