Day 4 Part 2 - Skaftafell

This is the sight that greeted us on our entry to Skaftafell:

One of the many "tongues" of the glacier Vatnajökull, this image barely captures the sheer mass of the entire ice volume. For perspective, the red dot is the tongue of the glacier in the image above. Skaftafell is practically touching the edge of the red dot.

No sooner had we arrived in Skaftafell then we were shipped off onto the bus and down the road to a giant glacial lake. At the base of the glacier, the melted water pooled into a giant lake where icebergs float about. We piled onto a hybrid boat-truck (like the Boston Duck Tours!) and drove to the lake and plunged into the water.

The immediate surroundings, the lake, were amazing enough, without the giant backdrop of Vatnajökull to create a truly epic landscape. There isn't a lot to say other than how incredible it is, so I'll just share my images:

Here's my quick watercolor sketch of the scene:

The brush strokes did not come out so well in the photograph (no scanner unfortunately) and the color is a bit washed out, but all it is is light color washes. I was trying to record as much information in as few strokes as possible, since I was running out of time. Of course, it turns out that this is the sketchbook page that Pablo and Spike (trip leader and guest professor) liked the most.

We left the lake and returned to our hotel and ate dinner. After dinner, a group of us went out for some sightseeing on the glacier. The closest tongue lay near our hotel, behind a large hill of rock and dirt. Also, the "path" disappeared right around the point at which we caught our first near-glimpse of the ice:

The clouds were so low and thick that they completely hid the peak of Vatnajökull. I was particularly happy to have my new Merrill's with me as they assured me a stronger footing. I almost didn't realize I had stepped on the glacier, since the edges were all caked with dirt. I became convinced right around here:

It's too big, too alien, too surreal to begin to describe. It's a landscape by itself, with mountains, valleys and rivers of its own language.  The water is some of the purest to be found on the planet. I have verified this assertion myself. Part of the awesomeness of Vatnajökull, and glaciers in general I assume, is their inherent danger. Aside from slipping and falling (the ice is too thick to fall through, of course), are the giant crevasses found more toward the center. We never went that far in, but everywhere can be found cracks and little rifts where the ice shifts, melts and refreezes. The giant crevasses, however, are large enough to indefinitely trap a human. Here are some shots with people, for scale.

And, finally, a nice video for you all to watch. Click the nice link to my youtube video (since embedding didn't work).