Eric's Third Life Crisis: Iceland Part 3: I found a trollhouse and knocked on the door...

...to ask if they have any cookies. They didn't have any.

I was back on the Ring Road once I left the Westfjords. The first stop was at a place called the Kolugljúfur Gorge. It is a creek that runs through some farmlands, becomes a waterfall, and then plunges several meters deep into the earth to create a gorge. Lots of jumping around and climbing on to perilous rocks. BTW, before this trip, I had a moderate fear of heights. After this trip, not so much. There were many times where I would go right up to the edge of some cliffs and look over them. I wasn't able to do that a few years ago. I would still get extremely nervous if it was windy or raining. This gorge was one of the places that helped me get 90% over my fear of heights. After these falls, it was back on to 1 to drive to Akureyri. The route on 1 to Akureyri was surprisingly beautiful. There were parts that were boring farmland and there were parts that I wished I had stopped and taken a picture. If you every drive around Iceland and you see a sign for a picnic area, stop there. Most of the picnic areas have some incredibly gorgeous views. There was 1 on the way to Akureyri where I wished I had stopped because the mountains were very black rock, there was green moss growing all over them, and they had a fog ceiling that made everything look like it was from Avatar.

Akureyri is Iceland's 2nd largest city. It had a lot of amenities and had a very nice downtown area. There were a few blocks with lots of restaurants, bars, and other things to do for a night. Since it is bigger, there were waits at a few places. I had a few drinks, met some locals, and made it to the campgrounds right before they closed. The next day was a trip to Kjarnaskogur which is a wooded area near Akureyri. I've been in the car a lot, and I mean a lot, so this was an opportunity to get out and stretch my legs for a bit. I think I took a 2 mile walk through the woods and barely saw anyone else.

Kolugljúfur Gorge from one of the perilous rocks.

Close up of Kolugljúfur Gorge.

My goofy smile in front of Kolugljúfur Gorge.

Pictures don't do this justice.

Akureyrarkirkja, Iceland knows how to do stunning churches.

When the cruise ship rolls into town, you roll out of town.

Wild rabbits in Kjarnaskogur.

I found a secluded spot in Kjarnaskogur. Just through a hole in the trees to sit and relax here.

Interesting stuff in Kjarnaskogur.

Up next on this journey is continuing through the north part of Iceland to Godafoss, one of the more well known waterfalls of Iceland and has a bit of Icelandic history when the country converted to paganism to Christianity. Peculiarly, there is a one lane bridge right in front of the falls. This makes getting to it a bit tense since there are very, very few one lane bridges on the Ring Road and it is right by a popular tourist destination with a bunch of big ass busses going through it. Next to Godafoss is a small practically unmarked road. If you take it for about 30 minutes, you can go see Aldeyjarfoss and then go to Hrafnabjargafoss a few more kilometers down the road. It is technically an F road at this point, but a mild F road. I would still recommend a 4x4. I saw very few people at these falls and I greatly preferred that. Of these 3, I think Aldeyjarfoss was my favorite because of the striking geology of upright and angled basalt columns.

Right up on Godafoss.

Further away from Godafoss. Notice the people in the top right by the cliff.

Bend in the river on the approach to Aldeyjarfoss.

Still approaching Aldeyjarfoss.

Almost to Aldeyjarfoss.

Aldeyjarfoss.

Black sands by Hrafnabjargafoss since the area used to be by the sea. I love black sand.

Main falls of Hrafnabjargafoss.

Definitely the most interesting part of Hrafnabjargafoss. The water flows over the falls into a pool and then under the rock "bridge" in the middle. To the right is downstream.

More of Hrafnabjargafoss.

Mývatn is next up on the Ring Road, but I actually didn't do too much here. I did take lots of pictures to me the daily quota though. It is a really interesting area. There were lava fields, there are a lot of them in Iceland, but it looks like the lava fields formed on top and then lava tubes formed below the fields. Over time, a lot of the tubs collapsed or the rock eroded away so there were all of these extremely interesting undulations and wash outs in the lava fields. The area does smell though. Namafjall is really close and that place definitely looks like it is from Mars, or at least primordial Earth. Last stop of the day was at Dettifoss which is actually my favorite foss (waterfall) in Iceland. It isn't pretty, but it is extremely powerful. It is gray, sediment rich water, but it is loud and powerful. The rush water just reverberates in the earth and it feels like the ground is slightly shaking all the time. I was awestruck once I was able to see the main falls. I was on the west side of the falls. I wish I was on the right side of the falls because you can get right up to the water. Check out the captions on the pictures below.

Lava fields of Myvatn.

Namafjall.

Vent at Namafjall that constantly whistles.

Mars or Namafjall?

Not of this world.

Happy little plant at Dettifoss.

Selfoss, just south of Dettifoss on the trail about 1 kilometer.

Cool sediment at Selfoss.

Dettifoss.

Me in front of Dettifoss, two forces of naturing battling it out.

Full power of Dettifoss. See that white spec in the upper left just above where the water is going over the edge? That's a girl in a white jacket.

If you find the white spec again, that is the girl in a white jacket with her arms spread out and about 1.5 meters from the edge of the cliff.

East Iceland was next up on the list. Spoiler alert, this was probably my least favorite part of Iceland, but it still was amazing. There are things to see, but they seem further spread out and therefore not as numerous. The good thing about it though was the sun starting coming out from behind the clouds. If you've noticed, almost all of the previous pictures on this road trip were a bit drab and gray. After 6 days, I finally saw blue sky again. This was when I was at Hengifoss. I think I got some better pictures because I actually had good sunlight now. After the hike to the top and back down, I had rented an AirBNB in Neskaupstaður. It is one of the eastern most towns in Iceland. I stayed with a nice Norwegian (him) & Icelandic (her) couple. It was great to be able to sleep in a bed, have a hot shower, and do some laundry. While there, I even went on a short 5 kilometer run through a nature preserve and this ended up being my first trail run inadvertently. After the run, I headed through the rest of eastern Iceland. There's a bunch of great views and little towns, but seriously, that's about it for this part of Iceland.