{"id":858,"date":"2014-07-16T21:40:22","date_gmt":"2014-07-17T01:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/?p=858"},"modified":"2014-07-17T21:22:42","modified_gmt":"2014-07-18T01:22:42","slug":"gray-is-the-new-black-day-8-alftavatn-to-hraftinnusker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/2014\/07\/16\/gray-is-the-new-black-day-8-alftavatn-to-hraftinnusker\/","title":{"rendered":"Gray is the New Black: Day 8 – \u00c1lftavatn to Hraftinnusker"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Lauren<\/a>

Lauren all bundled up.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Group<\/a>

Group shot in front of the new \u00c1lftavatn hut.<\/p><\/div>\n

Just because we had an hour of somewhat nice weather last night did not mean that the weather got better. This morning it was all gray again. We had a rainy breakfast, stopped for a quick group shot at the hut and then we were on our way. Today’s hike was not particularly long or difficult, but it would bring us up onto the J\u00f6kultungur plateau and we would spend a lot of time in snow and fog.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a>

On our way to J\u00f6kultungur.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Sarah<\/a>

Sarah was sure happy that we ordered nice warm fleece hats before the trip.<\/p><\/div>\n

Soon we reached the steep slope of J\u00f6kultungur and we slowly inched up the mountain. Several hikers on the way down warned us that it would soon turn very muddy – they were right.<\/p>\n

\"D\u00e9j\u00e0<\/a>

D\u00e9j\u00e0 vu: up to J\u00f6kultungur<\/p><\/div>\n

As soon as we reached the geothermal field the trail become very clayey. Heavy wet boots got even heavier, the clouds dropped lower, and we hiked through a wonderland of fog, steam, mud and snow.<\/p>\n

\"Hot<\/a>

Hot springs in the mist.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Lia<\/a>

Lia pondering her next steps.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"selfie<\/a>

selfie time!<\/p><\/div>\n

Soon, however we left the mud behind and reached the home stretch: the long snow-covered plain that leads up to the hut at Hraftinnusker. The GPS claimed it was less than three miles, but it could have been forever. The clouds hung low, and visibility was rather poor. We followed old tracks and went from trail marker to trail marker.<\/p>\n

\"rest<\/a>

rest in the clouds<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Hiking<\/a>

Hiking across a snow bridge.<\/p><\/div>\n

Luckily the snow was still deep enough that many of the annoying gullies could be crossed easily. After an hour or so we finally saw the hut sitting on an obsidian hill.<\/p>\n

\"almost<\/a>

almost there<\/p><\/div>\n

We had reservations, but the wardens had bad news for us. The hut was severely overbooked. He expected 70 visitors for about 50 beds. However, we did pretty well: all the students had one big room, and the professors slept out in the hallway.<\/p>\n

\"Our<\/a>

Our room in the hut<\/p><\/div>\n

\"hanging<\/a>

hanging out at Hraftinnusker<\/p><\/div>\n

We shared the remainder of the attic with a bunch of Brits, and considering how many folks were squeezed into one small space, we spent a rather restful night.<\/p>\n

\"good<\/a>

good use for our flag<\/p><\/div>\n

back to day 7<\/a>
\nonward to day 9<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just because we had an hour of somewhat nice weather last night did not mean that the weather got better. This morning it was all gray again. We had a rainy breakfast, stopped for a quick group shot at the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":573,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[43],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/573"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":892,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions\/892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/envs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}