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Geocaching in Iceland.


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I just got back from a 11 day trip to Iceland. I loved it, and will likely go again.

 

We rented a motorhome, we were able to tour around, while keeping our accommodations costs down. We drove around the ring road (highway 1), took detours around the Skagatáarviti and Snæfellsjökull peninsulas, then spent a day at the Blue Lagoon, then finally drove around the "Golden Circle".

 

This wasn't a geocaching trip, but I did find 12 while there.

 

Here is a pic of me at one of the hundreds of waterfalls we saw. Actually, there are so many waterfalls in Iceland, we were getting board of them; but then we went to Gullfoss waterfall (the far NE of the 'Golden Circle), and that falls is truly spectacular.

1bc29fb3-9cdf-4c2a-bcc1-cf38f6c24ceb.jpg

Edited by Andronicus
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Awesome, thanks!

Once my itinerary is finalized, I'll post it - perhaps it'll be of use to anyone considering a short geocaching trip :)

I've been collecting recommendations, and trying to narrow down high desirable sites, and considering driving routes. Definitely will be renting a 4WD. I'm hoping to make the trip inland to the oldest cache GC7AD7 at some point too. There are so many highly recommended locations, I think the toughest part of the trip will be narrowing selections down to a reasonable set, with buffer to just relax and enjoy it all :). The list is currently at 76, reduced initially down to 49. Definitely another filtering will be needed! heh

 

Here's another question - in looking up camper vans and accomodation options that aren't in hotels/hostels and whatnot, there was a site saying that you can 'camp' at any public location, as long as you're safely out the way and it's not private property. Is that possible? For example, hypothetically any night if without a building to sleep in would it be feasible to find a parking location and crash for the night there, or are there laws or bylaws to watch out for?

Edited by thebruce0
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Yes the dotted line mid-land was just highlighting best routes across mainland - either through the center if possible for the oldest cache, or up NW on the 1 to get to the North region.

I've been looking at Nov/Dec photos & logs where available for most iffy caches just to see what weather has been like in the past in their vicinities. I'll make sure to bookmark road.is though too for road condition updates!

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Here's another request for opinion: I do a lot of biking, so - is the weather generally sufficient for say renting a mountain bike for some of the longer cache hikes (for example Sólheimasandur plane wreck)? Or is the terrain (especially late Nov) rough enough to make it not really worthwhile? (this wouldn't apply obviously to some of the more rocky/hill-climby trails, just primarily the longer flat/rough terrain with at least somewhat defined trails)

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Here's another request for opinion: I do a lot of biking, so - is the weather generally sufficient for say renting a mountain bike for some of the longer cache hikes (for example Sólheimasandur plane wreck)? Or is the terrain (especially late Nov) rough enough to make it not really worthwhile? (this wouldn't apply obviously to some of the more rocky/hill-climby trails, just primarily the longer flat/rough terrain with at least somewhat defined trails)

I have a friend there -- I'll ask.

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That depends on where he's going. I don't know much about (cycling), but Iceland is tough enough just to drive around - cycling is a heck of a challenge. I would suggest he go online and find as much as possible about the roads here. The roads in the countryside can be awful.

 

This might help: https://www.extremeiceland.is/en/activity-tours-iceland/biking-tours

 

He's going to need a top notch bicycle, and warm gear.

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That said, the 1 ring is in good shape, so I would not worry about that road. But the sandurs in Iceland are basically the same thing: large swaths of gravel and sand that were deposited when a volcano went off under a glacier. When the glacier lifted, all of the sand and rock that glaciers collect underneath essentially sandblasted the area between the glacier and the coast. It might be similar to riding a bike in a gravel parking lot at times.

