This post is called “#2” because today I had my second religious experience in Iceland. I didn’t call the post in which I described my first religious experience in Iceland, “#1” because I didn’t know that I would have more than one (it was hiking to Glymer Falls). But now I decided to number them in case there are any more.
After breakfast and morning soccer training, the kids finally got to try one of the famous Icelandic jumping pillows. Needless to say, they loved it!
When we were hiking up Eldfell yesterday, Ezra and Naomi noticed signs for some lava caves around the back of the volcano. We decided to begin our day today hiking to those lava caves. We followed the directions that Google Maps and Tesla gave us. We couldn’t proceed as there was a chain across one of the roads announcing that, if we crossed it, we would now be entering a shooting range. That didn’t seem like a good idea! We drove around a different way and parked, determined to find an alternate route (as clearly there had to be one given that these caves were a known quantity and people, at least occasionally, explored them!) We hiked around a bit and it actually brought us back to this original sign for the shooting range. We crossed it and tentatively looked for what could potentially be shooting at us and from where… Thankfully, very shortly after, I found the answer. Just a handful of meters in, I started to find many broken pieces on the ground that were clearly shattered pieces of skeet shooting targets. Once I identified that, I could notice a small shack that was definitely where people would change, store their weapons, etc. It was completely empty, so we made the hopefully valid assumption that no one was skeet shooting that day! I even found an unused skeet that I gave to Naomi (she was excited and kept it!)
There were only several small lava tunnels, but there was a lot of lava rock to climb on. This was clearly the less visited, more wild side of the volcano as these rocks were very jagged and sharp and basically lay however they formed when the lava cooled in 1973. It was fun to climb on and over in this area as it felt far more remote and rugged. (We only saw one other family the entire time and they were geocaching.) Ezra had lots of fun; Naomi was disappointed that it wasn’t a “real cave that you can walk around in and explore.” We noted that such a thing would be of great interest to her in case we had another opportunity for this type of thing elsewhere in Neverland.
After we came back to the guesthouse to dry laundry and cook and eat lunch (and get ice cream across the street!), we set out for our big afternoon hike of “Klif,” one of the mountains you see as you first enter the harbor area on the ferry. We parked in the shadows of a bird cliff with thousands of birds livin’ life. It was noisy and chaotic and awesome to watch. We spent some time noticing and observing before we continued to the base of the nearby mountain.
At the base of “klif” there were two athletic rope options. There was a rope to swing off a spot about ten feet up the base and another rope that would allow you to climb about 15 feet up a rock face toward the base. Each were cool and after getting comfortable with it, Ezra and Naomi both really liked the swing rope. They each used it dozens of times. Sport, broadly defined in the sense of physical pursuit, is popular in Iceland. This demonstrates itself in things as random as these two ropes and as consistent as the pool/soccer area/playground/jump pillow installed in pretty much every single town in Iceland (even if the population is just a few hundred.)
What can I say about the Klif hike? Firstly, THIS was the religious experience I was talking about. Much like the Glymer hike, it took me very high in the air with very little barrier or obstacles blocking near 360 degree views. It was difficult, but my soul soared with every step. I think I love this type of hike…with grandeur, with awe, with perspective-laden views. The higher I hiked, the more secret alcoves and new views revealed themselves. Ezra had a hanger fit and Naomi got a little scared 4/5 of the way up. Valerie took them back down to reax and play on the rope swing some more. I hiked to the top and then down the back side of the mountain a bit. This part was even more difficult. I would have gone all the way, but I knew everyone was waiting for me, so I only went likely 15% of the way. It was incredibly steep and secluded and felt like I was in the Alps or Himalayas. I loved every minute of it! I also found some serious mountain sheep up there!
After we had another break for food, we decided we would go back to the Puffin lookout one more time before leaving on the ferry the next day. We stopped at a small black sand beach 3/4 of the way to the Puffin Lookout (for perspective, everything on the Heimaey Island is within a 15 minute drive from everything else on the island.) The sand was beautiful and was created, just like with the white/yellow sand we are used to, by millions of years of rocks wearing down in the waves and the weather. This sand, as with the majority of the beaches in Iceland, however, is made from volcanic rock so is black in color. Ezra enjoyed finding a large piece of a ship gear washed up on shore.
There were not nearly as many puffins pairs close to the lookout point tonight. We stayed for 20 minutes or so and enjoyed watching some birds take off and land, but after seeing so much more the night before, decided to call it an earlier night and leave. Before we went back to the guesthouse, we did decide to visit the other lighthouse we knew about on the island. We drove there and realized it was on private property. This did not deter us, but it did make us cut our visit to it much shorter, haha. We then went back to the guesthouse and caught an earlier night of sleep in order to be ready to have the ferry take us to the mainland again in the morning.
See you on the next mountain!
July 9, 2025 – Total Steps 20,173 (Intense Elevation at Klif)
