Iceland Day 5: Northern Lights and Northern North

Yay! We did it! We saw the Northern Lights in Iceland! The main reason we went to Iceland in the fall season was to see the northern lights. October is both a great month to see them but also the most rainy/cloudy month of the year for Iceland. So all we could do is hope for one clear night. And we got it!

Night 4 was clear and COLD and around midnight, everyone left the warmth of their campervans to see the northern lights. It was so beautiful. We stayed up to watch the ever-changing beauty of the northern lights until we were both shaking from the cold. We're super happy to cross that off the bucket list! What a wonderful memory to cherish. 

Day Five was a day mainly full of driving. This was okay for us, since we've been doing some long hikes these past four days and our calves were pretty sore. This was closer to arctic climate, so it was more barren tundra-type landscape. It was still pretty, but we were glad to get back to the pretty mountains and fields by that evening.

Along the drive, we took small breaks to see some more beautiful things. There were waterfalls everywhere, so we stopped occasionally to take pictures. Like the above one, which was a lovely waterfall with the snow-capped mountains in the background.

There were other random bits where we pulled over to enjoy the pretty views, like this (above) picture of a mountain range on the other side of the river. Paul was drooling over every wild river-stream because he wanted to go fishing in them all. 

We also stopped at Rjúkandi Waterfalls, which were also very pretty. 

Our final stop was Stuðlagil Canyon. There was an optional hike to the bottom of the canyon, but we were pressed on time today, so we chose to just walk to the viewing point. This was another cool gorge/canyon where there were rapids and waterfalls and cool hexagon stones at the bottom.

The water at the bottom was glacier-blue and greens, and the rock formations were stunning. We really enjoyed looking at all the different rocks at the bottom.

After enjoying this canyon, we continued on the campground. Our campervan beeped at us at one point to tell us that we were low on 'adblue'. We had no idea what that was, so there was a brief frantic internet search to figure out what to do. Sometimes trips in foreign countries have little unknown challenges, which can be stressful, but Paul and I are good at staying calm.

We filled up on adblue and finished the night setting up camp for the night at Hamrar, another beautiful campground.