Jokulsarlon

Day 5, 4 days remaining

I woke up nice and early on this day to continue my drive up the east coast to make my way up to Jokulsarlon, the glacial lagoon for Vatnajokull. The weather was supposed to change drastically so I wanted to go to the furthest destination first so I could stop on my way back to my hotel if necessary. 

Vatnajokull is the largest glacier on Iceland and apparently has been the site for 4 movies. All I can tell you from my own experience is it's enormous. I drove for over 45km with it on my right hand side, within view the entire time. Wikipedia says it covers 1300 square miles. There is a rather large lagoon a short distance from the coast that allows runoff to flow into the sea. It also is where icebergs break off the glacier and settle until they melt, which could be many, many years if not decades. This spot is absolutely beautiful. Even on a day with heavy cloud cover, it was still amazing. 

We also got to see these fun, little guys chilling out on the ice. The one in front seemed to like the attention and kept hamming it up for photographs. 

After spending a couple hours at the lagoon, I started making my way back to Kirkjubaejarklaustur with plans on stopping on the way at the Skaftafell National Park. It's a great area with dozens of hiking trails that allows up close access to the glacier. Trekking on a glacier should obviously be supervised by a professional guide but there are areas to certainly get close enough to take spectacular photographs. 

On the way back, I stopped once again to admire the black deserts in this region of the island. Miles and miles of virtual nothing. 

I know the east coast isn't a big destination since there isn't much out there in terms of civilization, but if you come to Iceland, you should definitely make the effort to try to see it. Not to mention, the chef at the Hotel Loki in Kirkjubaejarklaustur cooks the best lamb I've ever eaten in my life. His rack of lamb alone is worth the trip.