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I didn't mean biking around the island overal - I meant renting one to use for stints from parking to cache where there is a decent defined trail. The one I found that rents bikes, not just providing tours, is http://icelandbike.com/bicyclerental_reykjavik.html and recommends the 4300 for non-asphalt. The question was more like what weather may be like generally speaking; if it's a feasible option for someone who does enjoy offroad biking :)

It's just an idea at this point as 4 day rental would be another ~$240ish. Unlikely to happen, but a good curiosity!

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Awesome, thanks!

Once my itinerary is finalized, I'll post it - perhaps it'll be of use to anyone considering a short geocaching trip :)

I've been collecting recommendations, and trying to narrow down high desirable sites, and considering driving routes. Definitely will be renting a 4WD. I'm hoping to make the trip inland to the oldest cache GC7AD7 at some point too. There are so many highly recommended locations, I think the toughest part of the trip will be narrowing selections down to a reasonable set, with buffer to just relax and enjoy it all :). The list is currently at 76, reduced initially down to 49. Definitely another filtering will be needed! heh

 

Here's another question - in looking up camper vans and accomodation options that aren't in hotels/hostels and whatnot, there was a site saying that you can 'camp' at any public location, as long as you're safely out the way and it's not private property. Is that possible? For example, hypothetically any night if without a building to sleep in would it be feasible to find a parking location and crash for the night there, or are there laws or bylaws to watch out for?

I guess I missed this when it was first here. Indeed, you can park for the night almost anywhere. There are locations that specifically say "No Camping", but there are a lot of great spots you can pull over.

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I didn't mean biking around the island overal - I meant renting one to use for stints from parking to cache where there is a decent defined trail. The one I found that rents bikes, not just providing tours, is http://icelandbike.com/bicyclerental_reykjavik.html and recommends the 4300 for non-asphalt. The question was more like what weather may be like generally speaking; if it's a feasible option for someone who does enjoy offroad biking :)

It's just an idea at this point as 4 day rental would be another ~$240ish. Unlikely to happen, but a good curiosity!

It depends... Some trails would be fine. Some are very rugged, and your bike will take an absolute pounding.

 

We brought our bikes with us on the plane. (less than $300 CND) We didn't use them as much as we hoped. Turns our we were able to drive the motor home almost everywhere we wanted to go. On some of the bad roads, it was slow going, but still faster than biking.

Edited by Andronicus
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Something I didn't mention.... MAPS!!!

 

1st, they have very good cell phone coverage around the ring road and the golden circle. While there are desolate spots with no coverage, I was quite surprised at how good it was.

 

2nd, because we rented our motor home in the off season, we had free wifi. There was a little box that got internet from the cell network, and so we always had wifi date for our phones when near the motor home. I actually had my phone in airplane mode the entire time I was in Iceland. This saved be about $120

 

3rd, I got an app on my phone called wikiloc . This app is great for finding hiking/biking routes. But also, it will download maps. I was able to download a map of the entire island. Then, my geocaching apps were able to use that map. (cachesence, neongeo, c:geo etc). So when I was away from the motorhome's wifi, I was able to still have good maps.

 

On a different topic, I see you are planning to go to Jökulsárlón. That is a great stop. We spent quite a bit of time watching the icebergs and the currents in the ocean channel. It is an amazing place... I found the geocache Die Another Day - IFL GeoTrail #3. I would recomend, if you want to get up closer to the glaciaer, to also find Batman Begins - IFL GeoTrail #2. We camped at the parking area near this cache. Super great spot.

 

Also, hot springs. I was planning to try to go to a hot spring every evening. They are everywhere. Check out this website

http://hotpoticeland.com/

Unfortunatly, the guys I was with were a little squeamish of the non-commercial locations, so we only went to one, Seljavellir.

Edited by Andronicus
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Awesome input, thanks andronicus.

