We arrived at Skaftafell, a park within the larger Vatnajokull National Park, with many hiking trails. We paid for parking via the Parka app, then headed down to the Visitors Center where we found an empty picnic table to enjoy our sandwiches we had picked up at the hotel earlier.
We were hiking the S2 trail, which starts out near the Visitors Center, then goes uphill for a mile or so until you get near Svartifoss, a waterfall surrounded by basalt columns. We passed a couple of smaller waterfalls on the way, although they were a little difficult to see. After pausing at Svartifoss, we crossed the bridge and headed up to the Sjónarsker viewpoint, which provided a great view of the surrounding area. From there, we headed down to Sel, a series of small turf houses. From there, it led back toward the other side of Svartifoss and down. We were able to get a better view of the smaller falls from this side. We also passed through actual trees on this route, which is a rarity in Iceland! Another bridge led back over past the campgrounds to the Visitors Center, where we headed back to the parking lot to start our longest drive of the trip, 150 miles back west.
We started to drive out of the parking lot, but something didn’t feel right. We pulled over, and checked the tires. Sure enough, we had a flat! A nice French couple stopped by to see if we needed any help. We looked in the trunk and thankfully found a donut tire, so we started to process of changing it. In the meantime, I called the rental car company to figure out what they wanted us to do. They told me that they couldn’t get anyone out to Skaftafell, but to call back in the morning from Hella (near where we were headed) and they would arrange it to get fixed. We struggled to remove the tire after getting the lug nuts off, so I also asked the car rental service about that, and he asked me, “Did you try kicking it?” I relayed this question back to Mr. Strange, who kicked it and it promptly came off. I thanked the man on the phone, to which he responded, “I am a magician!”
We were soon back on the road, albeit slowly. Our original timeline had us getting to our lodge around 7pm, roughly an hour before sunset, but the flat tire caused an hour delay, and we couldn’t drive the speed limit on the Ring Road due to the donut, so darkness started to creep up on us. The lodge we were staying in was about 10 miles off the Ring Road, 3-4 of which were gravel. It was a very tense drive down the gravel road, trying to avoid potholes in the dark, with a donut tire, praying that we did not get another flat.
We finally made it to our destination, the Panorama Glass Lodge. However, it was too dark to see any of the scenery. I made a tasty dinner of tortellini with groceries we had bought our first day, then we relaxed in the hot tub (in the rain again!) before climbing into bed. The sky was overcast, so my hopes of seeing the northern lights in the lodge were crushed, though I woke up a few times in the night and looked up to check. I also caught the amazing sunrise over the mountains and the volcano Hekla in the distance.
