How do you top the Northern lights? It is very difficult and unfortunately conditions have not been right to see them again since. The skies have been cloudy and the Northern light activity has been low, so no more Northern lights at the moment. However...
Skógafoss and the iconic airplane at Sólheimasandur
Map and directions to Skogafoss and the abbanonded airplane site
Time for another long drive to visit the Skógafoss waterfall and the abandoned plane wreck. The waterfall is about two and half hours drive from Reykjavik and is Iceland's biggest waterfall. The waterfall is very impressive but is also very busy with tourists. It was around 6pm at this point and is the highlight of any visit to Iceland and so it is to be expected.
Skógafoss from the river bed, Iceland.
Skógafoss from the viewing platform, Iceland.
After a few pictures, from the bottom of the waterfall I walked up to the top where there is a viewing platform. It gives you a real birds eye view of the falls and how big they really are.
Time was marching on, so it was onto the main event!
A five-minute drive from the waterfall is the car park for the abandoned airplane site and the main reason for this particular trip. The site was accessed via driving in a 4x4 down to the crash site, but tourists kept driving off trail and getting stuck which left unsightly tracks on the black beach. There is now a car park next to the main road and a 2.5 mile walk down to the site.
Looking back up the long walk back to the car park. Iceland.
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I was packed with my camera gear, GPS tracker, and a head lamp as I wanted to get the sunset, and knew I would be walking back in the dark. It was a longer walk than expected or even noted in any online resource that I could find, but it was worth it. The skies where very cloudy and it didn't look like I would get any sunset or natural light, but I was wrong. Just as I arrived the sun burst out from under the clouds and gave me and a few others a brief window of amazing light to take a few pictures. I managed to get a couple of pictures.
The picture below and the latest picture on my site.
Sunset over the abandoned plane on Slheimasandur. Iceland.
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WOW! What a cool place! Worth the walk down there, but if you do go make sure you can get back. I had been tracking myself on a GPS app, and once the sun had set it was pitch black. The plane is in a dip or hollow, and the trail up to it ends above the edge of the hollow. This means that you can't really see the trail even when the sun is up. When I started walking back I initially did not use my GPS app and walked the wrong way. I couldn't find the trail. So I reached for my GPS app and found the trail again, and walked back in the dark with my head lamp. A few others did not do this and I saw them walking around the beach area trying to find the trail. They did eventually follow my light and find the trail, but if I had not been there it would have been a much longer evening for them.
What a great place. I will return if only to get some better pictures of the waterfall, and hike into the mountains!
See ya,
Kev
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