Upon arrival at Lake Myvatn, I check into the campgrounds — they are immediately impressive. Here’s a view of the whole place:

As far as I can tell, this place is called “Camping Myvatn,” or at least that’s how it comes up on Google Maps.

I’ve left myself plenty of daylight to set up camp, and thankfully it all works out much better than the previous night — I set up this tent all by myself in about 20 minutes.

I pick this spot behind a row of trees because they should offer some protection from the wind. I still have a water view:

As the sun drops lower in the sky, I do a little photoshoot to document this camping adventure. Lake Myvatn is hands down the most scenic camp site I stay at in Iceland and the light is beautiful at this time of day.

Thumbs up for successfully setting up camp!

This tent fits 2-3 people so there is plenty of space. (More on how I rented my camping gear here.) My favorite part is the little antechamber at the front — it’s like a mudroom where I can take off my boots to keep the tent clean.

Time for dinner… I fire up the Jetboil and take out tonight’s ingredients: ramen noodles and pesto sauce.

Within a few minutes the water is boiling and I add the noodles.

I’m a huge fan of pesto sauce and despite having this meal for 4-5 nights in a row while camping, I don’t get tired of it.

As soon as the sun sets, it gets cold. Fast.

Check out the rolling grounds here — they create natural protected areas where the wind shouldn’t be too bad on the tents.

I boil more water for a cup of tea and then enjoy the view.

Tonight is a full moon. I’ve been hoping to glimpse the Northern Lights but I’m concerned that if there’s too much light in the sky I won’t be able to see them. We’ll see how it plays out.

Since the weather is freezing at night (literally zero degrees Celsius / 32 degrees Fahrenheit) my plan is to go to the nearby Myvatn Nature Baths once it gets dark. These baths are like the Blue Lagoon in Reykjavik except way cheaper — around $25 USD instead of $50 USD. And since this part of Iceland is far away from Reykjavik, it’s much less crowded than the Blue Lagoon. At this time of year the Nature Baths are open until midnight so I plan to soak up the heat as late as possible and then head back to my sleeping bag all toasty and warm.

The Nature Baths are just a few kilometers from camp; I pause near the entrance to photograph this view. There are several of these steam vents in the area — there’s a lot of geothermal activity happening around Myvatn.

Before heading to the locker room, I venture outside to snap a few photos of the baths. The air temperature is SO COLD and the hot water looks so inviting.

I get in the water around 9:30p and I’m prepared to stay until the place shuts down at midnight, even if that leaves me a shriveled prune. I’m by myself so there’s not much to do except swim around the perimeter admiring the view. At one point I ask an employee where the hot spots are, and he points me to the nooks on the far left of the photo below. I camp out there for a good hour — it’s relaxing and so satisfyingly hot. I constantly scan the sky for any signs of the Northern Lights.

Then around 11:15p I swim over to the edge and a nearby couple asks me if I see something in the sky, perhaps close to the horizon? The Aurora Borealis isn’t usually visible until mid-September and today is August 29th, but that hasn’t stopped me from keeping my eyes peeled for them all night long. At this point I don’t trust my judgement because I’ve been willing the flashes of color to appear.

But suddenly people around us start pointing to the sky, and we realize our eyes have not deceived us — there are indeed subtle green flashes illuminating the blank canvas over our heads. Instantly we are giddy, the whole lot of us. Maybe two dozen strangers are still in the baths at this hour and we cheer at our good fortune to see this phenomenon. A chorus of “Ooooos” and “Ahhhhs” echoes across the water as the faintly colored lights come and go.

As this is my first time seeing the Northern Lights in person, I am struck by how active they are — they seem to be alive and pulsing as they skip across the sky in discrete and unrepeated patterns. They come and go, at times growing slightly brighter and then disappearing altogether for a few minutes before coming back. I can’t take my eyes off them.

Of course I wish I had my camera to photograph this beautiful sight, but it’s safely stored in the locker room. I decide to spend 15 minutes admiring the Northern Lights and just soaking up this moment, quite literally. I take a photo in my head and store it in my memory bank… and then I return to the locker room to shower, change, and return with my DSLR camera to snap these pics.

While on this particular night the Northern Lights are fortunately discernible to the human eye, they are still very faint — they show up brighter in my photos than they do in person. Regardless, I’m thrilled to have witnessed them. I hope it’s the first of many such encounters with this phenomenon.

I head back to my car at midnight and drive a few minutes back to camp. It’s very chilly but my body temperature is still nice and toasty from the nature baths. I fall asleep instantly.

In the morning I enjoy a bowl of granola and tea before taking off for a very full day ahead — more on that next week!