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the Degree Confluence Project
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Iceland

12.9 km (8.0 miles) SW of Garður, Norður-Þingeyjarsýsla, Iceland
Approx. altitude: 316 m (1036 ft)
([?] maps: Google MapQuest OpenStreetMap ConfluenceNavigator)
Antipode: 66°S 163°E

Accuracy: 11 m (36 ft)
Quality: good

Click on any of the images for the full-sized picture.

#2: Sixta showing "South View" #3: The "Confluence-Expedition-Vehicle" parked on the track in the east #4: Juergen showing "North View" #5: The CD-ROM of Explorer Magazin deposited in a cairn (Sixta built it!) #6: The expedition vehicle arrives at the end of the track at Fjöll #7: GPS Shot

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  66°N 17°W (visit #2) (secondary) 

#1: North-East: View to the coast

(visited by Jürgen de Haas and Sixta Zerlauth)

05-Sep-2003 -- A cloudy day starts in Iceland. We - the Explorer Magazin team - leave Akureyri in the north of Iceland for Husavik to find a track into the montains to the confluence N 66° W 017°. We drive a pick-up with a camping box on it, therefore we can drive on dirt tracks but the tracks should not be too rough.

We wonder a little bit why nobody attempted to reach this confluence until now, as it is situated only a few meters away from a track.  In Husavik we find the fuel station and behind it a track leads in the desired direction. A check of the map shows that the track can be driven to a shelter hut,  5 kilometers away from the confluence. The quality of the track behind the shelter is unknown. The weather becomes sunny but very windy. We reach a plain between the mountains with the lovely lake Höskuldsvatn. The storm blows in the same direction but faster than we drive due to the stony track. Therefore we are overtaken by the sand that we whirl up. We must close the windows rapidly because within one minute everything in the cockpit is covered with sand.

We reach the shelter hut and in the guestbook we leave a note that we're passing by on the way to the confluence.

We follow the track and a few meters behind we pass a gate. The track becomes worse but it is still drivable for us. We advance nearer and nearer to the confluence and when just 260 m away from it, the GPS shows us that we must leave the car and go uphill.

We are on the worst part of the track, there is no possibility to leave it and parking would mean that we block the track. The region is really lonesome, but you know: Whenever you do not expect anybody, somebody comes and he is in a hurry.

We find a spot where the track is a little bit wider and we hope that if someone will come it will be a real Icelandic Bigfoot which can pass us off-road.

We leave the car and follow the GPS up the hill, watch the track before and behind us and take a CD of our magazine with us which is packed together with a message in a little plastic bag.

At the confluence we have a fantastic view and we build up a small cairn and put our package into it. Maybe someone will find it and send us an e-mail.

We follow the track to road 85 to Asbyrgi where an native icelander from Husavik tells us that the mountain track we drove was a very important road and the sole way to drive from Husavik to Asbyrgi several years ago.

In the evening we sit in the sun, have a confluence party with beer and a wonderful sunset.

A few days later ... Again we visit the DCP website and find out that the confluence has already been visited on the 24-Aug-2003, a few days before our trip. We are a little bit astonished that the visitors could not drive the track from Husavik to Fjöll. We could, because it was open and a road sign in Fjöll indicated that the track is officially open. 

We are not very disappointed to be the second visitors, because the visit was a wonderful trip through the Icelandic landscape.

If you want to read the whole story about our trip, you will find it (in German) in the Explorer Magazin (from issue 11-12/03).


 All pictures
#1: North-East: View to the coast
#2: Sixta showing "South View"
#3: The "Confluence-Expedition-Vehicle" parked on the track in the east
#4: Juergen showing "North View"
#5: The CD-ROM of Explorer Magazin deposited in a cairn (Sixta built it!)
#6: The expedition vehicle arrives at the end of the track at Fjöll
#7: GPS Shot
ALL: All pictures on one page