Vatnajokull, on the southeastern slopes of Iceland, is the largest glacier in Europe. Our tour took us around the glacier; we camped at its foot and walked close enough to touch it; we traveled to the high desert, and camped just behind its head. That was a stark and desolate campsite: sod "rugs" had been brought in to pitch our tents on, otherwise the ground would have been too uncomfortable for sleeping. There was a very small airstrip there, we strolled up to it and looked back, up to the peaks looming above us. Someone pointed to the snow cap, with steam rising from it. "Bet that's where we will hike tomorrow". The rest of us were incredulous, unbelieving. It seemed almost -- out of sight! But in the morning, after eating a hearty breakfast and tearing down the tents, Sigrun gathered us all together. "Are you ready for a little walk?" she asked. Several of us suggested we'd wait back here, and were told that was impossible, we'd be meeting the bus on the other side. And so we trekked up the mountain, Tippi bringing up the rear. Her boots were the products of Banana Republic; darling boots but not at all waterproof. Her feet were wet and cold, she was wet and cold and miserable. "Never again" she was heard to mutter. We hiked passed the steam vents, reminders that this glacier was sitting on top of a live volcano, to the top of the glacier where a hut had been built. It was a resting spot. The others had finished their rest when Tippi and Larry finally arrived. Again we brought up the rear. The rest of the tour group were always out of sight, but we had their tracks to follow. At the bottom of the snow field, luckily, some friends had waited to guide us to the bus.

Vatnajokull is also unique in that it sits atop a live volcano. Steam and sulfurous gasses escape through vents at the top of the glacier. There is a lake, of melted glacial water, in the caldera of the volcano. It is covered over by hundreds of feet of glacier, and cannot be seen. The glacier melts, but in the cold weather is built up higher. A delicate balance is achieved. And when the volcano becomes active, the rate of glacial melt is increased and the lake rises and breaks over the top of the caldera rim. At first a trickle, soon a monumental wall of water courses down the slope, racing for the sea. It flattens everything in its path, and creates a wide flood plain, stretching far out into the water. For hundreds of years, these floods caught Icelanders living near the glacier unawares, and there was great loss of life, livestock and property. Now it can be predicted. When the last flood occurred in 1996; a web site was created and the world followed the event as it happened.