OK Computer

Due to multiple computer problems, I haven’t done a new post on the blog in a while. I’m back now, and I have a bit of a backlog of blog worthy pictures. So here we go with the first post of the backlog. In June, I made a trip to Salt Lake City for a World Cup Qualifier. I decided to take some time off from work and do a little hiking and sightseeing on the way out. On June 16th, I camped in the Medicine Bow –Routt National Forest in Wyoming. The next day (June 17th), I went for a hike in the Snowy Range. The range was well named since there was still a good bit of snow. I did a loop trail that took me around to the backside of the range and then up Medicine Bow Peak. (12,013 ft.)

Near the start.  Schoolhouse Rock on the left.

View to the southwest

Trail on the backside

From the top of the cliffs.

Flowers

Medicine Bow Peak from the false summit

View from Medicine Bow Peak

Me on Medicine Bow Peak

Lake Marie (the last lake below the cliffs) is where my car is parked.

Browns Peak and lots of lakes

From the top of Medicine Bow Peak, I looped around to the front side of the range and hiked past numerous lakes on the way back to my car. The snow made the hike easy when it was hard, but the snow was not always hard. So by the time I got back to my car, I had a good work out. I also had a lot of beautiful pictures.

Some small lakes and the frozen Lookout Lake

The Snowy Range

Small lake and the Snowy Range

Gap in the range

Lookout Lake

Lookout Lake and Medicine Bow Peak

Lookout Lake

Lookout Lake

Lake Marie.  Medicine Bow Peak (Last Peak)

Into The Fire

The fire season has been rough in Colorado so far. There are fires all across the state. I happened to be near the Royal Gorge Fire when it was active. Here are some photos I have of the smoke from Skyline Dr just west of Cañon City.

Smoke over Cañon City on June 11th.

Looking towards the fire

Looking south toward the river.  A closed US 50 is below

Looking Northwest - US 50 below

The fire is not far beyond that smoke

Fremont Peak

Smoke on June 11th

The next day (June 12th) - the fire on the north side of the Gorge was smoldering.  The winds had shifted and the more dangerous fire was on the south side of the gorge at that point.

Sunset on June 12

Post

This is my 14th post for my trip to Scotland and Iceland. So if you haven’t been to the blog in a while and want to read about this adventure in chronological order, I suggest clicking on the May 2013 archive on the right, start at the post called “The Crossing”, and go up.

Tuesday, May the 14th, was the day I went back home. Scotland and Iceland were an amazing experience. It was good to be out of boring old Colorado and see something new;) Fortunately, I had some time to kill before my flight. So I went on another drive. I went back to Þingvellir National Park. I made a stop at Almannagjá in the park. Almannagjá is a part of the rift valley where tectonic plates move apart.

Þingvallavatn (The largest natural lake in Iceland) Þingvellir National Park

Þingvellir National Park

Almannagjá - Þingvellir National Park

Almannagjá - Þingvellir National Park

Almannagjá - Þingvellir National Park

Þingvellir

From Þingvellir National Park, I headed south through Selfoss to the coast. Once at the coast, I followed it almost all the way to the airport. It was one lava field after another pretty much all the way.

Me just north of Selfoss

On a strip of land separating the Ölfusá River from the Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean on the other side of the road.

Lighthouse at Þorlákshöfn

Lava rock

Lava field along the coast

The flight back was long and uneventful. I watched a couple of movies, read, and looked out the window. It was cloudy over Greenland, but northern Canada was interesting with all of the ice and snow.

Canada, eh!

Zoom view

Hudson Bay?

After 14 posts, that is it for Scotland and Iceland trip. Would I go back again? Sure. Will I? Who knows…

In The Evening

The daylight hours in Iceland are quite long in May. The Sun stays low on horizon for quite a while in the evening. This makes for wonderful photography opportunities. I started the evening of May the 13th, by driving to the town of Vik. I needed gas, and Vik seemed like it would make a good turn around point. On the way back to my hotel I made a bunch of stops to take photos. One of my stops was going to be at the peninsula called Dyrhólaey. It has a lighthouse. The coast also has great rock formations including an arch. Unfortunately, I was able to drive all the way to the point. The area had closed at 7PM. From what I could see it looked cooled. I’ll have to come back on my next trip to Iceland. My partial drive out to Dyrhólaey did give me a good view of Katla. Katla is a volcano that is due to erupt and cause problems like Eyjafjallajökull did in 2010.

Katla

Sólheimajökull Glacier

Hwy 1, my ride, and the volcano Eyjafjallajökull

I had stopped at a viewpoint for Eyjafjallajökull in the afternoon. The lighting was more interesting on trip back. So I stopped again.

Eyjafjallajökull

I had spotted the Westman Islands the day before from the plane. I had also picked out the islands earlier in the day. There are some iconic photos and video taken of a volcano erupting on the island of Heimaey during the 70’s. I found a road that was newer than my map going to a harbor called Landeyjahöfn. The harbor was built in 2010. It looked like a good opportunity to check out the coast. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to take a ferry to the Westman Islands. Maybe next time. The pictures I got along the coast next to the harbor were pretty though.

Waves

The coast

Westman Islands

Black Sand Beach

Westman Islands

The Coast

Westman Islands from Hwy 1

After my stop on the coast, I drove for a little while. When the Sun was finally setting, I had to find a good place to stop. I found a paved road that led me off the highway. It took me to Hellisheiði Power Station which is the largest geothermal power station in the world. The view of what was left of the sunset was outstanding. It was after 10:30 PM at this point. I had the place to myself.

Steam from Hellisheiði Power Station

The Sun is behind the clouds and/or mountains

Snow and my rental car

Sunset

Another Photo

View to the southeast

Part of Hellisheiði Power Station

Along Highway 1 around 11PM

All good things must come to an end. I’ll wrap up my trip in the next post.