8/23 Valley of Tears all day tour

 Waterfall Day!!! A minivan picked us up at 8:30.  Our guide OTTO was wonderful.  Full of information and very chattty, but also kind. (He had to boost me into the van several times, and always held my hand when I got out, so I didn’t do a faceplant out of the backseat.). The waterfalls were quite far out of the city.  We drove for about 1 1/2 hours before stopping for a pee break.  Then another while on “good gravel” roads to our first waterfall.  (“Good gravel” is New Mexican for scraped once after the snow melts and then left to have pot holes and rocks all over. In other words, very rough ride!)

Hjalparfoss was our first stop.  It was a long hike down (which meant a long hike up) so Maggi and I decided to just take pictures from the top. The rest of our intrepid band surged on.

These rocks crossing the stream were their downfall.  Larry, who prides himself on being part mountain goat, tried to jump from one rock to another, slipped and ended up with one wet foot and a pulled muscle in his leg.  He managed to hobble to the top and had trouble walking the rest of the day.  Adrienne said she cried for 10 minutes before managing to make her way back across.  Val fell on his face and at first we thought he broke his nose. (After the trip they went to Urgent Care and they just glued the skin on his nose and put a bandage on it.)  Otto was really worried about Val, and really happy that Maggi and I had stayed behind.  He did pick wild blueberries so we could all taste.

Stopped at Hrauneyjar for lunch. I had  a BLT and the rest had the special burger.  (Otto also cleaned up Val and put a temp bandage on his nose.

Our next stop did not involve climbing, Otto took my picture with the Gjain falls in the background.

The water was so lovely and blue. 

On we went to the Valley of the Tears. We stopped to see some sheep - Otto baaaed and they looked up and baaaed back.

Iceland is a very hard and bleak looking country with amazing beauty.  Tucked into volcanic rocks are tiny  plants and moss.

The trail to the overlook was not as steep, so I took a chance and hiked down to take some pictures.  Val and Adrienne made it, Larry and Maggi didn’t.  The red dot is me.

The falls were glorious, but my legs were tired when I got to the top and poor Otto was pushing and Maggie was pulling to get me back in the van.

We just went to the bar and had another fabulous New York Sour and the Nachos.  Then to bed.  Hope that Larry and Val are up to our tour tomorrow.