Day three, after a long beautiful drive along the East coast of Iceland, we started heading West into what looked liked another planet, with vast landscapes of rock.
Hiding among this landscape is the waterfall Dettifoss, the most powerful waterfall in Europe.
A short walk from Dettifoss is another waterfall called Selfoss.
Selfoss was one of my favorite waterfalls we visited (along with Gljufurarfoss), not due to the waterfall itself but to the pools of water surrounding the top before the falls. I had not seen anything quite like this before and loved exploring around the pools.
Also, what's the deal with the purple rocks? Next stop, Hverir Mud Pots. One of my favorite places of the whole trip. The smell of sulphur fills the air at the mud pots, and the land is devoid of plants, but it is steaming and bubbling with activity and fascinating overall. Again, what planet is this?
Careful, it's very hot...
From the mud pots it is not far to the Grjotagja Cave. When you climb into the cave you find a beautiful blue hot spring pool. (Although swimming is no longer allowed.)
I thought that would be it for Grjotagja, but the surrounding area is also super neat as you can climb up to the land above the cave and explore the rift which is gently steaming. Peer down into it to see lush plant life.
We were the only people there for a bit, so I took a photo of our home away from home, the Camp Easy campervan.
On our way out I got a not great but identifiable photo of Iceland's iconic sign of Spring, the Golden Plover.
From there, we headed into Myvatn and picked up a hitchhiker. They are common in Iceland and we felt we should experience that as part of our trip, and gave a nice girl who was WOOFing a ride to her hostel. Then, strangely enough, we camped at a campsite at "Daddi's Pizza", which I was happy to do because it was next to a nice pasture of sheep. Love all the sheepies!
We could also easily get away to Myvatn Nature Spa that night and then return to our campsite afterwards. I purely relaxed at Myvatn Nature Spa and didn't take photos, but I will say it was worth the splurge and a wonderful couple of hours in the geothermal steam room and hot spring while the sun went into twilight mode (doesn't exactly go down). I highly suggest the hot springs!