Skeioararjokull

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Backpacking Iceland
Icelandia historic map
Pages
Planning
Route and Waypoints
Gear
Photography
Geysir and Gullfoss
Hike towards Hekla
Hekla
Landmannalauger and the Hike to it
Kirkjubæjarklaustur
Sioa and Brunahraun
Skeidararsandur
Skeioararjokull
Skaftafell
Oraefi
Jokulsarlon
South-Western Shore
Hofn
Reykjavik
Flowers

Skeioararjokull a piece of Europe's largest glacier, Vatnajokull. We hiked up the tip of it and crossed the section. The glacier, Vatnajokull, lies on top of an active volcano. In 1996 the volcano erupted causing the glacier to partially melt. The water lifted the entire glacier and flooded the entire 50km, Skeidararsandur Area. The flood waters were so strong that it was rolling pieces of the glacier the size of a house into the ocean. If we had been there at that time we would certainly be dead. We spent most of the day on top of the glacier. Glaciers in Iceland are silver-gray due to volcanic ash embedded in the ice, and looks like a moonscape. It sounded like toilets flushing in 360 degrees due to the ice melt flowing through crevasse and tunnels.