Ambiana & Jakobi were up early 9:30AM because the hotel had a free breakfast. We all went down and Colleen Ambiana and Jakobi filled their plates with eggs and fruit and vegetables and thoroughly enjoyed their breakfast. I had made my Breakfast (the breakfast I eat everyday because I LOVE IT) before the girls got up. I soak oats overnight with coconut water if I have some but here in Iceland I was soaking oats in glacial water. I add to this banana, mango, blueberries and blackberries. Crush in a ¼ cup of a walnut & sliced almond mix, a tablespoon of chia seeds and ½ cup of yogurt, 10% Cabot Creamery Greek Style Yogurt, though here in Iceland I am super excited to be adding a ½ cup of Skyr which is the Icelandic style of yog.
I’ve been eating this MegaBreakfast pretty much everyday since August 2019, the same time I began confining my eating to a 6-8 hour window. It works for me. I lost 15 pounds and have kept it off, I do not miss late night snacks, and I do not miss eating breakfast the moment I get up. Now I get out of bed and get going, get some chores and exercise in before I eat. The long time between meals feels good to my body. So almost always eat breakfast later then Colleen and Ambiana and Jakobi but I always join them when I can as they break their sleep time fast. My breakfast travels with me in a quart size yogurt container to be eaten later in the forenoon.
Breakfast over we head outside where the gray is gone, the sky is blue, the curtain of cloud lifted and the mountains that were shrouded in mist the day before are now sugar coated on top with bright white brand new snow on the uppers slopes. The day feels fresh with the sun brightening and warming everything up. There is a big field in front of the hotel with the snowy frosted mountains across the valley. Ambiana danced, twirling beneath the splendor as we packed up the car and then we drove across the small town to the waterfall. There was a large parking area before SKOGAFOSS along with the Skogafoss campground which is a bare bones affair: a parking area for the campervans, some grass for the tent campers and a squat rectangle of restrooms and dish sinks for their conveniece and use.
Besides SKOGAFOSS there is a long stairway to the top of the cliff with a steady stream of people of all ages climbing and descending and other people walking along the river bank approaching and returning from the falls. SKOGAFOSS is tall and broad and spills off a cliff 62M high. Geology is so BIG in Iceland. These falls should be worshiped instead of Instagramed but that maybe that too is a form of worship. I’m taking pictures. I have always had an attraction to images. I once filled photo albums with pictures, now I fill this blog and the walls of the long house with them. I curate that space for sure.
Staring at the falls we all walk closer among the other tourists. Some coming back past us have wet puffies from getting close to SKOGAFOSS which is where we are heading. Birds soar in the misty column rising up from the base of the falls where the water is blown apart and sent soaring as well.
Oh hurrah! Once again we are at a waterfall when the sun is low. The early morning radiance the sun shines forth and rainbows appear. So Miraculous, miracles everyday if only I paid attention to them. Traveling is good for cleaning up perception. Give our capacity for wonder a good scrubbing off. NATURE is just so… beautiful. and to think We are a part of it!
I follow the falling water up from the maelstrom at the base. SKOGAFOSS drops like a shimmering curtain off a steep cliff and by doing so has carved out a high narrow gorge you can walk the riverbank up into. Here you are in the swirling mist arising from the base of the falls. Wet and windswept, you are also engulfed in the cacophany of the falls. All that water plummeting down, striking bottom, breaking apart, flowing away creates quite a roar and then there are the gulls squawking and spiraling calling out to each other or maybe just in exaltation.
I turn and see Jakobi facing into the falls her arms outstretched as if she were letting SKOGAFOSS wash over her, introducing herself. A rainbow arcs over her and I take a picture, hoping to capture these three powerful watery spirits in the same image.
Leaving the narrow misty nave of SKOGAFOSS we rejoined Colleen & Ambiana and made our way to the stairway up the cliff. Ambiana and Colleen headed straight up but Jakobi lingered at the foot of the staircase not to enthused. I urged her on and she was soon way ahead of me.
The cliff we were climbing extended East and West as far as we could see. Below was the ocean and the slim coastal plain. The cliffs were covered in grass and birds on one side and in falling water and birds on the other and the stairs ascended the border between the two.
By the time I got to the top of the cliff and the deck that overlooked the SKOGAFOSS drop, Jakobi was ready to go back down and Ambiana was headed up the trail that ran beside the river and into the mountains; the beginning of the FIMMVORDUAHLS multi-day trek North past glaciers and volcanoes.
Up here the river is wide and shallow, tranquil as it rolls out of the mountains full of melt water from the EYJAFJALLAJOKUL ice cap. So it comes as a shock to see it drop into space off the edge of the cliff and fall to the coastal plain below. There is a maelstrom of wind and water and sound but soon enough the river is its tranquil self on its way to the sea.
Gazing away from the falls along the coast we could see a headland and an island along with a sea arch. VIK was in that direction and we were heading that way later today. Ambiana came back from up river and headed down and Jakobi quickly got ahead of her.
Colleen and I stood at the top for a bit and promised we would come back and hike FIMMVORDUAHLS. We are very aware that this time with our children is undergoing change, our fledglings are growing and soon will fly and we head down the stairs because its all about being the four of us whenever we can.
At bottom and off the staircase I turn upriver to gaze on SKOGAFOOS because it is just so beautiful to behold and I want a family picture but Jakobi is heading towards the parking lot while Ambiana ahead in the distance leans back against a rock in the dry stream bed looking at the falls. I do have a picture of the Ambiana, Jakobi and Colleen with Skogafoss that I made sure I took right away when we first got here before everyone dispersed. And Jakobi also surprisingly consented to a shoot for the dancevideo, she probably couldn’t deny the awesomeness of SKOGAFOOS in the background. Meeting up back at the car we pile in. My Icelandic Hot Spring App has a map function and loads directions into my Google Mapps App and we drive out of SKOGAR turning west to find SEJAVALLALA:the valley with the hot spring swimming pool.
