Landmannalaugar to Skogar in 4 days.
(THE classic Icelandic hike.)
AKA Lost in Landscape
(NB: no one got lost... it was just that the landscape was so huge that you felt tiny.)
The bus ride from Reykjavik to the trailhead was 4 hours of driving through amazing landscape, which I often feel gives a good indication of how a hike itself will pan out, and this time was no exception. The best bit of the bus ride however was that I ended up sitting beside Crystal, a Canadian outdoor education teacher and wilderness guide extraordinaire, also on her own, and also planning to do the same hike as me. We agreed to start out together - though as I am a very slow hiker I doubted our alliance would last - and we ended up hiking with each other for the full four days! She was an absolute dream, I'm not sure I would have finished without her support, certainly I would not have had nearly as enjoyable a time. (And, as she is incredibly cute, is always smiling, and rocks my favourite 'Yes! I am here!' pose, she features in several of my photos.)
So. Day 1 the bus deposited us at Landmannalaugar at noon and we hiked up up up for the rest if the day over and along beside an incredible obsidian lava flow (relatively young at only 14 000 years old). Obsidian, also known as volcanic glass, forms when lava cools extremely quickly. This whole lava flow had erupted, flowed, and hardened underneath a glacier. Our path also took us past many fumeroles spouting hot sulphur rich gasses and over large snowfields. Just awesome.
Day 2 we had hot springs, lovely streams bordered with stunning green vegetation, and a long stretch across a stony desert filled with wild flowers.
Day 3 brought rolling hills and many river crossings some of which had bridges and others of which required wading.
Day 4 was the grand finale in which we hiked up up up to the very top of the brand new 2010 Ejyafjallajokull volcanic cone and then back down the other side of the mountain past waterfall after waterfall. If you're going to hike down 1 km vertical there is no better way to do it than with an endless set of waterfalls beside you!
In short Landmannalaugar to Skogar was 4 days of bliss. We were extremely fortunate to have cool cloudy weather everyday - perfect for hiking if not for photos - in a place where rain or fog are the two most common forecasts, we met many other great people along the way, and we finished with only good stories to tell. A huge shout out goes to Joan Kalechstein who noticed I was in Iceland and recommended I do this hike. THANK YOU!
(THE classic Icelandic hike.)
AKA Lost in Landscape
(NB: no one got lost... it was just that the landscape was so huge that you felt tiny.)
The bus ride from Reykjavik to the trailhead was 4 hours of driving through amazing landscape, which I often feel gives a good indication of how a hike itself will pan out, and this time was no exception. The best bit of the bus ride however was that I ended up sitting beside Crystal, a Canadian outdoor education teacher and wilderness guide extraordinaire, also on her own, and also planning to do the same hike as me. We agreed to start out together - though as I am a very slow hiker I doubted our alliance would last - and we ended up hiking with each other for the full four days! She was an absolute dream, I'm not sure I would have finished without her support, certainly I would not have had nearly as enjoyable a time. (And, as she is incredibly cute, is always smiling, and rocks my favourite 'Yes! I am here!' pose, she features in several of my photos.)
So. Day 1 the bus deposited us at Landmannalaugar at noon and we hiked up up up for the rest if the day over and along beside an incredible obsidian lava flow (relatively young at only 14 000 years old). Obsidian, also known as volcanic glass, forms when lava cools extremely quickly. This whole lava flow had erupted, flowed, and hardened underneath a glacier. Our path also took us past many fumeroles spouting hot sulphur rich gasses and over large snowfields. Just awesome.
Day 2 we had hot springs, lovely streams bordered with stunning green vegetation, and a long stretch across a stony desert filled with wild flowers.
Day 3 brought rolling hills and many river crossings some of which had bridges and others of which required wading.
Day 4 was the grand finale in which we hiked up up up to the very top of the brand new 2010 Ejyafjallajokull volcanic cone and then back down the other side of the mountain past waterfall after waterfall. If you're going to hike down 1 km vertical there is no better way to do it than with an endless set of waterfalls beside you!
In short Landmannalaugar to Skogar was 4 days of bliss. We were extremely fortunate to have cool cloudy weather everyday - perfect for hiking if not for photos - in a place where rain or fog are the two most common forecasts, we met many other great people along the way, and we finished with only good stories to tell. A huge shout out goes to Joan Kalechstein who noticed I was in Iceland and recommended I do this hike. THANK YOU!
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| From the bus widow. |
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| Crystal was a natural at the classic "I am happy to be here!" pose. |
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| Who else would chose to hike over snow August long weekend! |
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| I considered cropping the random person out but left them in for scale. |
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| Typical long distance view . |
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| Typical close up view. |
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| Typical trail view. |
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| Attempt to show flowers in stony desert... note glacier behind mountain. |
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| Crystal checks out a canyon. |
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| Close up of dyke cutting through lava flows on far side of canyon wall. |
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| Some rivers had to be waded... |
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| ... some had movable bridges since the braided channels kept changing ... |
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| ... and some merited permanent structures. |
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| We made it to the top of Ejyafjallajokull! |
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| Note Crystal posing. |
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| Another of the many many waterfalls. |
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| Crystal and I still smiling day 4. |
