Iceland - Lanmannalaugar 2
Not long after Þakgil, we had to drop off Judy and John at Keflavik airport. Of course, not until after we ate at a viking restaurant, but that’s another story. After the airport, we headed back into Reykjavik to have dinner with Ann’s college colleague, Magnus and his wife Yayoi (which was excellent!).
We then had to decide what we were going to do because I hadn’t planned anything for the last month of our trip. We decided to revisit Landmannalaugar because at some point, the F-Roads were going to close.
The title of this post is a bit deceiving - these aren’t photographs of Landmannalaugar. The weather gods were not kind to us during our stay. Several times we headed out under clearing conditions only to get drenched within the hour. Have that happen to you a couple of time and you come to accept that a longer hike (like the one we took with John and Judy) was not going to happen, not with toting a heavy pack of camera gear. We got a few decent shots, but nothing of what we were hoping for.
The morning of our departure gave us a choice. A front had blown in the night before, dropping snow at higher elevations and clearing the skies somewhat. Do we hike Landmannalaugar or take our time on the drive out to make some stops and photograph like we’d planned. We stuck to the plan.
We didn’t get very far before we made our first photo stop. Iceland’s landscape can be so beautiful and harsh at the same time. We knew we were in for quite the morning.
At a couple of stops we were able to get a bit of elevation which allowed for some separation of this image of Bláhnjúkur overlooking lake Frostasta∂avan.
We continued driving, diverting to hike up to and get an image of Ljótipollur and the distant mountains.
We opted not to backtrack and instead drove around desolate sand areas where we saw nobody for miles, following a track that eventually lead us back to the northern part of F208. From there we drove down to F225 and drove it in the opposite direction we took when with Judy and John. Along the way I pulled over by a lava field to check things out. Fortunately so because the clouds gave us a constantly changing landscape.
So while our second stay at Landmannalaugar was very trying, the drive out this time was much, much more rewarding.