The Traveling Widower

Tag: photography

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  • Iceland: Glaciers and Waterfalls

    A majestic waterfall cascading down a rocky cliff surrounded by lush greenery, with several people standing on a rocky beach in the foreground.
    Skogafoss Waterfall

    June 24th, 2026

    This was day two of the NatGeo trip, and fourth overall. I was quite pleased overall with the trip so far, and after the dip in the Blue Lagoon, was not in as much pain as the day before. I was ready for more adventures.

    The day started out with an easy stop at Iceland’ largest geothermal power station, Hellisheidavirkjun. Sounds boring, right? It was actually fascinating. Iceland get 100% of their electricity from renewable sources – geothermal, hydro and wind. No beautiful, clean coal or oil on this island. They also heat most of the homes from geothermal – 100% of Reykjavik is heated from hot water from this plant, or from wells. Pretty much every home in Iceland has a geothermal source for their heat and hot water. Amazing. The tour of this facility was short, but the display in the lobbies were incredibly informative, including a great display of the different igneous rock type. Our NatGeo naturalist also gave an interesting lecture on how humans have changed Iceland – when it was first settled, a very high percentage of the island was forested. Now it’s down to about 5%. Who knew? Now they are trying to reforest, and reclaim the soil that was lost due to erosion.

    Industrial geothermal power plant with steam rising against a cloudy sky and hilly landscape.

    We then headed to the South shore of Iceland – I was really surprised by the amount of pasture and farmland between the mountains and coast line – there were farms perched along the sides of volcano. Seriously. All along the way, our guide, who was from this area, gave a running narrative about the area, including a lot of funny stories about his family. Interesting guy.

    Now for the fun part. Our first outing was the glacier hike, something I was sort of dreading. I have a lot of ice related experience from my stupid days in Colorado – climbing frozen waterfalls, winter mountain climbing and long glacier hikes in Wyoming. That was 35 years ago – been there, done that. But, it was on the itinerary, with a mixed group of people who have never touched an ice axe or worn crampons before. How bad could it be?

    It was gray and misting when we pulled into the parking lot at the base of the glacial lake (Solheimajokull Glacier) and met our guide. This is apparently a fairly popular tourist attraction, with a number of guided tours you can sign up for – the guides provide all the important gear. He fitted the group out with crampons, axes, harnesses and helmets – the harnesses were required in case we fell into a crevasse, and had to be rescued. Once that was done, we headed off down the trail, which was a black lava rock glacial moraine. This glacier has been receding for years and what is now a lake, used to be ice. The thickness of the glacial front has also been drastically reduced, which made it easier to climb up. A good view of the results of global warming. After about a mile of easy hiking, we started climbing to the start of the glacial ice, and strapped on our crampons. The view of what was ahead was foreboding in the mist – I was beginning to doubt my sanity. Plus, I had to pee. 

    Two of our group decided not to go any further, and our leader walked them back to the parking lot. I decided to give it a go. Once I started walking with the crampons, muscle memory kicked in – it wa actually fun, even the steep section. We did not go too far, but climbed high enough to get some spectacular views.

    A desolate landscape of a glacier with rocky and icy formations under a cloudy sky.
    A view of a glacial landscape with a frozen terrain leading down to a dark lake, surrounded by mountains under a cloudy sky.
    A rugged, icy landscape featuring a glacier with dark volcanic rock formations and fog covering the mountain background.
    A rugged, dark volcanic landscape with grey and black rocky surfaces, under a cloudy sky.
    A panoramic view of a glacier landscape featuring dark volcanic rock formations, a glacial lake, and misty mountains in the background.
    View of a gravel path leading through rugged terrain, with a group of hikers walking in the distance under cloudy skies.
    A group of people in helmets and safety gear are gathered on rocky terrain, discussing instructions for an outdoor adventure, likely ice climbing or glacier hiking.
    A small fox standing on a wet parking lot, reflecting on the wet surface with a backdrop of parked vehicles.

    The photos were not shot in black and white – that all basalt sand and gravel, from meltwater washed down on the glacial surface. Very dirty.

