Day 3 - All About Glacier (Glacier Hike and Glacier Chunk)

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- Walking On Ice - 

First pit stop, Skaftafells Glacier Walk.

We booked our 3 hour tour with company Glacier Guide which is situated beside Skaftafell visitor centre. There is also another company just beside it Icelandic Mountain Guide. They offer glacier walk and also quick tour on ice cave. There are a few categories available for hike, from 3 hours to 16 hours! We choose Glacier guide cause they offer the cheapest package of 3 hours which is good enough for beginners. Second reason is because we are on tight budget $$$ and our stamina is not up to that level.

After registration, a bus will pick you up to hike location situated 10 minutes away. Here, they will suit you up with hiking gears: teethclaw crampons, helmet and axe. You will start to think "What the hell? Why do we need an axe for glacier walk." and yes, we end up leaving our axes before reaching the glacier cause the guide will do all the chopping of ice

Hiking trail before going uphill which is quite flat compared to what we will encounter as there is an idiom saying "it is calm before the storm". After hiking for about 15 minutes, they will put you in this spot for photography. You can see glacier just behind and that's the place we are going! This place is used to be glacier but due to climate change, the ice melts and therefore forms the lake. 

Ice gears provided by agency to prepare you for the hike. Recommended to wear your own hiking boots up to ankle level and also waterproof pants. Other options are gloves, hat, sunglass. Thou we are going for GLACIER walk, which is basically ice right? Image below shows our guide in his long sleeve t shirt. 

After another 10 minutes hike, our guide will get us to gear up with all hiking equipments. We were taught on how to wear and walk with crampons. Key thing to walk on ice is to always keep your feet facing forward in order to optimize the grip on ice. And you will have to lift your legs up high and walk like a cowboy who rides for hours. 

Look at the sky blue colour of Ice Cave

Next thing we know, we are literally walking on ice! It was pretty scary at first as there are no proper paved routes, but we must walk in a straight line guided by the professionals. The view is spectacular on the top of the glacier and you will get excited to snap more photos but be careful of cliff as there is no rope or safety net to hold you. 

During the hike, we heard a loud BOOM of glacier calve. Our guide even joked "RUN, its avalanche" According to him, it is very common to hear it but not see it as it.

Watch out where you are hiking as there are multiple crevice on the surface. As you know glacier is a huge chunk of ice melting day by day. A crevice is a crack formed by the different movement of ice stretching and slide past each other. 

I highly recommended to all travelers to Iceland! This will be the best activity I had in Iceland, bet you will never regret doing this. Little stamina required for the hike to the top of the mountain as you will need to hike on really steep mountain before you reach the glacier. There is this one middle age big size lady together in our team coping up very well and this shouldn't be a problem for anyone. 

Waterproof jacket, pants, hiking boots available for rent at 1000 ISK each.

Total duration: 3.5 hours
Fee: 10,900 ISK / RM436

source: http://www.europeanwaterfalls.com/waterfalls/svartifoss/

*Additional attraction within the area is Svartifoss waterfall aka black fall as it is surrounded by black lava column. Kinda look likes the organ in church with large pipes on top. The natural creation of this waterfall actually inspires the design of the famous church in Reykjavik, Hallgrimskirkja.

This walking path is in the same location as Skaftafell visitor centre. Unfortunately we skipped this attraction due to time constrain. To reach the waterfall, you will have to hike 1.5km on slope hill for around 1 hour and our glacier walk is tiring enough so sorry peeps we decided to SKIP this! round trip will take around 2 hours plus so in order to drive under daylight condition we will have to save this for probably next trip. YES!! This is a good excuse to go back to Iceland.

- Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon -

Glacier lake flowing to the Atlantic ocean

Another must visit in Iceland! Place is located 45 minutes drive from Skaftafell. Beach is covered with icebergs chunks from the surrounding Breiðamerkurjökull Glacier, also it is the largest glacier lake around Iceland. As the climate changes, more ice melts which makes the glacier lake doubled it size from 15 years back.

There are few stops for viewing on the left and right of the paved road just in front of the bridge with no specific signage about the viewing point. First photo is taken on left (Glacier lake) and second photo is where most tourist will go as it has bigger parking area for buses (Seaside). On the left, you can see glacier chunk riding on the tide which is pretty A.W.E.S.O.M.E.!!! Although it show signs of global warming where iceberg melts but still it is pretty awesome to see it on your own eyes. 

For more adventurous travelers, there are tour agencies with boat service to get your close up to the iceberg and glacier wall. Trip is around 40 minutes for a cost of 10,000 ISK.

Summary of Day 3 route

Total driving distance: 184km
Duration: 2 hours and 30 minutes on road