Laugavegur Trek on Summer Solstice

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I had a difficult time finding practical info about walking the Laugavegur Trail in the opposite direction- from Thorsmork to Landmannalauger (skipping the Skogar portion because it's a little sketchy in mid-June), so this entry mainly falls within that scope. I hiked the 55k trail with my buddy Dan, but without a guide.

If you're just here to see what I'm up to, there are photos throughout.

Hopefully my spellings of Icelandic locations are somewhat consistent. Don't ask me to pronounce any of them.

Booking the Huts and Buses

For the huts, all you need to do is send an email to [e-mail] with your booking request. I sent an email two months ahead of time and my preferred huts were already fully booked, which is why we had to walk in the opposite direction. The trail re-opens after winter around June 15, so Lilja (who apparently schedules the huts) told me that she? would email me around then to confirm that the snow had receded far enough for the buses to get through. Only then did she ask for the $80/night/pp) payment.

We booked the buses through Reykjavik Excursions ahead of time, which was unnecessary this time of year, especially since we were walking in the opposite direction of the crowds. Perhaps it was good to buy them ahead of time, though - they let us board for a different time than our ticket said anyway.

Gear

Having under 10 kilos on my back made the walk painless and enjoyable. I talked to some who were carrying over double the weight (excusable if tent-camping, but these folks weren't), but I found that what I took was perfectly sufficient; here's everything:
- Osprey Exos 38L pack
- a cheap, 1kg, 40-degree down sleeping bag
- Waterproof Vasque boots, 2 pairs of Smartwool hiking socks, Xero Z-trek lightweight sandals for painfully cold river crossings
- Patagonia down "sweater" (a coat that I only wore at the huts), medium-thick REI waterproof rain jacket, 2 polyester/wicking t-shirts, 2 polyester / wicking long sleeve shirts
- Marmot Precip rain pants, zip-off Exofficio hiking pants, pajama pants, 2 pairs of Ex-Officio underwear
- Smartwool buff, sunglasses, a headlamp (which I didn't at all need since it was light 24 hrs a day)
- Saucony running mittens
- a trekking pole
- a 2-liter MSR bladder; water is available at the huts, but the streams are pristine, so I just drank right out of them, unfiltered.
- my phone and Kindle
- Food: 5 Clif bars, a bag of trail mix, 3 dehydrated dinners (2 that I made and dehydrated, 1 Backpacker's pantry), 3 packets of oatmeal, 3 packets of instant coffee, dehydrated hummus, dehydrated peanut butter, and bread - the only thing I bought in crazy-expensive Reykjavik.
- a phone battery charger (it costs money to charge them in the warden's offices)

- an emergency blanket (almost used it on day 4)
- basic toiletries, including a small bottle of Dr. Bronner's soap

I wish I had taken:
- real coffee- they had French presses in the huts
- waterproof mittens

- handwarmers
- an extra day's food- it's possible to get stuck for an extra day by high streams or poor weather

The Huts

While the huts vary in quality and design, they're all well-constructed and clean. They provide thick pads to sleep on, but you don't have much space. The tour groups monopolize all the good rooms. The huts have heating, but that is shut off at night at most of them. Still, with 50ish people packed into such a small area, I was hot most nights.

Surprisingly, there are proper toilets outside; they're also as clean as can be in those conditions.

Trail Pace and Practicalities (and sparse trail descriptions, since you can find more detailed ones anywhere).

We walked pretty quickly because the weather was messy and we were carrying very little weight. While we could have completed the whole trail in 2-3 days, staying at each hut allowed us to enjoy the scenery and company more, and it left room for a weather delay on day 3.

Day 1- Thorsmork to Emstrur (5.5 hours)

The Reykjavik Excursions bus drops off in two different places in Thorsmork. If you get off at the first stop, you don't begin on the Laugavegur Trail; rather, you start on a red-blazed connector, and then you need to turn left onto the blue-blazed Laugavegur Trail (we turned right and ended up walking the wrong way for 15 minutes). The jagoff at the sign-in desk failed to mention this when I asked if there was anything complicated about the first section of the trail.

This portion of the trail has some difficult uphill sections, especially toward the end, where there is a permanent rope installed to help climb up a steep incline (much easier than coming down it would be!). Just before the cabin looks like a rocky ascent to a pass at a much better elevation. The views are impressive and the terrain and vegetation are varied.

Day 2 - Emstrur to Hvanngil (4 hours)

This was a pretty boring day, other than the wide river crossing. On the way out, we walked the extra k to views of a deep and narrow canyon. From then on, much of the trail is a flat dirt road, so you can move very quickly. California Sam joined us and we were able to relax and enjoy the scenery after the river crossing. This section would be the easiest to combine with another to make it a double day.

Day 3 - Hvanngil to Álftavatn (1.5 hours, since a storm stopped us partway)

The plan was to get to Hraftinnusker this day, but there were 50 mph sustained gusts all night, and they didn't abate by morning. The short 5k between the two huts was probably the worst weather I've ever hiked in. The winds were so strong that the rain was horizontal, and I had to take a knee a few times to avoid being blown over. I left the pocket of my jacket slightly open by accident and my leg was soaked in ten minutes. The river crossing was tricky and Dan fell in. Our hands were numb afterward. We found refuge in the huts and the warden said that the trail above was closed. This did little to help those who were already out there, coming in the other direction. We sat there all day watching groups come in, happy to be warm and alive, so we decided to delay till the next day. The warden there changed our reservations without a problem. This was the nicest hut of them all, so it was a good place to get stuck reading and waiting for the next mealtime.

Day 4 - Álftavatn to Landmannalauger (6.5 hours)

We woke up at 6AM to get an early start toward the pass and the rest of the 24k, and to catch our bus at 3:30. The ascent was difficult but the views were pretty spectacular. Some snow bridges had recently collapsed above the thermal streams, so we had to pay attention when we hit the snow fields. We had good weather until we got to the Hraftinnusker hut and it started to snow pretty heavily. In the most dangerous portion of the trail, where people have apparently died only a half mile from the huts, there are hardly any markers in the snow. One section had no trail marker for about a km. There is a makeshift lighthouse at the pass, but I turned around a few hundred meters after it and couldn't see it in the near-white-out snowy conditions. I couldn't see more than a few meters in front of me so I was just following footprints in the snow, trusting that they were going the right way and Dan was trusting that I knew the right way. I tried to warn everyone headed in the opposite direction, but there wasn't much they could do at that point.

The rest of the hike was uneventful. There were no elves behind the volcanic rocks or trolls under the bridges. But once you get near the end, there are loads of day hikers, which sort of ruined the illusion of being in a particularly remote area. We arrived at Landmannalauger two hours early and caught the 1:30 bus back to Reykjavik.

There is one more photo below.

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Photos

River Crossing
This river was the widest and deepest we crossed; the water was thigh-high and so cold. The day after, the rains made it unpassable.

View from Álftavatn Huts
After the rains cleared, it was pretty lovely there. It didn't get much darker than this that night.

Snowfield Trail
The trail was just a wide expanse for about 10k; at times the markers were few and far between.

Alaskan Lupine
The best invasive species ever.

Dragon's Head
Approaching Emstrur, this mountain looked like a dragon's head ominously peering over the hill.

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[Laugavegur Trail]

Laugavegur Luggage Transport
Luggage Transport is now available on The Laugavegur Trail. See www.laugavegur.is