The next day at The Retreat at The Blue Lagoon, we started off with a relaxing swim, then breakfast and a determination to hike to the amazing viewpoint of the newly erupting Meradalir volcano.
If you remember in this post here we had actually done this hike but ended up at a not-so-ideal viewpoint of the volcano.
We had then tried to do this hike on the correct path the next day and the change in weather meant that the authorities had to close the volcano hike path.
Well today, from the news online, it seemed like the hiking path was open and the weather looked absolutely fine for it.
So with that, we had an early lunch and went down to the supermarket to stock up on supplies for the hike.
This time, we kinda overdid it with the snacks, unlike the first time when I didn’t think to even bring water with me because I assumed the hike was just a short thing.
Thankfully Lloyd did bring water with him that time but neither of us packed snacks.
So yeah, all stocked up we made our way over to the correct parking lot for the hike and began our ascent towards the volcano.
Now this hike was tricky but not in the ways I was expecting.
It starts off with a relatively quick uphill climb but it’s nowhere near as steep as the other route.
This then zig-zags till you get to the top of the mountain and this is the part that is actually a lot harder even though it’s flat.
See, this entire path is littered with huge rocks that have been blown here from previous volcanic eruptions and it’s mentally exhausting trying to walk through this and attempt not to fall.
Initially, it all seems okay but then the structure gets trickier the further in you go and although active work was being done to create a path here by the government, it hadn’t really gotten this far.
The view is amazing though as you go along and thanks to the rain, you can see the previous lava flow just steaming in the distance as you walk past. It’s a bit surreal.
Eventually, this rocky area gives way to more even terrain and then a bit more uphill climbs and then several downhill climbs and before you know it, there the volcano is in front of you but still in the distance.
This last part of the climb is a bit muddy and actually when you kinda wish it had those rocks from earlier on so you don’t go slipping down the hill.
Once you’re done with this, it’s an easy stretch to this viewpoint overlooking the volcano.
At this point, we were just so grateful that we were stubborn with our decision to come back here because the view of the volcano from here is exactly what we saw in the news and the reason we did the first hike, to begin with.
It’s so surreal to see, especially with all that lava that you know is pretty much hard earth just flowing like water.
And then there’s the sound.
It’s just this strange mix of loud humming and consistent rumbling.
After taking a moment or two to take it all in, we then decide to descend into the valley to the edge of the lava flow.
It is important to note that the Icelandic government’s safety officials were here monitoring things, especially the gas levels from the volcano so there were people looking out for safety on that front.
Randomly, and I don’t know how advisable this is, some people showed up with fish that they then proceeded to roast using the heat from the lava flow.
As it started to get a little dark, and by the way, it mostly got dark because of the cloud cover, not because the sun was fully setting, you started to see part of the lava field glow and could see a lot clearer how the molten lava was making its way around the valley from the volcano eruption.
It was incredible!
We ended up spending a lot longer here than we initially planned before deciding well past midnight that we should probably start heading back to the car.
Our flight back home was just in a few hours and we hadn’t even checked into the hotel we’d be spending the night in.
And so we began that walk back but thanks to the cloud cover it was dark and the fog had arrived too.
It was an ‘adventure’, to say the least, trying to get back in those conditions but the adrenaline and excitement we still had from just having witnessed that incredible sight of the volcano was more than enough to carry us through the whole hike.
And of course, once you get past those rocky bits in the mountains.
The rest is pretty easy!
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