Day 5 and we are over the halfway point! Woke up this morning pretty tired from staying up to see the northern lights last night. We did a few morning stops sightseeing in the area to get us moving for the day. We went to some interesting rock formations and got some amazing views, and the weather was perfect all day. One of the stops was stopping to see some Icelandic horses! They are extra hairy in order to withstand the cold temperatures. They are definitely smaller than I thought they’d be!
Next stop of the day was Skeidarársandur, a glacial outwash plain that has a great view of Skeiðarárjökull, one of the sides of the biggest glacier in Iceland. Here, we saw an example of the damages caused by the volcanic activity and flooding from the glacier. This constant changing of the landscape, the river flowing through it, the added risk to travelers called for a solution. The bridge had specifically engineered trusses to handling the changing environment. Originally, they rebuilt the original bridge as it was necessary to traverse the gap safely with the river. Later, they decided to stop using the bridge as the river levels dropped and there was an accident on the bridge costing the lives of a few travelers. The high winds caused their car to flip and fall off the bridge. While this works for now, if the water levels ever rise, the bridge will once again be necessary, so part of it still stands in the plain in order to save money and resources on rebuilding. Overall, this site proves the necessity of being flexible and finding the best engineering solution for the time being.
We then stopped at another section of the glacier on the way where you can see floating icebergs on the lagoon. It was yet another cool opportunity to see how the environment here constantly changes naturally.
We then headed to our last major stop of the day, Lagoon Jökullsarlon and the Diamond Beach. This is the largest glacial lagoon in Iceland and a black sand beach pushed up against one another. The beach was stunning and looked like giant crystals on the dark sand. The lagoon was incredibly clear and reflected the mountain perfectly. It all looked like something out of a painting. There were seals on the icebergs in the lagoon and we all got an opportunity to wander around and take in the sights. Definitely the best stop of the day!
On the way back to the hotel, we made two more stops. One to see a historical church built with turf and stone, and the second to see the effects of glaciers melting. The church had a small graveyard. Ólöf told us how they used to raise a ghost from the dead to do their bidding. The second location had a huge hole in the ground form the glacier moving in and then melting. While it didn’t seem like much, it was definitely another cool thing to see.
Today was a day full of seeing the effects of glacial events in nature and I definitely learned a lot from it. Be back tomorrow!
Swanson School of Engineering 