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17.

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Category: Iceland

17.08.08 Reykjahlíð – Mývatn – Hverfjall & Dimmuborgir

by Garik and Lena

When we woke up in the morning, the wind was strong. From one hand it blew away all the midges, from the other hand it was cold! We’ve organized quickly cause we wanted to start our journey today early. But, first thing first – camping info center and the supermarket. Info center opens only at 09:00 AM, so is the supermarket. What a start of a day… We sat on a bench near the supermarket, waiting for them to open. During our waiting period we ate dry figs, we couldn’t stop! At 09:00 AM Lena entered the supermarket and me to the camping info center. While I got nothing new about the bus to Landmannaguar, Lena bought sandwiches and croissants for us for about 400 ISK. The sandwiches turned out to be superb, not like the bizarre croissants with ham and cheese…

We started our day, heading towards the crater Hverfjall (classic tephra ring), the beginning of the trail is the same as yesterday. After 2 Km there was a split, so we took the trail to the crater, all the way up! It was hard to climb, the wind was strong and it was extremely cold as more as we ascend. We took lots of breaks to take a deep breath and look at the view surrounding us. When we approached the summit of the trail, the wind was so strong, it forced us to make unwanted steps… I wanted to go all around the crater, something like 2 Km long, but Lena insisted to get off as soon as possible. Because of the wind, I broke my compass with one of my poles… It wasn’t mine actually, now I owe one for the guy who gave it to me. So we did only one third of the circle and started the way down, Lena told me that I can go and walk the surrounding trail by myself, but I decided to not leave her. We knew the descent will be harder cause it’s steep and slippery, but we didn’t know that we’ll have to zigzag all the way down. I gave Lena a small fore, so when she was close to finish I was half way down. To tell the true, I really enjoyed the descent, specially cause I used my poles like in ski. We took a break right after I reached Lena, and ate our sandwiches. While we sat there and ate, we saw two couples approaching the crater from this side of the trail… We thought they are crazy, specially the old couple, they were far beyond their 60s!

On our way to Dimmuborgir we were tired already! Till now, we are 4 hours walking! In Dimmuborgir (giant lava field) we walked another 2 Km, we saw natural arches and oddly shaped pillars. When we reached the parking zone, we were finished! Now we have something like 6 Km back to the camping site. We tried to hitchhike, but no one stopped till the main road… On the main road we just stopped trying. We reached camping site around 16:00 AM. Our feet were like pita again!

We’ve bought supplies for Askja trip for 2600 ISK, and turned to the tent. At 18:30 we went to ask the “Reykjavik Excursions” bus driver about transferring our backpacks before the Landmannalaugar trek. At first, the bus driver told us that it might be a problem, but then he understood, that we are coming with him next Friday, so he can take our backpacks with him back to Reykjavik, since his shift ends at that day at Landmannalaugar. That way, he will send them to Þórsmörk from Reykjavik, a bit risky, but what choice did we have?

Back in the tent, we tried to cook diner, It didn’t work because of the strong wind, so we went to the kitchen tent of the campsite, rest and ate there. When we came back, it was a beautiful sunset, our tent was few meters from the lake, ducks were flying around and making noise, so I decided that this is the time to ask Lena to marry me. Actually I was thinking about asking her during our trip in Iceland for about half a year, but never was sure it’s gonna be today! Well she said “YES”, laugh at me a lot, saying everybody at her work are sure that she is going back with a ring… I’m so predictable! It was somewhat happy finish for this exhausting day.

Tomorrow is a new day and we are going to Askja! One of the places that we made them as “MUST” in our trip! We are leaving at 11:00 so we don’t have to panic at the morning about packing our stuff quickly. Goda nott!