Today was our third full day at Skálanes and our final day of taking soil samples in the field! A group of us spent most of the day hiking to the top of one of the mountains to reach our last 8 sample sites. We left the house at around 9:30 in the morning and made our way to the first river to hike alongside it. The river and waterfalls were beautiful and being close to the clear water meant we could refill our water bottles whenever we needed!
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Hiking up the mountain was definitely challenging, but so worth it! When we finally made it to the top of the mountain, after a speedy 2.5 hours, we ate lunch with the most gorgeous view. It was especially cool to see the clouds over the fjord. We then began taking our soil samples as usual.
Hiking down the mountain and stopping at the remaining sample sites was difficult but exciting! We had to carefully navigate some ridges (which often involved sitting and scooting down the steeper parts) and wade through more tall lupin. Once we were done taking samples, we finally made our way back to the house (earlier than we had originally predicted!) and enjoyed a relaxing evening. It was a tiring but super fun day!
![](https://fieldscience.cs.earlham.edu/wp-content/uploads/IMG_1852-1024x768.jpg)