Friday, August 21- Into the Volcano

When I was exploring the Extreme Iceland Web site, I found the link to the Inside the Volcano tour.  I couldn't get it out of my mind- a sure sign I ought to book it.  This one was too extreme for Ron, who was happy to hang in the hotel and watch reports of stock market declines and terrorist attacks and murders on the BBC back in our hotel room. 

Thriningur is the only known volcano in the world with an empty magma chamber.  No one knows how this happened, but the prevailing theory is that a crack opened up near the bottom of the magma chamber and the magma that had not yet melted drained away rather than solidifying into a hill.  This left a “shell” with varieties of magma from various eruptions (the most recent being 4,500 years ago). 

Our destination is the one on the right.

 

First, we hiked to the base camp which was an experience in itself- two miles over lava fields that had been covered over with green moss and a surprising variety of tiny flowers that sprang up from the volcanic ash and moss. 

 

Even better, since Iceland is also the only place where the rift between two tectonic plates (in this case, the North American and Eurasian) is on land, we were able to stand on a small bridge spanning the two plates.  The guide told us that previously you could stand over it without a bridge, but the gap had grown by so much over 4 years (because the plates are drifting away from each other) that they built the bridge.

 

At the base camp we met more guides and their pet fox kit, Naesti (Icelandic for “Sparky”).  They adopted him when he was orphaned but said that eventually he’d go on longer and longer trips into the wild and probably disappear in the winter as he went south in search of food.  We also learned that we were in good company:  previous people taking this tour included Charlie Sheen (who was accompanied by women in 6-inch heels and had to be stopped from using cocaine on the premises), Bill Gates (who was grumpy about some mess-up in his schedule and whose protectors had required a background of everyone working there) and Tom Cruise.  All had arrived by helicopter.  They missed a good hike.

We descended into the volcano via an hydraulic lift designed for window-washers.  It accommodated only 6 people at a time, plus the guide. 

 

Ready to descend.  Note the safety belt at my waist.  They don't take any chances.

Going Down!

It allowed a very peaceful exploration of the chamber.  The most interesting rock formations were well-lit.  Different colors were an indication of minerals in the rocks brought to the surface by intense volcano heat:  yellow sulfur, blue or green copper, and reddish iron.  Gentle drops of water kept drifting down; the guide said that it was groundwater percolating through the surface of the volcano and it would end up in an aquifer beneath the volcano.  Iceland uses up only about 2% of the fresh water generated every year.  I told her not to worry- they’d find a way to pump it out to California.

The size, content and textures of the rocks varied because they were from different eruptions.  Temperature and mineral content both affect the lava.

 

Back at the hut we were served lamb stew by the guides and had a chance to play with Naesti.