[This post is part of a series documenting my last trip to Iceland in October 2017. The previous post is here and the next post is here.]

This morning I woke up in my room at the Hotel Skaftafell after having a nice vegan chili for dinner and spending the day shooting ice-related scenery. The plan for today was to repeat a guided glacier walk on Svinafellsjökull that I had taken a few years ago and then continue west, back towards Keflavik airport and my flight back to Boston tomorrow.

But first, I opened the curtain in my room to the view below. How awesome is that? I’m not sure, but I think those peaks may be Hvannadalshnúkur and Öræfajökull. The first is the tallest peak in Iceland and the second has the dubious distinction of being in the local news recently for what seems to be an active magma buildup, which may or may not lead to an eruption at some point.

Much closer to my window, I saw this guy — a Redwing. These are generally not seen in the USA, but according to the Icelandic Bird Guide by Jóhann Óli Hilmarsson, they are common in Iceland.

I used Icelandic Mountain Guides for my glacier walk, the same company I had used earlier. I like them, though I enjoyed my first, more nature-oriented guide a bit more than the guide for this walk. He was fine, but I prefer facts and history to the more typical patter for tourists. In any case, the tour left from the parking lot of the Skaftafell Visitor Center, from where we took a bus to near the base of the glacier.

It was drizzling when we started our walk. While the rain eventually stopped, the day never cleared. Here are a few photos.

I’ve become accustomed to recognizing Svinafellsjökull in the background on TV and in movies, most notably the ice planet in Interstellar and many of the Game of Thrones scenes from North of the Wall. Still, it was fun to be shown exactly where specific scenes were shot, like the one in which Jon Snow tries to return Jorah Mormont’s family sword to him — it was exactly where we donned our crampons for the walk.

Leaving the area, I drove west on the Ring Road, crossing  Skeiðarársandur and then soon after passing through Kirkjubæjarklaustur (I didn’t have to mention that, I know) I took a right turn, heading to Fjaðrárgljúfur. My friend Monty and I had tried a few years ago during a winter trip to navigate this road, but even with a 4WD vehicle, it was impassable. I’m glad we gave up quickly because the distance from the Ring Road to the canyon was a longer and hillier than I expected and we would surely have gotten stuck if we had persisted. In any case, on this autumn trip the dirt road was clear of snow and easily navigated.

The canyon is beautiful. It’s so beautiful that some of the photos below don’t look real to me, but they are. I recommend walking all the way to the end to where the waterfall enters the canyon — there are some very nice views from artfully designed viewing platforms there.

This a site where the reaction to the increase in tourism in Iceland is evident. Much of the canyon rim is now roped off to keep people from walking out onto precipices for the biggest thrills and the best views. It’s clear from how worn those areas are that they have been very popular in the past. To be clear, the rope is low and unobtrusive — it suggests rather than forbids, so the views are still phenomenal. I don’t object to the restriction — I understand that crowds need to be controlled to prevent damage to tourist sites, especially in the south. But I regret it very much.

From here, I continued west to Hotel VOS for my final evening. I liked this hotel a lot. It seemed quite new and I was able to arrange in advance for a specially-cooked vegan dinner, which was delicious — it was an excellent way to spend the final evening of this trip to Iceland.

Proceed to Day 8.