Iceland – Not as icy as you think.

As Alison and I have been planning our trip to Denmark and Norway this summer to attend my brother’s wedding and do a little hiking in the fjords I have started to reflect on our trip to Iceland last summer. Iceland is without a doubt the most beautiful country I have ever visited, and is at the top of my list for a return trip.

We flew into Keflavik (about 45 mins from Reykjavik) international on a Sunday afternoon on a return flight from Copenhagen. We got to spend a few hours walking around downtown Reykjavik before settling in early for the night at the Domo hotel, as we wanted to make sure we would be well rested for the hike. The next morning we hoped on a bus at the main (and only afaik) bus terminal and took a 4 hour ride into the Icelandic backcountry.

The trail we hiked is the most popular in Iceland and is called the “LAUGAVEGUR”. The trail is a total of 53km from start to finish and hikers have the option of camping or paying a small fee to stay in the huts. Most of the huts consisted of an open room with small propane fed kitchen stove with 8 or 12 bunks, each bed just big enough for 2 people. Each hut is spaced out by about 12-15km. We completed the trek in 4 days, hiking anywhere from 10-15km per day. Sigfus, who I was lucky to have made contact with before the trip (and helped with with a great deal of planning), suggested we stay in the huts due to the unpredictable nature of Icelandic weather. This was a great tip, as it was very cold, wet and windy the last few days of the hike and staying in a tent would have truly been miserable.

view trek map here

Day 1 – Landmannalaugar-Hrafntinnusker

The first day of hiking was one of the shorter distances to travel. It was also the only day with a significant amount of climbing, with a total elevation of 490m. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect and during the entire trek we were surrounded by the most beautiful and unusual mountains you could possibly imagine. You could look in any direction and see at least 3-4 mountains each of a different color.

Landmannalaugar – drop off point on day 1

Landmannalaugar – view on the trail in opposite direction from dropoff point

Landmannalaugar – mountains

Landmannalaugar – one of the many geysers along the trail

Day 2 – Hrafntinnusker – Alftavatn

The second day of hiking was another beautiful day. Today’s challenge was the multitude of ravines (approx 10-20 feet deep) that we were constantly ascending/descending during the first half of the day. With 4 days worth of gear on your back. The hike ended with a very steep descent of nearly 500m. As we hiked this part of the route we could gradually see the landscape changing from a a grey/beige/brown color to a nice deep green. We also had our first encounter with wildlife as we met some sheep along the trail. The hike ended at the hut in Alftavatn which is probably the most spectacular view I have ever seen. The last challenge of the day was our first river crossing which was only about 10 feet wide and less than 3 feet deep.

Starting out day 2, lots of up and down.

morning, day 2

upcoming climb

starting to see vegetation, and signs of wildlife

near the end of day 2, before a big descent

stopping point at day 2, hut at Alftavatn

Day 3 – Alftavatn – Emstrur (Botnar)

A storm rolled in overnight and our third day was (for me) the most difficult. We spent the entire day in the cold rainy weather with a heavy wind in our face. The hike started with another shallow river crossings and led us into green rolling hills. After about two hours we reached a second river crossing which was almost waist deep and was runoff water from a glacier. After the crossing we spent 4 hours with rain and wind in our face crossing the black desert. For the rest of the day fog was limiting our vision to about 20 meters in any direction. All we could see was black rock and sand with no idea of how far we were from the next hut at any given time. This part of our hike seemed as if it would be never ending, and was by far the most mentally challenging portion of the trip.

scenery, day 3

expedition company crossing river after we just finish walking it

Alison, drinking her chai tea trying to warm up after glacial river crossing

the never ending black desert, most mentally challenging part of the trip.

are we there yet ?

Day 4 – Emstrur (Botnar) – Thorsmork

We awoke the fourth day to an overcast sky with a slight drizzle but were happy that the fog had cleared. We were up early hoping to make it to the final destination on time to catch a bus back to Reykjavik a day early so we ate breakfast outside not to disturb the others still sleeping in the hut. It’s not everyday you get to eat a bagel with peanut butter in front of a giant glacier surrounded by green mountains. Early into the trek we encountered a very steep short descent with a rope leading down to a gorge with a narrow bridge crossing. On the other side was a chain to help support our balance as we walked by the edge of the gorge up to the other side. For Alison this was by far the most frightening part of the trip. The next few hours lead us down the trail where we could see more and more vegetation and even small trees. This part of the trek ended with our most difficult river crossing. The total width was about 20-30 feet and about waist deep with an extremely strong and cold current. Luckily we held on to each other tightly and made it across safe and sound. After another 30 minutes we had reached the final hut just in time to catch the bus back to Reykjavik.

Alison enjoying breakfast

view from the hut, glacier on the left side

better view of the glacier

Alison crossing the gorge

Alison, final stretch

our bus, driving up the riverbed to pick us up and bring us back to civilization

We spent the next two evenings in Reykjavik where we mostly just rested at the hotel and walked up and down the main shopping street. We then took the bus to the Blue Lagoon on Saturday morning to relax in a geothermic spa before taking our afternoon flight back to Halifax.

Thanks again to Sigfus Sigmundsson with all the question I had about Iceland and the trek, and thanks to Al and Steph for letting us borrow their trekking poles.