Day 3 - Hekla Volcano

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The previous evening we decided that as we had a 4x4 we would take advantage of it and drive to the Hekla volcano and climb it. Hekla is located south east of Reykjavik with a height of 1,491 metres. Hekla is one of Iceland's most active volcanoes; over 20 eruptions have occurred in and around the volcano since 874, unfortunately it wasn’t active when we were there and stubbornly remained snow-capped:-(

It was an ordeal to get to the mountain itself, around an hour and a half on route 1, then half an hour on gravel road and then another half hour on proper off-road terrain which was fun. According to Icelandic Law you should only go off-road on indicated paths, but everywhere you can see tracks from vehicles that had left the roads and had a little play with lots of skids etc. Obviously I didn’t do anything like that as I’m a law-abiding citizen:-)

After a little stop taking in another fab waterfall we set off on our climb. Parts of the area around Hekla was used in the film Prometheus. I’d read somewhere that the walk was only 3 ½ hours up and down but I was way out with that estimate. After an hour of walking across volcanic terrain it soon turned to snow-covered ground, which gradually got deeper as we ascended. This made for hard work as we were wading through snow 10 inches deep and it didn’t help that I at least did not have the attire for winter clothing, just my normal town clothes. This did look a bit odd as everyone else we passed had full hiking gear and some even had goggles!

After around 4 hours the summit was reached and the weather was extreme, the wind was so fierce it was impossible to stand up straight. After taking so long to reach the summit it was time to take a short cut down the mountain and ended up sliding down the steep face of the volcano through the snow which was fun. The return trip took 5 ½ hours but with the travel to get there it was a very long day

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Comments

[anonymous]

Sounds like it was a very challenging holiday and not like the ones that you have been on before. However a change is as good as a rest and I am sure you enjoyed the experience. The scenery looks magnificant. The Hekla Volcano must have been wel worth seeing. Love Sylvia