I do have both ILF GeoTrail caches on the list :)

At this point I'm narrowing the list down to the most significant goals. There is just so much on the island to do and see, that 4 days isn't nearly enough time to get even agood sense of everything. So I'm toying with primary goal being to drive around the entire island, with at least one stop of each of the unique things to do/see. And with less than 6 hours of daylight, most stops will likely be dawn/dusk/night, so timing the itinerary for light/darkness is also essential :)

 

I have stored a number of maps, from cell coverage to references for road qualities and weather. I'm working to have backup itineraries if for whatever reason a route gets closed off or too risky or slow to pass through (unlikely on road 1, but always better to be overprepared :))

 

I'm with Rogers for mobile, and their main plan "Share Everything" includes $5/day roaming to continue using your local plan in a number of other countries, and it includes Iceland, which is awesome as I have a 6GB data plan :)

 

Right now I'm working on an itinerary that focuses on those top priority locations, estimated drive time (google) between each, and estimated time of day; also listing caches in between with whatever additional transit time (whether side road driving or distance hiking), to determine which may yet be feasible. And I've had recommendation to greatly buffer google drive estimates as they been found to be on the low end of accurate.

 

This is my current rough guide/route map:

 

TargetItinerary-rough2.jpg

Edited by thebruce0
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4 days isn't a lot... You will have to do a lot of driving each day... Did you say you are renting a jeep (or similar 4x4)? That is good if you are planning to do that much driving that fast. Even highway 1 has a stretch of unpaved road

 

There is a shortcut on the east side of the island that you should consider (highway 939), it cuts that big lobe off and has some great views.

 

I did the drive cutting across the bottom of the Western Fjords and onto the Snæfellsnes peninsula. There was construction and bad roads along highway 59 (but your 4x4 should be fine). Also highway 54 along the NE edge of the Snæfellsnes peninsula has quite poor roads between highway 56 and highway 60. These roads were tough in a motorhome.

 

PS, if you want to find a cache North of 66°, based on your route, I would suggest Mulaey, or there are a bunch near Siglufjörður.

 

Other random tips:

 

If you want some rum or other spirits, buy it at the airport duty free. You can't get it anywhere else. Infact beer and wine, while available, are kind of difficult to buy.

 

Use your credit card whenever you can (almost anywhere). And if they give you an option, choose to pay in ISK. They will charge a fee in addition to the exchange if you pick to pay in Canadian $. Your Credit Card is likely to give you the best exchange rate anyway.

 

Take some ISK money (I would suggest 6,000kr) there are a few things that it is easier to use cache.

 

Use public toilets whenever you see them. You don't know how long it will be before you see another. You don't want to be the poor sap dropping a deuce on the side of the road.

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I'll be going to Iceland in a little less than two weeks and was planning to bring my Garmin eTrex 20 with me to avoid having to worry about using my phone for navigation (and, of course, caching).  I found this map on line (https://www.gpstravelmaps.com/gps-maps/europe/iceland.php), but was wondering if there were any good free ones I could download instead that would work well for both driving and caching.  $30 isn't honestly too bad for the whole country, but I thought I'd find out if something roughly equal could be had for less...

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48 minutes ago, J Grouchy said:

I'll be going to Iceland in a little less than two weeks and was planning to bring my Garmin eTrex 20 with me to avoid having to worry about using my phone for navigation (and, of course, caching).  I found this map on line (https://www.gpstravelmaps.com/gps-maps/europe/iceland.php), but was wondering if there were any good free ones I could download instead that would work well for both driving and caching.  $30 isn't honestly too bad for the whole country, but I thought I'd find out if something roughly equal could be had for less...

 

I use the OSM maps from here, http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/.  Not used for turn by turn driving instructions though.  And I haven’t had the chance to visit Iceland, so not sure how ‘complete’ the maps are...

Edited by IceColdUK
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28 minutes ago, IceColdUK said:

I use the OSM maps from here, http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/.  Not used for turn by turn driving instructions though.

I also use these when abroad and up until a few years ago I used them for turn-by-turn car navigation in my Etrex30 in a few Mediterranean countries and it worked fine.

 

edit to add:

Why not download a map of your local area from the above, and use it as a Sat-Nav at home to see how you like it?

