Adventures In the South

Our group ventured along the coast of South Iceland this weekend and stayed in a small cottage in a village, called Höf, for three nights. We stopped to gaze and play at the black sand beach in Vik, boardered by towering columns of basalt rock with jagged cliffs jutting from the sea and birds soaring overhead. We later arrived in Skaftafell National Park, where we learned about volanic and glacial activity and spent two days hiking through bautiful Icelandic wilderness, atop cloud cloaked peaks, and through a glacier's carved valley. This valley was created by what appears to be a massive, towering, independent glacier, but is an outlet sliding and crushing away from the Vatnajökull Ice Cap, which is the largest glacier in Europe, covering almost ten percent of Iceland with an area of 3,100 square miles. We also visited (and took a dip into) the Jökulsárlón Lagoon, which is an area of water created by a melting glacier and filled with Icebergs that have calved off of the glacier. Our group did some incredible community bonding here, where we shared moments of appreciation for the humbling Icelandic wilderness, discussed local sustainability ideals and setbacks, and played and laughed for hours at a time after our long days of hiking.