Our First Glacier Ice Walk

Part of our trip package included a glacier ice walk. Amy, Dolly and I were a little nervous about this as we are not the most “adventurous” of sorts.
We started the day taking a bus ride to a small town where we stopped for lunch and were fitted for crampons. If you don’t know what crampons are, they are rather scary devices that attach to the bottom of your boots so you can easily walk across ice without slipping and falling.
We stopped for a brief break to stretch our legs when we came across a beautiful waterfall on the way to the glacier. (Pictured from left to right: Jon, Dolly, me, and Amy). Unfortunately the weather was not exactly the best – we seemed to have brought some of Seattle’s rainy and wet weather to Iceland with us!

About an hour after the waterfall, our tour bus took a turn down a windy, bumpy, gravel dirt road that led us to the glacier, which happens to be Iceland’s fourth largest glacier. Amy, Dolly and I were expecting a small glacier, something not too intense and big (Jon was just excited at the prospect of hiking a glacier). Clearly, we were not mentally prepared for a glacier of such size and scope.
When we rounded the last corner of the dirt road, we saw a very large, very icy, and very wet glacier.

That’s a pretty big glacier for “beginners.” While we were all prepared for the glacier (think long johns, snow pants & jackets, gloves, hats, scarves, etc), it turned out to be quite the experience! Not only did we get to wear our stylish crampons, but we also got to carry ice piks.