After shaking the frost off of our tent early in the morning we drove through mountains and lava fields from Modrudalur to Egilsstadir and set up camp in a secluded grove of trees at the city campground. Despite holding the honor of the largest town in East Iceland the population is just over 2,000 residents, and besides being a good jumping off point for a few of the things we wanted to do in the area there's not much going on. We took a quick lap around town and then headed out to find Hengifoss, the third highest waterfall in Iceland at 128 meters tall.

​There was only one other car in the lot when we arrived, and shortly after we started the 2.5km hike we passed the owners on their way back down. We loved having the trail to ourselves after the massive crowds we encountered in Myvatn, and we stopped often to admire the view as we followed the rather steep trail next to the river. About halfway up we came to Litlanesfoss, a 30 meter high waterfall surrounded by hexagonal basalt columns. The columns are formed by lava as it cools, and always lie at right angles to the cooling surface, meaning the columns can range from completely vertical to nearly horizontal, depending on where the lava was flowing from. At Litlanesfoss the lava filled a stream bed and cooled slowly, and the tallest columns are slightly curved at the top, indicating that the lava was still slightly in motion when they began to form.

With all of our stops it took us about 40 minutes to get to Hengifoss and there was a little rainstorm along the way, but right about the time we got to the end of the trail the sun came out and lit up the top of the falls and made the red clay strata glow. The cliff face shows the cross section of all the different layers in the rock; red sandy clay, black lava layers, sandstone, grey ash and brown soil. It makes for a striking image with the bright white of the water, and gives you a glimpse into the geological history of the area. We stayed for nearly an hour just drinking in the solitude, and just as we started back down the trail another group of people arrived...perfect timing!

The next morning we woke up early to drive out to Husey farm to do some horseback riding. Neither of us are really horse people (Steve had never been on one and I'm super allergic), but horses are a big part of the culture here in Iceland so we decided it would be a good idea to give it a go. Icelandic horses are their own distinct breed, and no horses are allowed to be imported into the country in order to keep the bloodlines pure. Even horses that are exported from Iceland aren't allowed to return. They're much smaller than the horses we're used to seeing, almost pony size, but incredibly hardy with a double coat to withstand the cold and they're incredibly sure footed. Some are bred as work horses, some for riding, and quite a few farms breed them purely for their meat which is consumed in Iceland as well as elsewhere in Europe.

We arrived at the farm at 10 and met our guide at the stable. One of the perks of being completely inexperienced is that we got our own guide, and she had us comfortable in the saddle and trotting in no time. We rode out across the farm, nestled between two rivers, and down to the edge of the larger river where we could hear the ocean waves crashing in the distance. We appreciated being able to go our own way, rather than having to ride nose to butt in a line like most horseback tours in the states. We stopped on the bank of the river for a little while to give the horses a break and a bunch of curious seals swam over to check us out.

We spent about two hours out on the horses enjoying the view of snow dusted mountains and having fun bouncing up and down in the saddle before returning to the barn and treating our horses to a few slices of bread (apparently they go nuts for it). We got back on the road just after 12:30, and on our way down the road from the farm we spotted a beautiful white fox on the side of the road who kindly posed for us for several minutes before going about his own business. We drove down the East coast, intending to make our way to the South of Iceland down the most remote section of the ring road. Route 1 cuts straight south from Egilsstadir for a little while before turning to gravel and descending steep switchbacks at a 14% grade and finally veering to the East and hugging the winding coastline. The views were absolutely spectacular and we stopped at a beach covered in billions of minuscule pebbles about 30 minutes outside Hofn to watch the powerful waves battering the shoreline before heading into town to set up camp for the evening at the city campground.

The weather over the weekend was a bit rainy so we spent most of our time just relaxing in the tent  and eating the best fish and chips ever. On Monday the weather started clearing up, so in the afternoon we booked a tour with Seal Swim Kaikoura. They took us out to the seal colonies on a small boat and we snorkeled with the fur seals. A couple of them came quite close, and it was great to see them underwater, they're so much more graceful and agile than on land. We also wanted to swim with the dolphins, but it was so busy in town that they were booked solid, so we figured it would be better to try to do it when we come back on our way to Christchurch in a few months.