As for coverage, have a look at Iceland on  www.openstreetmap.org to get a feel, this will be what's delivered to you from the above link.

 

Edited by MartyBartfast
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11 minutes ago, MartyBartfast said:

I also use these when abroad and up until a few years ago I used them for turn-by-turn car navigation in my Etrex30 in a few Mediterranean countries and it worked fine.

 

edit to add:

Why not download a map of your local area from the above, and use it as a Sat-Nav at home to see how you like it?

As for coverage, have a look at Iceland on  www.openstreetmap.org to get a feel, this will be what's delivered to you from the above link.

 

 

Looks good to me!  We have T-Mobile for service and I'm told coverage is pretty good.  We don't plan on any potentially treacherous off-the-main-road excursions requiring a 4x4, but I do want to have a map handy in the event we lose service and/or I don't have adequate battery.  This isn't a caching trip, but I do plan to grab several while we are there, so I want to make sure I have some measure of reliable navigation to those caches!

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I'll second (third?) the OSM maps.  A couple of years ago when we were in Iceland they worked great on our 64s's (geocaching) & Nuvi (navigation).  I've used them in the UK/Ireland (same trip) and China (although the script for street names didn't match the street signs, making it 'fun' to verify where we were) and, last year in Isreal & Jordan.  But with all things map related - trust but verify!  A few years ago we got lost in the mountains of NW Utah with mapped roads that didn't exist (or any hint they ever existed) and roads not on the map.

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2 hours ago, J Grouchy said:

 

Looks good to me!  We have T-Mobile for service and I'm told coverage is pretty good.  We don't plan on any potentially treacherous off-the-main-road excursions requiring a 4x4, but I do want to have a map handy in the event we lose service and/or I don't have adequate battery.  This isn't a caching trip, but I do plan to grab several while we are there, so I want to make sure I have some measure of reliable navigation to those caches!

 

There are, or at least were, a couple of caches right outside the airport.    If you like Earthcaches it can be somewhat of a mecca.   I used the open street maps for Garmin when I was there but it was mostly to follow along where I was in between Keflavik (where the main airport is located) and Reykjavik but I also used it to walk a fair distance at night in Reykjavik.   I didn't spend much time "outdoors" while I was there but it was enough to convince me that I ought to go back some day and explore more of the island.  

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27 minutes ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

 

There are, or at least were, a couple of caches right outside the airport.    If you like Earthcaches it can be somewhat of a mecca.   I used the open street maps for Garmin when I was there but it was mostly to follow along where I was in between Keflavik (where the main airport is located) and Reykjavik but I also used it to walk a fair distance at night in Reykjavik.   I didn't spend much time "outdoors" while I was there but it was enough to convince me that I ought to go back some day and explore more of the island.  

 

Well, I'm not really a fan of homework...errr...Earthcaches, but if I'm there and I have the time and inclination I will go for it.  If it involves a lot of research or if I have to translate it, though, I generally ignore it.  

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38 minutes ago, J Grouchy said:

Well, I'm not really a fan of homework...errr...Earthcaches, but if I'm there and I have the time and inclination I will go for it.  If it involves a lot of research or if I have to translate it, though, I generally ignore it.  

 

They're worth visiting just for the sites - many if not most of them - whether you want the EC find or not :P

I used the listings in Iceland to plan my itinerary. Not a tourist service. And this I think gave a much better solo exploration experience than otherwise. Phenomenal.

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20 minutes ago, thebruce0 said:

 

They're worth visiting just for the sites - many if not most of them - whether you want the EC find or not :P

I used the listings in Iceland to plan my itinerary. Not a tourist service. And this I think gave a much better solo exploration experience than otherwise. Phenomenal.

 

Yeah, that's why I kept ECs in my pocket query.  I figure I'll scan them when I'm there, have a notebook on hand...and if I can answer whatever questions or take photos that will help answer them, I will log them.  Otherwise, they are more just POIs for us to use on our day trips.

