Reykjavík Grapevine - 19.06.2009, Blaðsíða 36

24
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 8 — 2009
Travel | Activities
King Of The Road
Super Jeep excursion traverses rock and ice
The guide from Iceland Rovers picked
me up at 8:30 on a Wednesday morning.
I heard him coming from far away –
the sound of grinding tires against the
pavement fooled me into thinking that
the garbage was being picked up. Nope.
Just the jeep, outfitted with massive
wheels, towering over the surrounding
cars on my tiny sidestreet. We lumbered
off into the city, picking up the other
passengers on our way. The trip became
slightly less bad-ass upon the arrival
of a visiting tourist from the United
States, eager to talk and point out all the
blatantly obvious differences between
cultures, including the languages. I
started panicking – I was strapped into
that jeep for nine hours and there was
no way in hell that I could handle that
kind of persistently annoying talk. Why
hadn’t I brought my iPod?
» Standing on a glacier
Our first stop was at Þingvellir National
Park, where our group of six meandered
around the rocks and took pictures, along
with a million other tourists armed with
fanny packs. Thankfully, our guide told
us that we were going to get out of there
quickly so we had time to see some other
things. We drove through a stretch of
land, where we were the only vehicle for
miles. The mountainous scenery kept
the drive interesting, but it didn’t deter
me from the dreaded thought that we
could break down at any moment and I
would be stranded with the talky tourist.
I got a little motion sick just thinking
about it.
As the terrain got a little rougher,
the guide informed us that we were
nearing the Langjökull glacier. A small
peak of white soon started to spread into
a bright expanse, making it difficult to
distinguish sky from land. This is when
the trip got decidedly bad-ass. The guide
drove the jeep onto the glacier, which was
slightly softer than usual. Everyone held
on to the back of the seats, concerned
that we were going to have to push
the jeep back down to the road. Even
tourist lady stopped jabbering. When we
finally stopped, everyone emerged and
threw snowballs at each other jovially,
celebrating the invigorating feeling
of power the bitchin' super-jeep had
allowed us.
» Like Seagal’s Ponytail
After we ate lunch at a nearby waterfall,
we headed to Surtshellir, a lava cave.
Equipped with the ever stylish helmets
with lights, we journeyed into the mouth
of the cave. Not as cool as the glacier,
but still pretty sweet. Next we saw the
Hraunfossar and Barnafoss waterfalls,
which happened to be another amazing
area. The group walked to the scenic
overviews of the falls going into the
bright blue pools below. I stood on the
bridge connecting the two sides of land,
staring in to the aqua waters. It was quite
a strange colour to behold (expectations
of dirty rushing falls were instantly
surpassed). Hraunfossar consisted of
multiple f lat rocks connecting together
to create various, smaller falls. Barnafoss
waterfall ("The Children’s Waterfall")
was a single, larger fall, emerging from
a hole created by a slight bridge of rock
formations. Picture-taking ensued, of
course, but one couldn’t exactly replicate
the real thing.
On the ride home, through the
Hvalfjördur fjord, everyone took some
time to look out the window at the
passing coast. I soon realised that
former annoyances had been silenced.
Or maybe, I had just stopped noticing;
the glacier drive had officially solidified
the entire trip as being bad-ass. Riding
in the awesomeness of the super-jeep,
the day had f lown by, just like Seagal ś
ponytail on a windy day.
1. What's so super about these
jeeps anyway?
2. The trip invites for some serene
moments
3. These waterfalls are pretty
impressive
4. Remember that movie, The
Descent? Surtshellir isn't nearly
as scary as Descent's cave
www.icelandrovers.is
icelandrovers@icelandrovers.is
Day tour: 26.900 ISk
Everybody wants to be a bad-ass.
When you take the most bad-ass
of vehicles and combine it with a
little off-road driving, you, in turn,
become the bad-ass you have
always dreamt of being. Steven
Seagal, step aside.

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HAILEy LOMAN