Vatnajokull/Skaftafells National Park

July 17th, 2009

(Mareike 7.16.09):  We arrived at Skaftafell National Park around 3 p.m. Since this is the European holiday season, there were many tourists and campers at the park. We headed out on a moderately steep trail to Svartifoss waterfall. Along the way we passed a smaller waterfall, at the head of which we found what we thought was a troll hut. Upon investigation, Bill and Tom found that the building actually contained a restored a restored turbine that was used to generate electricity for a local farm in the early 20th-century.IMG_0242 IMG_0243 We continued on to Svartifoss (“black falls”), a high falls that tumbles over a wall of basalt columns that appear from a distance to be massive wooden planks. IMG_0247 IMG_0245 From Svartifoss we traversed a high meadow Sjornarnipa, a point that overlooks the massive glacier, Skaftafelljökull. From this point we could see the broad, curved sweep of the glacier IMG_0250 IMG_0255, which terminates in a series of small lakes and braided streams that run across the massive black plain to the sea. IMG_0254 IMG_0251


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