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I'll second, third, fourth, fifth, whatever, the openstreetmap.nl site.  I used it for my recent journey that took in a bunch of countries including Iceland.

 

@J Grouchy I will add also that while I do enjoy ECs, I found I didn't need to do any pre-reading or anything particularly arduous from a homework point of view for any of the numerous ECs in Iceland.  I might have ignored one or two, but I did a bunch of them while I was there, all at really interesting spots, most of which I would have gone to anyway for the sights, and a couple of which I'm super glad the ECs took me there.

 

I do tend to travel around in a bit more of an ad-hoc way though, so I made sure I had all of Iceland loaded to my GPS (maps and caches), in case I ended up anywhere...

 

Iceland: A+ Highly recommended. :)   The scenery tries a little too hard in some places - I found myself coming around some corners on the southern coast road and saying to myself "It's ok Iceland, you can calm it down a bit, you don't have to be awesome *everywhere*!"

 

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2 hours ago, funkymunkyzone said:

Iceland: A+ Highly recommended. :)   The scenery tries a little too hard in some places - I found myself coming around some corners on the southern coast road and saying to myself "It's ok Iceland, you can calm it down a bit, you don't have to be awesome *everywhere*!"

 

If you like waterfalls, this is the place to see them!  Here are a few favorites of ours that have caches (of one sort or another):

GC4D1EC Brúarárfoss - A unique shaped falls, the cache was archived but should help find this hidden gem on the way to Gullfoss.
GCZCNE  Gullfoss (Golden Falls)  - Not to be missed, join a few hundred of your friends while viewing.
GC3KA40 Glymur - One of the tallest with a bit of a hike to get to.  Cool cave you pass thru on the trail.
GC3VFFX Hraunfossar-Lava Falls/Barnafoss-Children´s Falls - A whole bunch of falls along the wall of the canyon.

If you keep you eyes open you'll find many others along the way.

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I only use the OSM maps now, even for day to day.

 

Dress warm, bring layers, including a windproof shell.  It was in the 50s when I was there in September.  It'll be colder in October.  The latitude means the sun will never get past a certain level on the horizon, like the morning sun in Atlanta, so a baseball cap might help keep the sun out of your eyes while driving.  And the almost complete lack of trees/forests means that often there's nothing between you and the winds coming off the glaciers, so it'll get breezy.

 

Gas is expensive.  Well, many things are - unless it's homegrown, everything is an import.  That said, renting a car is key, especially since you'll be there in the off season.

 

The first time I went in 2000, I had four days; I stuck to the southern ring road, got out as far as Skaftafell, did some hiking, and then turned around and doubled back to Thingvellir before heading out.  I regretted never getting to Jokulsarlon, the iceberg lagoon, that first trip. 

 

When Kelly and I went back for a week in 2009, Jokulsarlon was a must do, and it was great.  We also had fun just soaking in the Blue Lagoon and seeing Gullfoss and Geysir.  This meant we didn't spend as much time at Thingvellir as I had the first visit, but there is a reason most tours go to Gullfoss and Geysir - they are really cool, as well as convenient to Reykjavik.

 

The one thing I did during the second visit that I'd skip was driving to Snaefellsness.  The peninsula was cool, but the drive out was pretty long and uneventful, as was the drive back.  I feel like this was a day that could have been better spent.

 

Waterfalls are beautiful.  Other than Gullfoss, I recommend Seljalandsfoss (right off the ring road, you can walk behind it), Skogafoss (also right off the ring roadhome of many a car commercial, it's very dramatic), and Svartifoss in Skaftafell National Park (awesome basalt columns create a natural amphitheater/cathedral).  In Kirkjubaejarklaustur there is another cool falls on the north edge of town, Stjórnarfoss, which is also just a cool spot.

