A very small subset of us decided to try to hike to Hengifoss today. (Foss … waterfall!) Tripadvisor reviews say things like “Beautiful but hard” and “no pain, no gain.”

Maybe a third of the way up, you get to Litlanesfoss, which is nice enough to be a good stopping point if the little legs (or any of the legs) in your group have had enough walking uphill:

But we trekked on. Given how warm it has been, there has been lots of melting snow and ice, and the water was actually starting to lap up over this bridge:

On we walked, taking breaks once in a while, and adding a rock or two to some of the many cairns along the way.

After one river crossing that was deep enough to get our socks wet above our hiking boots, we arrived at Hengifoss!

There were some interesting chunks of ice in or near the river below the falls:

And a pipe with a guestbook and a stamp (and even some food left by a generous hiker … I wonder if anyone will actually take it?) Can you spot the pipe below?

Note that it’s probaby 10-15 degrees cooler by the falls vs. in the surrounding area. It was downright cold up close to the water!

This hike was hard, but I think it was a lot easier because we knew to expect a hard hike. Oh, and Google Maps doesn’t know where the parking lot is. If you cross a bridge over the lake, and you’re 1 minute away, turn left, not right.

In the afternoon, we headed to the local city swimming pool. Admission for one adult and 2 children cost just under $10- a great deal for 2 hours of entertainment. I didn’t take any pictures, because that seems weird, but here’s the picture from their web site:

Towns take great pride in their pools, and there are always lots of different pool options at lots of different temperatures. Does 36 Celsius sound good? Head to the children’s pool (which anyone can use). 38? try the cooler hot pot. 40? The warmer hot pot is for you. 4? Try the ice bath. Seriously!

We are heading out of east Iceland tomorrow toward Akureyri in the north. A couple of random (and out of focus) thoughts about this area.

First, for the first time, we had some GPS issues with Google Maps. The GPS tracking spent a fair bit of time thinking we were just to the left of the actual road:

It made it so we missed a couple of turns, but it really just meant we had to pay a little more attention.

Second, there are a LOT of one lane bridges in the south and the east. Watch out for this sign, slow down, and make sure you yield if a car coming the other way gets there first!

Thanks for looking at our live updates. For help with planning your Iceland vacation, check out our main page: www.icelandwithkids.com. Thanks for reading!