A lengthy drive into Iceland's interior took us past a few small settlements and some large hydroschemes to pavement's end. Onward was our first F road, four wheel drive only roads that most car rentals are not allowed on. This particular F road leading to the geological wonderland of Landmannalaugar was perhaps the most traveled in all of Iceland and was generally in good shape, if not a little washboarded from the traffic. Despite the late (9p-ish) hour, we were surprised at the amount of cars heading out- rentals, custom armageddon-style camping rigs, and a few hiker shuttle buses. We soon learned the ever-present sun meant that normal diurnal schedules were less regularly followed. Between the vehicles and their clouds of dust it was a desolate Martian landscape of young volcanoes, older volcanoes, and older volcanoes worn down beyond recognition.
Most of the way in towards the roadend we detoured to the edge of Bláhylur, a scenic crater lake where I sent the drone out for a loop around some of the surroundings including past mountain peaks and some old cinder cones bizarrely weathered into alien patterns and symbols. This was also my first experience with the pestering black flies, which attempted to destroy my drone-flying concentration by pitter-pattering into my face. A headnet ended up being the main packing regret of the whole trip and these were only the first taste of thicker skies to come.
More driving past interesting lava flows, craters, and lakes led us to the road's end at Landmannalaugar, trailhead junction to a vast area of colorful altered rhyolitic rocks. We were relieved to see that other roof tent campers were set up at the parking area before the river ford, which was deep enough that I had no interest in attempting on day two of our trip. We braved more flies to grab bathing suits and freeze dried dinners and walked the footbridge over to the hut and encampment. After a late dinner in the shelter (somewhat less buggy), we strolled the boardwalk over to the places namesake hot spring, "the People's Pool" for a nearly midnight soak and persistent sunset. The sparkling clarity of the pool led us in...the first foot dropped into nearly glacially cold waters up to the waist. We rapidly waded over to where we could see the steaming springs entering this cool pool. This was one of the weirdest hot springs I have ever been to! The boiling hot water did a poor job mixing with the cool water such that the best you could do was find a spot where the water column was layered too hot above and too cold below, which perpetually confused our brains. Subtle shifts would either scald or freeze you and despite considerable effort I could never find the happy compromise. Looking back online I can see plenty of people comfortably bathing across the whole pool, so there must have been some early season conditions stopping the waters from effectively mixing. Some passing rain fell on us between some sunset-colored clouds. Back at the car this was the first night using our roof tent; we both were pleased at the ease of setup, comfort, and surprisingly dark fabric that helped sleep in these northern latitude summers.
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| Landmannalagaur hot spring at a midnight sunset |
The next morning was less clear and colorful than the previous night but still nice enough for hiking. I had sketched out an interesting looking 24km hike but as it turned out many of the secondary routes were blocked off in an effort to limit foot traffic damage due to to early season thawing conditions. We improvised and ended up doing a neat and adventurous route of our own. Past the hut we followed the main trail up onto the chunky 500 yr-ish old obsidian flow of Laugahraun, through the steaming geothermal area at its top edge, and then detoured up the spur trail to the summit of the multi-colored Brennisteinsalda.
Happily no one else was around the summit of Brennisteinsalda to be annoyed by a buzzing drone and so it went out for a loop around some of the most spectacular volcanic landscape I could ever conceive. The photos do more justice than my words can (and the views more than photos can), but the variety of colors and texture seem hard to match.
After this diversion we continued along the main trail up a ridge and through a steep snow patch to gain the smoother glaciated landscape above. Here we entered some misty, drizzly clouds and the landscape was noticeably bleaker between the snow patches and darker rocks. We branched southward off the main trail following a loosely poled route through long snow patches across to where I hoped we could loop back down by a different route. After 3km along the tops we worked our way back down the ridge network into the colorful badlands below. This turned out to be slow going due to two steep snow patches, loose scree slopes, and a nontrivial amount of exposure along a foot-width ridge, while cold rain pelted us. Slowly we made forward progress, going about 1km in over an hour. At least the views were excellent on both sides of the ridge.
The narrow ridge ended at a broader plateau that we walked to regain a trail with hikers returning from summiting Blánúkur. I took the drone out for another stop in a break in the drizzle, flying along the ridge up to the summit, and then looping over more of these distinctly Icelandic volcanic badlands.
Though we were back on a more commonly used trail, there were still a few surprises as we traversed several sloping snow patches, a steep scree slope, and frigid stream crossing. We took the less developed trail back as it led mazelike across the ups, downs, and turns of the obsidian flow and then followed a gorge at the flows edge. The trail spit us out onto the wide alluvial flats, leaving a short walk back to the hut area. Our hike ended up being closer to 15km rather than the 24km loop I envisioned but we still managed to kill most of the day and see some incredible sights on our loop.
On the way out from Landmannlaugar I knew there was one more drone flight I would have to do. Namshraun is a particularly viscous looking lava flow that descends from a saddle down into a lake where it creates intricate swooping islands and colorful shallows (frontispiece), certainly one of the more amazing landscapes I have ever seen. I also detoured over the nearly perfect cinder cone Stútur nearby.
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| Namshraun (lava flow) into Frostastaðavatn (lake) |
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| Stútur crater |
We also made a stop at an unassuming gravel lot on the side of the road and walked down a wash and along a dam access road to a overlook into Sigödugljúfur canyon, or more specifically its countless waterfalls leaking out of basalt cliffs. This was at the end of a long stimulating day not yet over and a quick visit was better than nothing, but it is somewhere I would have enjoyed taking some more careful tripod photos, flying a drone, and even seeking out the possibility of packrafting past the falls, if even possible. Certainly one of the more unique and scenic series of waterfalls I have seen anywhere.
More driving! For more forward progress we opted to stay at Hamragarðar campground right off the Ring Road with quick access to two popular waterfalls. We were pleasantly surprised to see the campground was nearly empty and parked our vehicle a stone's throw away from another unique waterfall, Gljúfrabúi. After another late dinner we strolled over to our backyard falls which has a narrow slot canyon entrance that leads into a misty waterfall grotto. Neat!
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| Gljúfrabúi falls (and below) |
We then strolled along the path a mere 600m to Seljalandfoss, notable for the loop trail behind the falls. After all this excitement we finally settled into our tent somewhere around midnight.
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| Seljalandfoss (and below) |
