Day 113-hiking Brekkuá and Rauðbrók

   April 26-The longwave upper atmospheric wind pattern that has led to the extended stretch of clear skies and cool temperatures is slowly evolving and pushing westward, leading to cloudier skies.  However, precipitation has held off thus far, so I decided to go on a small hike after teaching English at Hraunborg and having dinner with Sally.  The hike up the Brekkuá river with the gönguklúbbur the previous week had piqued my interest in this area, so I headed that way.  As I walked up the river, I noted that a path went into the crater of Rauðbrók, which is the westernmost of the three cinder cones on the north side of campus.  The center of the crater is a wonderland of small lava tubes and moss-carpeted lava.  Unfortunately, while wandering around in Rauðbrók, I blew out my hiking boot.  I have had these boots for 22 years, so I suppose this was bound to happen at some point, but they are my favorite, you know........

Grábrók, the largest and most famous of the cinder cones. "Grá" means gray.

Rauðbrók. "Rauð" means red.



Short lava tube, about two feet in diameter. 



Lava tubes form when lava hardens around a lava flow.  If all of the lava drains out, a hollow tube remains.  Lava on the ceiling may harden as it starts to drip down, forming these dropsteinn (stone drops).



Part of the Brekkuá flowing into ground.

    I continued back to the Brekkuá and followed it downstream into the lava that flowed out of Rauðbrók a few thousand years ago.  I had hoped to find the place that the river dives underground to flow under the Bifröst campus.  I only found one spot where the water demonstrably flows into the ground.  Otherwise, the river just shrinks in size over the course of a few hundred yards, until there is no river left!  All along the route, I kept running into small lava tubes, so it might be that the river slowly seeps through gravel on the river bed and into individual lava tubes until all the water is gone.  In any event, it was a fun little adventure.  There is something along the Brekkuá for anyone: hiking trails, pools for wading, and nice picnicking spots as well.  It will be a nice place to take the rest of the family when the weather warms up.

   The clouds finally brought precipitation this evening when we got a few short snow squalls.
While we have enjoyed and taken advantage of the dry weather these past couple of weeks, this is the kind of weather that seems to make more sense over here based on our short experience.  So, there was something comforting about the return of snow.