We stopped the car to stretch and enjoy the moment, and walked down a shallow, open cobble wash. Kelly noted that it felt really good to walk down this wash, and upon further investigation, we found that the pebbly ground was spongy, and rebounded slightly with every step. Lucky for us, we had stumbled upon a fiberglass highway marker, which made for a handy shovel. We found that beneath the gravel bed of the wash, there existed several inches of fine moss-like root matter. Wow!
We also noticed what we guessed was caribou scat. That put us on the prowl, and I spotted a herd of 20 animals later in the day. First time charismatic mega-fauna! Spot the caribou for yourself in the following photo:
We stopped at a number of sites today and in general, we've encountered coarser sediments than in days prior. We're still working in broad, flat outflow plains and looking up at the big outlet glaciers of the Vatnajökull ice cap, but the finest sediments are missing. It may be that the western glacial outflow plains slope to the ocean at a shallower angle, and so retain more fine material. The existing samples represent a survey of fine outflow sediments across the southern coast. Now, on our return trip, we'll spend some additional time at the most productive sites for fines and will collect a larger volume of material. Once sealed in industrial ziploc bags and placed in the vibrating trunk of the car, these clay-like sediments have expelled their interstitial water and have completely solidified into dark bricks.
We've been using our experience floating rivers to find the clay and silt deposits, even under several inches of snow. It has been remarkably effective: in these really broad river beds dominated by large cobbles, we've usually been able to read the topography and walk to the sites where fines were deposited in previous floods.
We passed an impressive outlet glacier that was calving into a tidal lagoon. As the tide ran out, automobile and even mobile-home-sized icebergs were carried out into the surf. We stopped to check out some of the chunks of ice that had been cast up onto the beach.
Tonight, we are staying in Höfn, a medium-sized fishing town and the easternmost extent of our campaign. Höfn sits on a low peninsula, with fishing boats docked near the point; the harbor is protected by barrier islands. Tonight we found a hardware store with shipping supplies and were working on packaging up samples for transit home. It will be a long haul back to Keflavik on slick roads and we'll get an early start. With that, I am going to sack out!