Iceland #6 June 26

SPUR (OF THE MOMENT) GLACIER

On our way back to the cabin for the evening, we spotted a sign that said something about a glacier, and we could see a massive glacier in the distance, so why not! This is often how it is in Iceland, a land without many trees; you see something interesting on the horizon and drive towards it!

What we found was Sólheimajökull Glacier, a 7 mile spur off the massive Myrdalsjokull Glacier. A spur-of-the-moment spur! There was a nice parking lot and a trail. That’s about it. An old shipping container serves as a meeting place for those gearing up with crampons and ice axes to get an up-close-and-personal guided tour of the glacier.

We just hiked the trail to see how close we could get. And I think we all were a bit surprised on how cool it was just to experience a glacier from this close (half mile away?).

It has an interesting history with this arm receding 2/3 of a mile between 1930 and 1969, and then advancing again for 500 yards in the cold years between 1970 and 1997. Since then it has receded 4,000 feet.

You can see a bit of the stunning “glacier blue” ice on part of the snout of the glacier.

You can barely see the name of the glacier (Solheimajokull) through all the “visitor-contributed” stickers!

You already know that I really enjoy the architecture of churches, and just outside of Vik we found yet another red-roofed church—the Reyniskirkja Church built in 1929. Allegedly an elf built a church on this site a 1000 years ago…but that is a story for another time.