Day 6 – Rain Daze

Day 6 was hellish. Not gonna lie.

 

The whole previous day I couldn’t get warm. No matter how many layers I had on I was freezing. Cue symptoms of getting sick. I fell asleep feeling off and I woke up with a sore throat and runny nose. Not long after I started running a low grade fever.

 

By 11 it had started raining.  We had plans to continue on with our ring road drive so we packed up and headed out. There was such a thick fog that had covered the landscapes that we couldn’t see or enjoy anything. We made a quick stop to Fjaðrárgljúfur canyons. We had planned on doing a lot of hiking and exploring around there, but the weather was so cold and wet that we just took turns in our rain gear walking up and down to look over the edge. It was definitely pretty, but no exploring was to be had.

 

We saw an F-Road that went up into the highlands so since it was raining and we had time to kill, we drove around for a while and explored. It’s amazing how many backroads there are in this country that seem to lead to nowhere. They would be so awesome to explore, but unfortunately we can’t ever venture to far. Even though we rented a 4×4 we need a vehicle with a big clearance and snorkel gear for crossing rivers.

 

We made it into Vik later that evening. The rain was not letting up, I was feeling worse, and we were starving. We had food with us but there had been no place to stop and make any food all day because of the rain. We inquired at the local information center in town about any places with hostels available, but everything was already booked full. The weather had filled every hostel around for miles around. The local campground had space for tents, we went there but quickly left. It was so unbelievably crowded you couldn’t even walk through the kitchen or get to the bathroom. There were just hikers and backpackers from everywhere crowding into any dry space available. We had even stopped at the grocery store and there in the hallway there were tons of backpackers sitting on the floor just looking for shelter from the rain.

 

Feeling option less, we decided to turn back the 1 hr 45 min we had come from the campground we had left that morning. They at least had a decent sized cafeteria and we were hoping they’d have hostels available.

 

They didn’t. They had sold the last vacant one a half hour before. So we were left with the option of a tent. Winds had picked up like crazy and it was gusting at 35mph. but we proceeded. We, meaning Levi and Sarah set up the tent while I stayed bundled up inside the car and mom handed them the things they needed.

 

Tent up!

Tent down.

 

We had just finished and headed inside the common area for showers and food when I looked out only to see our tent had blown upside down several feet away from where it had been set up. It had been staked and we had a suitcase and sleeping mats in there and it had still blown over! Now it was a distorted, soppy, muddy mess. I wanted to cry. My chances of sleeping looking more and more slim.

 

Long story short, we all ended up sleeping in the car. By the time night came I had a fever just under 102. I was sweating but freezing. And everywhere I went unless inside the car or the crowded sloppy common area was raining cold and windy. All I wanted for the next 36 hours was to be home in my bed. I even looked at flights home, but it was pointless.

 

It was an uneventful day. We didn’t see much. It was pretty miserable. Everyone’s spirits were down. We got what little sleep we could bundled up in our car.