3 month expedition to Iceland in 2011. This Part covers our walk across Iceland from South to North. 31 days total, 27 days of walking with 4 rest days. Approximately 650km total walked.
Route:
A failed start in June got us from South Point to just past Thorsmork, so we decided to start our second attempt in Thorsmork. We followed the famous Laugavegur from Thorsmork to Landmannalaugar. From Landmannalaugar we headed NW to reach the F26 route. We followed this for many days, until we could see the peak of Syori-Haganga 1281m in the distance. Once spotted we headed towards it, before finding the old 4x4 track along Hagongulon lake. We loosely followed the 4x4 track through the Vonaskard, in between Tungnafellsjokull and the massive Vatnajokull. Loosing the 4x4 track we loosely followed the Fossaglijufur river until a passable snowbridge across was found. From here we headed west in search of the Old road to Askja, a now gnarly 4x4 track. This goes along the north side of Dyngjujokull. Loosing the track in poor weather we were left to cross the Holuhraun (massive floodplain) in bad weather. After some difficulties we regainied the F910, which led us to Askja. From Askja we headed NE to the Jonaskard pass, before turning North across multiple days of scoria plains until we reached Myvatn. From Myvatn we headed cross country NE to get to Dettifoss Waterfall. From here we followed the mighty Jokulsa a Fjollum river through the Asbyrgi gorge. Once we reached Asbyrgi, we had 2 days of paved roads to walk, before getting to Kopasker. From Kopasker we headed NE for the final push to the North point, mostly cross country. Once we reached the north point Hraunhafnartangi (which in Iceland is recognised as the northerly point), we setup camp. But the next day we also visited Rifstangi, the actual northern point of Iceland.
Terrain/Paths/Major Issues.
In the south we had a minor glacial crossing, and a lot of crossings through active volcanic areas. Sulphur gasses were a common occurrence as well as large steam clouds and boiling rivers. As we left Landmannalauger we climbed up to the Icelandic Highlands, which range from 400m to 1600m, a very large expanse which took nearly 14days to cross. A near featureless plateau, which is exposed to very high winds sometimes reaching 120mph, and a near constant 60-70mph for 6 days. as well as being exposed to rain/snow/hail/ash storms/and some sun! After the Vonaskard we entred the desert. At first we had pure ash and scoria fields where scoria rocks fields were avoidable, 50km before Akja we had pure ash desert and pure golden pumice desert. Between Askja and Myvatn we had 110km+ of near constant scoria fields to walk across. From Myvatn, we had a more lush terrain, more alike to the cairngorm plateau, before becoming even more lush as we got closer to Asbyrgi. In the far north, we had 50km+ of extreme tussock terrain.
We walked on a range of paths, from paved roads, to landrover road, extreme 4x4 tracks, singletracks and a fair chunk of pure cross country.
Major issues would include, nearly 36 large river crossings (large considered anything more than just a simple walk across), of which one 3km long river crossing. 6 days of storm force winds, ultimately destroying one tent, so we ended up sleeping 2 of us in a 1person tent for 7 weeks. Filtering water from heavily ashed rivers, our filter "cemented" itself shut, so we resorted to using a buff to remove ash silt. A couple of ash storms in the middle. A couple of run ins with flooded plains, or quickash (like quicksand, but ash instead). Health wise, we caught the worms in the north of Iceland which resulted in a lot of vomiting and diarrhoea.
