The road to Mývatn: through rain and wilderness

Summer in Iceland is short but intense. It’s nice to enjoy the warm weather and long days :) Now it’s slowly coming to an end, so I can finally get back to posting here.

Exactly a year ago I was on a road trip around Iceland, somewhere between Egilsstaðir and Lake Mývatn. And that works out perfectly, because today I wanted to share with you some memories from that day.

Bakkagerði

Our first stop was the small village of Bakkagerði on the east coast. The road there goes through the mountains. Even though many tourists visit in summer (there’s a famous puffin watching spot nearby), the village still feels like a quiet old fishing place, almost forgotten by the world.

No puffins at Borgarfjarðarhöfn...

Not far from Bakkagerði is the Borgarfjarðarhöfn harbor, where a big puffin colony nests every year. Sadly, that day we didn’t see any – they were either out hunting or had already left (it was the end of the season). Luckily, I wasn’t too focused on seeing them, so it didn’t ruin my mood. I enjoyed a nice walk around the harbor and watched some other birds.

Then we continued northwest. We made a few unplanned stops – it’s impossible to drive through Iceland without stopping sometimes. First, we saw turquoise water and an interesting bridge from the road. It turned out to be the same river we had admired at Stuðlagil Canyon the day before.

Foot Bridge over Jökulsá á Brú

That’s when the rain started, and it stayed with us for the rest of the day. You can’t fight the weather – you can only accept it, especially in Iceland. I’ve learned not to worry too much and just enjoy the moment. So we went for a short walk. 

This place had one clear advantage – there were no other tourists.

Comfy road throu interior

The road went through wide, empty landscapes, with only the good-quality highway (Route 1) breaking the wildness. After many days on rough mountain roads, we welcomed the smooth ride. The gloomy weather matched the scenery perfectly. I love these simple, almost single-color views.

Gas station.

The Great Nothing ;)

Dettifoss in heavy rain

Our last stop before spending the night by Lake Mývatn was Dettifoss waterfall. It’s one of Iceland’s most majestic waterfalls. I had seen it briefly five years earlier, and that short visit left me wanting more. This time, we arrived in a heavy downpour. As we got out of the car, putting on every raincoat we had, the last tourists were leaving. So we almost had the usually crowded waterfall all to ourselves. We only met one family there.

Despite the rain, we went for a short walk, but it was getting late and dark, so our visit was very brief again. I guess Dettifoss and I will have to meet once more.

By the time it was dark, we reached the campsite by Mývatn, a land filled with sulfur smells and swarms of extremely annoying insects. I’m usually fine with annoying outdoor conditions, but I was glad my home is in a part of Iceland without biting midges. That didn’t stop us from exploring, and we spent the next two days in a land that could easily illustrate stories about the early days of our planet. But that’s a tale for next time :)