Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
HIKING THROUGH LÓNSÖRÆFI
A dozen or so demanding
hiking trails
run north through Lónsöræfi and right up to Snæfell
(see p.280). This is a remote area: don't hike alone, and bring everything you'll need with you
- warm clothing, food, water and a tent - as weather or navigation errors can see even
one-day walks accidentally extended. You'll also want Mál og menning's
Lónsöræfi
1:100,000
map
. Note that the reserve's waterways are all glacier-fed, making for unpredictable flow rates
in summer.
Hiking huts
along the way are operated by Ferðafélag Íslands (
W
fi.is).
GRÁKINN
A short, easy hike (5hr return) follows erratic
marker pegs
uphill behind the
Stafafell Farm
hostel onto the moor, above but away from the east side of the Jökulsá í Lóni river. It's slightly
boggy heathland, with spongy cushions of moss, low birch thickets and hummocks of gravel;
there's a tight grouping of fells looming to the northeast, while the west is more open.
Following a general northwest bearing, after a couple of hours you'll find yourself above the
shattered, orange and grey rhyolite sides of the
Grákinn
valley
; scramble west down the
scree and then crisscross the stream to where the valley appears to dead-end in a wall of dark
cliffs. Push through a short canyon and exit to the Jökulsá í Lóni, which you follow southeast
downstream along a dull jeep track to the highway and the farm.
LÓNSÖRÆFI TO SNÆFELL
The hike from
Stafafell Farm
to
Snæfell
takes at least four days. Contact the farm to arrange a
lift in a vehicle across the Jökulsá í Lóni at the start of the hike; at the other end there is no
public transport from Snæfell to Egilsstaðir, so you'll need to risk finding somebody to hitch
with, or contact Tanni Travel (
W
tannitravel.is), who can arrange pickups. There's one short
glacier traverse along the way, requiring a little experience; otherwise you just need to be fit.
Once over the multi-streamed Jökulsá í Lóni, there's a hut and campground at
Eskifell
. From
here, you follow an ever-tightening gorge due north to another hut and campground at
Illikambur
, around 25km from Stafafell, from where there are several day-walks along
side-gorges and up nearby peaks, including a route west up to Rauðhamar for views down
onto Öxarfellsjökull, Vatnajökull's easternmost extension.
Back on the main track, around 10km north of Illikambur is
Víðidalur
, an attractive valley
with a campground to the south and lakeside hut 2km to the northwest at
Kollumúlvatn
,
where there are further glacial views and trails northwest to a collection of wind-scoured
outcrops known as
Tröllakrókar
, “troll spires”. The next 17km follows Vatnajökull's
northeastern edge to the
Geldingafell
hut; from here, the final stage to Snæfell is a lengthy
35km (avoiding unfordable rivers), first westwards over the tip of
Eyjabakkajökull
, then
bearing north at Litla-Snæfell to the Ferðafélag Íslands' hut (see p.280) on Snæfell's west side.
7
Höfn
The staging post for the southeast,
HÖFN
is a small town perched on a narrow neck of
land, with a prime view inland of four glacial tongues descending Vatnajökull - at least
on days when the pernicious fogs abate. The bay here,
Hornajörður
, was settled in
Viking times by
Hrollaugur Rögnvaldsson
, distant ancestor of saga writer Snorri
Sturluson (see p.154), though the town itself began life as late as 1897 as a trading
post, unimaginatively named Höfn (Harbour) after the bay's deep anchorage.
Expansion followed the 1950s fishing boom and the establishment of a fish-freezing
plant, which remains the largest local employer; Höfn is still famed for its fine
lobster
.
Höfn's main street is Hafnarbraut, which runs for about 1.5km south through the
town, with most services in a loose cluster towards or around the harbour.
Glacier Exhibition
Hafnarbraut 30 • Daily: May 1-June 7 11am-6pm; June 8-Aug 31 9am-8pm; Sept 1-June 6 11am-5pm • 1000kr
Housed in the tourist office building, the
Glacier Exhibition
has a few dense maps and
accompanying text that sketch out regional geology, but the best feature is a nine-minute
film
of the 1996 eruption under Grímsvotn and the subsequent
jökulhlaup
flash flood,
