| To me there is nothing better than getting outdoors | | | | and told us all kinds of facts about Iceland, glaciers |
| and going for a nice long trek. I love the adventure, | | | | and such. But, what I liked best was when everyone |
| the physical challenge and exploring new places. I also | | | | stopped talking. Rarely in our busy lives do we get to |
| have a certain proclivity towards glaciers. I think that | | | | experience absolute silence and that was one of the |
| they are amazing, though I have never actually seen | | | | early pleasures of this glacier tour – we all |
| one up close. Last month I got the chance to do just | | | | stopped walking and talking and there it was, total |
| that. | | | | silence. I turned my face to the sun and just soaked |
| I didn’t go to Iceland just for hiking, I was there | | | | up this moment. |
| on business. But over the weekend, I decided to get | | | | Later, we got to explore some crevasses and |
| book a tour. There are several hiking and trekking | | | | beautiful blue-white ice sculptures. When you touch |
| tour companies in Iceland so it wasn’t hard. With | | | | this kind of ice, you are amazed by how smooth it is |
| the help of the front desk clerk at the hotel I was | | | | - like polished glass. We got to walk through long |
| staying at, I got in touch with a company that offers | | | | ridges that were like narrow ice hallways. |
| tours right from Reykjavik; turns out that you | | | | What struck me about this glacier was that it |
| don’t necessarily have to travel far to get out in | | | | seemed to have a positive affect on everyone’s |
| nature or to commune with a glacier. | | | | mood. It is kind of like the glacier is pumping out |
| Anyways, I made my choice of tour operators and | | | | negative ions and it helps you feel content and |
| told them what I wanted to do. They suggested a | | | | grounded in that moment. I also think that the glacier, |
| tour that fit my time frame and desire to explore a | | | | by the fact that it has been around for so long, |
| glacier, in this case Sólheimajökull glacier. I think this | | | | imparts a certain sense of history and almost |
| translates as ‘sun home glacier,’ at least I | | | | embodies a wise personality. Maybe it was just me, I |
| think that is what it translates to with my rough | | | | tend to anthropomorphize everything. |
| knowledge of Icelandic. This particular glacier is | | | | One the way back to the city, our guide also |
| located about two hours away from the capital city. | | | | stopped by two beautiful waterfalls, Skógafoss and |
| The tour company picked me up from my hotel in | | | | Seljalandsfoss. Being from the western US, I am not |
| the morning and off we went. I was amazed at how | | | | used to seeing so much water and I was struck by |
| quickly we were in the country - Reykjavik is not a | | | | the raw power and beauty of these falls. Raw power |
| very big capital city and most of Iceland is | | | | and beauty is a good analogy for Iceland in general. |
| uninhabited. When we arrived at the glacier, I | | | | All-in-all I was very satisfied with my Iceland hiking |
| instantly fell in love. The weather was picture perfect | | | | tour experience. This particular tour wasn’t very |
| and the contrasting colors of blue sky and the white | | | | strenuous, so if you want something more physical, |
| glacier were outstanding. | | | | you can choose a different tour. I think that one day |
| We took a few minutes to go over a safety brief, | | | | I would like to come back here and do one of their |
| put on our extra clothes and crampons and then we | | | | multi-day tours. |
| were off. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable | | | | |