A glacial river flooded the Asbyrgi valley during the last iceage and formed a horshoe shaped depression and canyon. Legend has it that the Norse God Odin was riding his 8-legged horse over this land when one of the horse's hooves touched the ground. Either way this Asbyrgi Canyon was a beautiful area to visit.
This center of the canyon is home to one of Iceland's forests with birch, pine, mountain ash and willow and a quiet, clear pond that reflects the canyon walls. Because in America we have so many forests and trees, we tend to take our woods for granted. In Iceland they have only 1.5% of their land in trees. Therefore forests are a big deal.
The canyon itself, Vesturdalur, is unique in all the world. Its walls are made from a collection of Basalt columns lying in every direction. This has created canyon walls that have straight 90° angles and some of the walls are a mosaic of stone in hexagon, pentagon and septagon shapes.
We had the afternoon free until 5 pm when half of our group went whale watching in the Skyalfandi Bay. We searched for and found humpback whales. One made a big splash but the others were just lazing around, surfacing periodically to show us their flutes (tails). Amazing creatures!
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