 

I'd post photos but can't browse through my photo site at work, so if you see anything on cldphoto.com you'd like to visit and have questions about where it is, PM/email me.

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10 hours ago, funkymunkyzone said:

Iceland: A+ Highly recommended. :)   The scenery tries a little too hard in some places - I found myself coming around some corners on the southern coast road and saying to myself "It's ok Iceland, you can calm it down a bit, you don't have to be awesome *everywhere*!"

 

So true!  As I wrote about in my extensive writeup of my trip, it was non-stop sight seeing. Half the trip was planned - and only doing some of the basic essentials of the typical tourist route around the Golden Circle. ECs took me places that were not swarming with foreign tourists, and just as - if not more - amazing to behold.

The other half of the trip was not planned because one day's trip threw my schedule off. That's when I just spontaneously targeted sites most back along the same route (and scored an FTF in the process during a snowstorm, and enjoyed a birthday dip in a remote hot pot in the very early hours of the pitch black morning)

That also led me to find an old lonely cache not listed on gc.com but the dead navicache website, and fix it up a bit. And gather info to publish another Earthcache at a 100% unplanned geological stop which was super fascinating.

 

The hitch in the schedule meant I missed the far half of island though; so my next trip, whenever that will be, I hope to make in the summer to enjoy the north and east parts of the ring road, and catch the midnight sun at the northernmost point of Iceland.

 

Oh man, so much to do there... I miss it so. /:)

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We have a rough timeline planned.  Not a strict schedule (aside from a boat thing scheduled at Jokulsarlon and a couple hours at Blue Lagoon on our last day).  We'll probably do our first day (afternoon, really) just checking out Reykjavik, but the rest of the week will be wandering the southern half of the island (Golden Circle and Ring Road out to the glaciers).  We have a place booked out near Vik for one night so we won't have to drive the whole way out east on our glacier day.  I know our daylight will be short, but we intend on making good use of it.  At first we'd thought about visiting a place like Prague or Amsterdam, but decided we'd rather not spend too much time in a city and this might be our best opportunity in the foreseeable future to visit Iceland.  

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On 9/28/2018 at 1:33 AM, thebruce0 said:

 

So true!  As I wrote about in my extensive writeup of my trip, it was non-stop sight seeing. Half the trip was planned - and only doing some of the basic essentials of the typical tourist route around the Golden Circle. ECs took me places that were not swarming with foreign tourists, and just as - if not more - amazing to behold.

The other half of the trip was not planned because one day's trip threw my schedule off. That's when I just spontaneously targeted sites most back along the same route (and scored an FTF in the process during a snowstorm, and enjoyed a birthday dip in a remote hot pot in the very early hours of the pitch black morning)

That also led me to find an old lonely cache not listed on gc.com but the dead navicache website, and fix it up a bit. And gather info to publish another Earthcache at a 100% unplanned geological stop which was super fascinating.

 

The hitch in the schedule meant I missed the far half of island though; so my next trip, whenever that will be, I hope to make in the summer to enjoy the north and east parts of the ring road, and catch the midnight sun at the northernmost point of Iceland.

 

Oh man, so much to do there... I miss it so. /:)

 

Slightly off topic, but you need to visit Svalbard! ;)

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4 hours ago, thebruce0 said:

Who's in the southern-most region of the country :santa:

 

Aren't *most* Canadians scrunched up against the U.S./Canadian border.  You just happen to be further south than most.

 

Using Google Street View in Svalbard is interesting.  It's quite desolate and looks very cold.  Much of GSV is from boats.

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1 hour ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

Using Google Street View in Svalbard is interesting.  It's quite desolate and looks very cold.  Much of GSV is from boats.

 

Svalbard is great! From recent documentaries it looks a lot busier than when we were there (2004) when there were about 1700 inhabitants. There was 1 hotel and two "pensions" and a choice of 2 restaurants. It's only a short 2 hour flight from Tromsø (Norway). It can be chilly even in July, we had to push the ice away to get out of the small harbour with our Zodiacs.

