Trip to Iceland 2010: Day 3 - Kerið (Kerid)

Once again, I woke up to a freezing cold. I was staying at a campsite near Minniborg (by the road no. 35) and I was the only one there. The showers were out of order, but fortunately there was hot water available. And there was one of those swimming pool / bathing places that are so popular in Iceland, so I took a shower there (150 ISK) and took off.

So, the day before I was passing by a sign marking a tourist attraction called Kerið (Kerith or Kerid, also improperly simplified to Kerio). The water that fell from the sky in huge amounts stopped me from checking it out, so this was the first on my list.

So here's what I saw.

Kerith crater in all it's glory

It's one of many volcanic craters of Iceland. It's 3000 years old and 55 meters deep. The lake at it's bottom is not the result of the rainfall. It was originally believed that it formed as a result of explosion, but more recent studies tend towards a theory that it was a cone volcano that spit all the magma and collapsed.

Kerith volcanic lake

I took my time and went on a walk around it, and even went all the way to the bottom.

At the bottom of Kerith crater

So, this was my first stop on the Golden Circle tour. Next stop, Geysir.