    We hung around a took a group picture or two and then headed back down. Woo hoo! I did it! Seriously, I was quite pleased with myself for not chickening out (same as TACO’ing?). I did a mental evaluation on the risks, how I felt body wise, and made the decision to just focus on enjoying the moment.

    A group of hikers on a glacier, wearing helmets and ice climbing gear, posing for a photo with a scenic valley and cloudy sky in the background.
    We did it!

    We had passed two of the well known waterfalls on the way to the glacier, and now we were going to work our way back, and stop at both. I had brought a monopod along specifically to photograph waterfalls in slow motion, and was finally going to get a chance to use it. The second waterfall was the one where you can walk behind the falls – that’s where the new GoPro comes in. It was still raining a bit, so I kept my rain gear on.

    The first waterfall, Skogafoss, is one of the highest and most popular tourist attractions. Unless you get there early in the morning, you can expect to have gobs of tourists doing selfies on all the trails (or even standing in front of the falls. That was the case when we arrived unfortunately. But, I walked down to the falls with the camera mounted on the monopod. The trail was packed as expected but including people dancing in front of the falls. But, I had the gear, so I setup the monopod, mounted the camera, and turned the Sony on. Nothing. Dead battery. I left the camera on earlier in the day, and the battery drained. And I left the spares back in the bus. No big deal – I just enjoyed the experience of seeing the beautiful water falls, ignored the people screaming in front of the falls, and headed back to the bus. 

    A majestic waterfall cascading down a rocky cliff surrounded by lush greenery, with two people standing near the water's edge.

    The next (and last stop of the day was the Seljalardsfoss falls, which is the one with the path behind the falls. That one was fantastic – there were still a lot of tourists there, but not as many behind the falls. I left the big camera behind and just brought my phone and GoPro. It was fantastic! I did the entire route, much to the chagrin of the trip lead….I was the last one to get back to the bus. Mea culpa. 

    A beautiful waterfall cascading down a rocky cliff surrounded by lush greenery, with visitors standing nearby and enjoying the view.
    A person stands near the base of a waterfall, with water cascading over a rocky ledge. The scene is set in a grassy landscape under a cloudy sky, showcasing the natural beauty of the area.
    A scenic view of a waterfall cascading over rocky cliffs, with lush green grass in the foreground and a cloudy sky in the background.

    We made it to our hotel at 9:00, checked in (great hotel in the Icelandic version of the middle of nowhere, Landhotel), had a great dinner, and then I collapsed in bed. That was a very long, but great day. 

    One more comment on the trip – this is that time of the year in place like Alaska, Northern Canada and Iceland, where the sun never really sets all the way. At 11PM, it’s still bright out. That’s great if you like to stay out till the wee hours of the morning, but not so great if you are tired and really want to get some sleep. Best to look for hotels with really good black-out curtains, or don’t mind sleeping with eye shades on. 

    Peace

  • The First Day In Iceland – The Good, The Bad, And The Weird

    Panoramic view of a calm ocean with distant mountains under a clear blue sky.
    Looking back at Reykjavik

    June 21st, 2026

    My apologies to Clint Eastwood.

    Life was looking pretty good where I left off on the last post. I made it to Portland after yet another ticketing mess at SMF, the plane to Reykjavik was nice and left on time, the flight was long but comfortable, with a really good dinner. And once we landed, I breezed through immigration, unlike the Panama trip. The agent was very pleasant, and I did not have to lie about being an employee of National Geographic. That was a big relief. I then headed over to pickup my luggage – this was a strange flight. Most everyone on the plane was going somewhere else in Europe, so there was not much of a crowd at the luggage carousel. Here is the very WEIRD part – as with most airports, there are large screens on the carousels which display tourist advertising – I glanced up as I was waiting and first saw one for some lava related movie, followed by an add for “Inside the Volcano” which I’m visiting and then there was … what? I stopped in my tracks, and stared up through the next cycle, and there it was again:

    A vibrant sign displaying 'The Penis Museum' with the website phallus.is, set against a pink background.

    Yes, this is real, there is an Iceland Phallological Museum. I’ll pass on that one.

