There will be many birthdays throughout Neverland, but Ezra got to be the first…and in the Westfjords of Iceland nontheless. The birthday “gifts” began early, during morning soccer training. During our time on the field, one of the team’s youth coaches was gathering balls from the field. As we were using some of the balls from the field, I thought the coach might want them back so I offered. He was ok with us using the balls and, in fact, came over and struck up a conversation. He even made a couple of suggestions to Ezra about receiving the ball and then passed around with Ezra for a bit. He was very kind and Ezra thought it was pretty cool!
The arctic fox is the only land mammal native to Iceland. They used to be more spread out across the country, but hunting thinned the population and made those remaining less likely to want to be seen by humans. Farmers still have the legal right to kill arctic foxes if seen on their property. While you can still see arctic foxes in more remote parts of Iceland, it is very rare. The one place you can see Arctic foxes freely in the wild is Hornstradir, a wild (even for Iceland) section of the far northwestern section of the Westfjords. It is accessible largely only through guided tour, strictly regulated, very protected, and very expensive to get to (you also have to be 16 years old to join a group going to Hornstradir.) While I would absolutely love to go there, this was not the time. Given these realities, and our interest in this native Icelandic land mammal, we went to the Arctic Fox Center, about 30 minutes drive away on the next mini fjord.
The Center is a non-profit that works with government scientists to count and monitor the wild arctic fox population. The museum is quite small, but incredibly informative. Through videos and displays we learned quite a bit about the history of arctic foxes in Iceland, their biology, habitat, and many other areas. Finally, the Center serves as a home to arctic foxes whose parents were killed by hunters. They currently had two orphaned foxes. It was great to see them, though I never like to see animals in captivity. Their pen was rather small, but I guess better than what would have happened to them in the wild without parents. It is also Icelandic law that rehabbed foxes cannot be released back into the wild.
Once we left the Center, we determined to go on hike for Ezra’s birthday. There were several extremely beautiful, but very long hikes. We decided to do a local one called The Troll’s Seat instead. It was a fairly short, but very steep hike, basically straight up a mountain. There’ s a spot that is a dip in the mountain ridge. Icelandic legend has it that a troll needed to get back to its home before daylight or it would be turned to stone. The Troll’s Seat is the place where the troll sat down to rest as it hurried home. The hike was tiring, but fun. Naomi only made it halfway or so, but Valerie and I took turns hiking to the top with Ezra. The view over Isafjordur was amazing and worthy of Ezra’s birthday! (Also, Ezra ate a cruise ship, haha. Look at the photos and you will understand…)
After the hike, we went home, cooked dinner, and fulfilled the rest of Ezra’s birthday desires (other than donuts…we tried, but the place closed minutes before we got there). We purchased half a dozen different Icelandic chocolate bars and conducted a chocolate taste test and then watched the semifinal match of the Women’s Euro 2025 Soccer Tournament…(and Naomi had a dance party.)
See you on the next mountain!
July 22, 2025 – Total Steps 4,870 (Steep Elevation from Troll’s Seat Hike)
