Iceland (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Fran Parnell [240]
Núpsstaður & Núpsstaðarskógar
Bizarrely eroded cliffs and pinnacles tower over the old turf-roofed farm and church at Núpsstaður. The farm buildings date back as far as the early 19th century, and the church, which is dedicated to St Nicholas, was mentioned as early as 1200. It was renovated in 1957 by Einar Jónsson and is one of the last turf churches in Iceland.
Inland is Núpsstaðarskógar, a beautiful woodland area on the slopes of the mountain Eystrafjall. Since it’s no longer possible to cross the Núpsá river by raft, this area is best explored on a tour run by the Icelandic Mountain Guides (Click here).
Grænalón
From the southern end of Núpsstaðarskógar a good two-day hike will take you over the ridges and valleys west of immense Skeiðarárjökull to Grænalón. This ice-dammed lake has the ability to drain like a bathtub. The ‘plug’ is the western edge of Skeiðarárjökull; when the water pressure builds to breaking point, the glacier is lifted and the lake lets go. It has been known to release up to 2.7 million cu metres of water at 5000 cu metres per second in a single burst.
To get there you’ll have to join the Icelandic Mountain Guides’ Núpsstaðarskógar tour (Click here), as it’s impossible to cross the Núpsá and Súlaá rivers on foot (the IMG have special equipment, including a big 4WD). The topo sheet to use is Lómagnúpur 1:100,000 (1986).
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SKAFTAFELL (VATNAJÖKULL NATIONAL PARK – SOUTH)
Skaftafell, now part of Vatnajökull National Park (Europe’s largest at 12,000 sq km), encompasses a breathtaking collection of peaks and glaciers. It’s the country’s favourite wilderness: 160,000 visitors per year come to marvel at thundering waterfalls, twisted birch woods, the tangled web of rivers threading across the sandar, and brilliant blue-white Vatnajökull with its lurching tongues of ice.
Skaftafell deserves its reputation, and few Icelanders – even those who usually shun the great outdoors – can resist it. On long summer weekends all of Reykjavík (including the city’s raucous all-night parties) may seem to descend on it. However, if you’re prepared to get out on the more remote trails and take advantage of the fabulous hiking on the heath and beyond, you’ll leave the crowds far behind.
There’s very little accommodation close to the park, so you’ll need either a tent or a firm hotel booking if you want to explore the park properly.
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JÖKULHLAUP!
In late 1996 the devastating Grímsvötn eruption – Iceland’s fourth-largest of the 20th century, after Katla in 1918, Hekla in 1947 and Surtsey in 1963 – shook southeast Iceland and caused an awesome jökulhlaup (glacial flood) across Skeiðarársandur. The events leading up to it are a sobering reminder of the power of Iceland’s volatile fire-and-ice combination.
On the morning of 29 September 1996, a magnitude 5.0 earthquake shook the Vatnajökull ice cap. Magma from a new volcano, in the Grímsvötn region beneath Vatnajökull, had made its way through the earth’s crust and into the ice, causing the eruption of a 4km-long subsurface fissure known as Gjálp. The following day the eruption burst through the surface, ejecting a column of steam that rose 10km into the sky.
Scientists became concerned as the subglacial lake in the Grímsvötn caldera began to fill with water from ice melted by the eruption. Initial predictions on 3 October were that the ice would lift and the lake would spill out across Skeiðarársandur, threatening the Ring Road and its bridges. In the hope of diverting floodwaters away from the bridges, massive dyke-building projects were organised on Skeiðarársandur.
On 5 November, over a month after the eruption started, the ice did lift and the Grímsvötn reservoir drained in a massive jökulhlaup, releasing up to 3000 billion litres of water within a few hours. The floodwaters – dragging along icebergs the size of three-storey buildings – destroyed the 375m-long Gígjukvísl Bridge and the 900m-long Skeiðará Bridge, both on the Skeiðarársandur. See video footage of the eruption and enormous