    And now for the really BAD – a small bunch of luggage pieces slid on to the carousel, as I waited patiently for my brand new roller duffel bag, adorned with National Geographic tags. I was ahead of schedule, and looked forward to heading out to meet the ride that I had pre-ordered. And then the carousel shut down, and a message appeared on the screen, which stated that all luggage had been dispersed. Huh! Where’s my bag? I headed over to the luggage control windows, and calmly asked (not really) where my luggage was. A very nice lady checked on the computer and told me that the bag appeared to be in Portland! She must have been used to people breaking into tears, and/or started cursing. I was too tired for either of those, other than softly muttering a few expletives. She was well prepared to handle the situation. She had me fill in a form, and then gave me very detailed instruction on where to go to get any type of clothing or gear that I need, all paid for by the airlines. That would be a lot of stuff, given that I did not have any of my rain gear, hats, gloves, hiking poles, hiking shoes….not to mention underwear and bathroom stuff. All I had was my camera gear and medications. So much for my stress free trip. OK – I grabbed the printed instruction, and went out to the lobby where the driver was patiently waiting. At least that worked. 

    And now for the mostly GOOD. The drive to Reykjavik was really cool – lots of lava and volcanic cones. Sort of like the big island in Hawaii. It was beautiful, if you like volcanics. Which I do. The city center looked interesting – wide streets, clean with lots of shops.

    She showed me how to get to the gear shop, which was just a few blocks from my hotel, and opened at 8AM. Plenty of time to get what I need before my pickup time for the whale/puffin trip. The rental place was great – I got everything I needed, including socks and underwear….but not toiletries. I needed to hit a grocery store for that. 

    The bus pickup spot for all of the tourist tours was a short walk from the hotel, and it was pure chaos – mobs of tourists milling around, a line of vans and buses with drivers calling out names. But it worked – I found my bus, and was deposited by the harbor docks where the various cruise boats head out. It was an absolutely beautiful morning – perfectly clear, sunny, blue skies, flat ocean. I was hoping to do the puffins first since I was just doing the whale tour to kill time. Unfortunately, the whales came first. My expectation were pretty low, and those were met. It was great seeing the coast, and looking back at Reykjavik from out in the bay, but the whales were not very exciting. It was like a bad day in Monterrey Bay. A few spouts, lots of whale backs, but nothing else. Once we returned to the docks to switch to the smaller puffin boat, the skies clouded up, temperatures dropped, and the waves were a bit higher. The puffin boat was packed, elbow to elbow – it was a short cruise out to the puffin colony, and there were lots of puffins on the island or in large clusters on the water. The problem was the boat driver never really slowed down much, or stopped for photographers to get some decent shots. That and it was hard to find an opening through the crowds, and almost impossible to focus with a bouncing boat. I did get a couple of good ones, and it was nice to see so many of the cute, colorful birds. I’ll have another opportunity later this week, and next year as well.

    A puffin swimming on the surface of the water, with a distinctive black and white body and bright orange beak.
    Four puffins swimming in the water
    A puffin spreading its wings on a grassy area, with a fuzzy chick resting nearby.
    Two Atlantic puffins standing on lush green foliage with a cloudy sky in the background.

    As we headed back to the docks, I did get some really good news – my wayward luggage was on its way to Reykjavik, and I should have it by the evening. There are other flights to Iceland, so they just loaded it up on the next flight out. I can wear my own gear tomorrow!

    A maroon wheeled suitcase with tags standing on wooden flooring next to a gray armchair.
    Welcome back!

    I did wander around the city a bit, walking back to the hotel (and walked past THAT museum), and then later in the evening (longest daylight of the year). I was really beat due to lack of sleep, too much sitting on a plane, and too much standing on boats. But, not a bad first day now that I was reunited with my luggage.Tomorrow..Inside the Volcano!

    Peace

    One last comment on the good side – our hotel, The Hilton Canopy City Center, was absolutely wonderful. Large, comfortable and modern rooms, a great restaurant and bar, great lounges all over the place with comfortable seating. Right off the main shopping street, and a few blocks from the bus stop for all the tours.