John Muir Trail – Getting there

July 24.

I caught my flight from Frankfurt via Amsterdam to Los Angeles in the morning. I am not too keen on flying anymore – but getting to California without taking a plane really takes a lot of time and commitment. 😜

Anyway – the 11h KLM flight to LAX was surprisingly nice. The seat only started killing me after a couple of hours, the catering was really tasty, movie selection was good too.

The immigration officer made my day. When I stated my purpose of visit (vacation/leisure), he inquired further and I shared that I will be hiking in the Sierras. He wondered whether I would be hiking the John Muir Trail! 😁 So I shared some insights, he was really interested… And we closed our conversation with his remark that he wouldn’t call the purpose of the visit leisure if it means hiking for 3-4 weeks. 🤣

Waiting for the bus ride from LAX to Union Station was nerve wrecking… Traffic chaos, cars honking everywhere… But I made it to Union Station and later to the Metrolink to Lancaster.
I would have fallen asleep in the train if if wasn’t freezing cold from the AC…

The train crossed the Pacific Crest Trail near Acton, mile 444.

At the Acton KOA campground during my 2018 PCT hike, I got my trail name that I would only slowly accept…

Me and my (borrowed) Daisy Dukes, Acton KOA 2018

In Lancaster, I had a 30min walk along the main street passing used car dealerships, gun shops, massage parlors…

I remember very well my last night before hitting the John Muir Trail in 2016. I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep…

This time I will be hiking the JMT for the third time. I am much more relaxed since I know what is coming. But my expectations are high – even higher.

It seems I love the Sierras more with every visit.
It’s the solitude and self-determination that I long for.

And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.- John Muir

John Muir Trail – Getting ready for my third thruhike

Going to the mountains is going home.

– John Muir

July 23rd

Iceland Day 16 – Djupivogour, Egilsstadir, Ferry from Seydisfjoerdur – Good bye Iceland

April 10.

Another walk at the shore in the morning to say goodbye to the seal, but unfortunately it didn’t show up again.

Continuing East, I stopped around lunch time at the small town of Djupivogour, to get coffee and cake. Like at many places in Iceland, you get free table water as well as free refills on coffee – so nice!

Arriving at Egilsstadir really made clear to me that my round trip on Iceland was coming to an end. This was the first town stop I did after arriving with the ferry. Now it was my last stop to shop for some snacks for the 3 days ferry ride via Faroe to Denmark. The Bonus supermarket there is the first and last supermarket stop on Iceland probably for many who come by ferry.

I drove the last 30min to the ferry terminal at Seydisfjoerdur through fog and light snowfall. Iceland really showed how true this saying is: If you do not like the weather on Iceland, just wait 5 minutes.

Checked in at the ferry at 5.45pm, I was on board with my van shortly later. I looked like the ferry would be quite empty again – besides a handful of cars, a number of buses and container trailers were loading. I expected to leave at 8pm – surprisingly the ship left 7pm. The ship schedule followed the official ship time which is Faroe time, so one hour ahead of Iceland now. Lucky me I was early enough. 😉

Thank you Iceland! You rough beauty. Land of fire and ice, sunshine, snow and rain and storm, of solitude in the North and mass tourism in the South.

I came looking for a wide open country and solitude, what I found was so much more. So much contrast, constant change. I met a number of inspiring people. I lost my heart here. Tears of joy and goodbye. I will come back.

Iceland Day 15 – Stokksness, lighthouse of Hvalnes

April 9.

Spotted a reindeer around the campground again in the morning – maybe the same one from last night?

Drove on East to Stokksness with its famous black beach and rocky coast. There was an old viking village, a possible movie location nearby. Really looked like the great Viking series might have been shot here.

After that, walked along the coast, looking for seals at the black beach but no luck. Still a special landscape with the beach and mountain so close.

The ring road followed the shore closely. I stopped to take photos.

There were hundreds of swans! Impressive view with the sun setting. The photos can’t really catch this scene.

For my last night on Iceland (for this trip ;-)), I wanted a wild camping spot again. The Hvalnes lighthouse turned out to be beautiful spot for that. At the evening walk along the shore there, a quick glance of a seal! Beautiful round black face appearing in the waves, just for 3, 4 seconds, then gone again. Just like with unexpected spotting of the whales at Gardur – these few seconds gave me a long lasting smile, feeling happy, lucky and connected.

I stood there for a good while, maybe hoping for another glance. But I was happy and content.

“God never made an ugly landscape. All that sun shines on is beautiful, so long as it is wild.”
– John Muir

The sound of rain on the car roof that night made this such a beautiful evening – could not ask for more. Except maybe more time on Iceland.

Iceland Day 12 – Kerid, Seljalandsfoss, Skogafoss, Dyrholaey Lighthouse, Vik

April 6.

After a good night in the van, I left the Fludir campground in the morning going South towards the ring road. But one more stop was planned before – the Kerid crater respectively crater lake.

Even from a distance, you could see lots of people walking along the crest of the crater. Yes, I am still in the golden triangle. This was the first attraction that actually asked for an entrance fee. I did the walk around as well as walking town to the frozen crater lake. It was one of the places where you really see how Iceland is struggling with mass tourism. Even though there were marked trails and lots of fenced off areas with the respective signs, the whole area was disturbed, the grass destroyed.

I am a tourist too, contributing to this situation. But I wished more people would stick to the paths to keep the impact to Iceland’s beautiful nature as small as possible.

Continued towards the ring road. Arriving at ring road, taking the road South East towards Vik. Next stop was the beautiful waterfall Seljalandsfoss – the one where you can walk behind the waterfall itself, so you get a 360 degree perspective on the water falling.

Quite special – and quite wet. 🙂 I loved the water spray in my face. Standing there in my rain gear in the wet wind, this took me right back to the last weeks hiking the Pacific Crest trail in Washington. Oh PCT – I miss you so.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

But I only brought two weeks for Iceland, not like the 5 months for the Pacific Crest Trail. So I kept driving on, further on to the Skogafoss waterfall. In search of Wifi, I took a coffee break in the restaurant there. No Wifi… :-p but a salad. Around 5pm, I walked up to Skogafoss, stair cases leading up offering a nice view from the platform above.

I passed the famous airplance wreck/respectively the parking for it at the ring road. My plan was to visit the wreck at sunrise next day – with maybe less other tourists around. So I drove on Dyrholaey lighthouse. At 630pm in really strong winds, it seemd like I would not be lucky to see birds. The winds were so strong that I could barely open my car door.

I didn’t give up on internet yet, so I drove into the town Vik in search of Wifi. It turned out the biggest store of the town (Icewear) had a connected coffee shop with decent internet. I stayed there backing up photos and blogging until being kicked out at the shop’s closure at 9pm.

As planned, I returned to the airplane wreck parking for the night. No other cars, looking good. Plan to get up 4.40am next day to make the one hour walk to the wreck before dawn.