Page 47 - 2000 ICELAND

Lunch was about 12:30 and the
sandwiches we were carrying with us

were pretty delicious and welcome. Sat
about 30 minutes and then proceeded

directly up again behind our 4-legged
Frenchmen (using two sticks each—one

fellow was amazing, in his 70s and he

went everywhere to the top of
everything at breakneck speed; the other fellow was in his 40s but went

right along with the “mountain goat”). This precarious hike up was quite
steep (and we were happy to have our walking sticks), but the reward was

the most stupendous views yet! We were able to enjoy the top of this
mountain awhile since it was wide and we traversed its full length to get to

the downside trails. The downs were once again pretty hair-raising, even
had to resort to sitting on a couple of the spots—just too steep and tall for

one step and there weren’t any “steps” anyhow, just slick rock faces.

We got trapped by two swift streams on the way back and had to blaze a

new trail up and over a high bluff fronting on the streams in order to get
around them. Finally made it back to Magnus and the bus around 4:30 PM

We all had made it all the way on this really gorgeous hike! We had some
Tang and cookies and re-boarded the bus to get to a side-canyon at the top

of the valley.

This was a half mile of really rocky hike that crossed several small rivulets on

the way to a hidden waterfall inside yet another much smaller side gorge.
We had to ford so often that my boots finally gave up and leaked. The hike

was short and the falls were pretty special since the water fell inside a tight
rocky area and it looked as though you were looking up a shaft and seeing

light and water plunging through it as though you were looking at the whole
world.

Following that adventure, we piled into the bus again and rode to a glacier

lake for a brief walk around it for pictures. Actually, I think Magnus just