As with Iceland (we were there in 2001) tourism is booming so it's getting a lot less "desolate" (which is too bad).

 

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22 minutes ago, on4bam said:

 

Svalbard is great! From recent documentaries it looks a lot busier than when we were there (2004) when there were about 1700 inhabitants. There was 1 hotel and two "pensions" and a choice of 2 restaurants. It's only a short 2 hour flight from Tromsø (Norway). It can be chilly even in July, we had to push the ice away to get out of the small harbour with our Zodiacs.

As with Iceland (we were there in 2001) tourism is booming so it's getting a lot less "desolate" (which is too bad).

 

 

It's still a beautifully desolate place if you get away from Longyearbyen.  In fact, even just a few minutes drive out of town (erm, to the end of the road) it's pretty desolate.  I absolutely loved it.

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4 hours ago, funkymunkyzone said:
11 hours ago, thebruce0 said:

Who's in the southern-most region of the country :santa:

Isn't all of Canada covered by a giant glacier?  Felt like it when I was there a few years back in minus 40 lol

Stop it, you're making me shiver already. It's not even thanksgiving yet (and it's sooner than in the US :P )

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2 hours ago, J Grouchy said:

Well now that I'm home again...I'm ready to go back!

My wallet, however, is asking me for a break.

 

I'll add that I never even needed to use my GPSr device.  My phone was enough...even at very slow (2G) speeds.  I'd downloaded the necessary info and just sent in my logs when I had access to free wifi, which was pretty much everywhere we stopped where there was a building nearby.  Restaurants, stores, museums, hotels...

I only ended up logging 11 caches, including a couple virtuals and an earthcache.  I barely managed to drop the 9 trackables I'd brought.  I had to put 4 in one cache and 3 in another, and one in each of two others.  It was such an awesome place to visit, honestly...caching was not a high priority.  I never really went out of my way for one.  Only looked when we were near enough to make the slight detour.  The only one I wish I'd detoured further for was at Skaftafell park.  We were in a time crunch to reach Jokulsarlon for one of our only two scheduled activities and couldn't detour down to the creekside where the cache was hidden.  Ah well...any excuse to go back!

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58 minutes ago, thebruce0 said:

Awesome. Yeah I got to Skaftafelll but had to turn back there for time and didn't make it to Jokulsarlon or Vik.  Did you do the hike to the abandoned DC plane on the black sand beach at Sólheimasandur ? :)

 

No.  Everything I heard (from Rick Steve's book to a neighbor that traveled there a couple years ago) told me it totally was not worth the time.  It's a four or five mile round trip (walking, mind you) through a flat wasteland to an abandoned plane.  When we drove by, the parking area was packed with dozens of cars and at least two tour buses, so we wouldn't have even been able to get a decent photo without tons of people in it.  

 

Vik is a cool little town.  We ate dinner there twice.  Once on the night we arrived at our place about 30 minutes away and another time on the drive back from the lagoon to Reykjavik (ugh...five hour drive).  That's one thing we would have done differently: finding a place to stay near Vik that night would have been ideal.   In a way it's good we got back that night, though.  It was forecasted to be "dangerously windy" on the south coast the next day.

Edited by J Grouchy
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Ick, if the place is packed then yeah. I had a blast with the hike though. Yeah, it's long, but it was pitch black when I went so it was fun to meet & pass the occasional hiker or two who took the trek to the plane, and following the route with only a flashlight and marker posts (most of the way), then spotting the silhouette and exploring the wreckage (and getting the cache) was fun. Especially seeing that looking back you could always see the island and any cars driving along the 1 from so far away... well, to his each own :)  The weather was on my side though, which helped a lot.

Next time I intend to get to Vik.  If I go counter clockwise, I know there'll be a whole bunch I'll be able to skip, hehe. Unless the location is better in summer/daylight.

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