On Day 3 we awoke to the croaking of a raven at the base of The Haunted Mountain. It was very on point aesthetically.
The mountain is named after Hjörleifur Hróðmarsson, the brother of Ingólfur Arnarson, the first settler of Iceland. Hjörleifur Hróðmarsson was killed during a slave revolution only one year after he arrived in Iceland– so of course, he still haunts the mountain to this day. Hjörleifur’s tomb is located at the top of the mountain and dates back to 800AD. The climb up the mountain is steep, but the views are gorgeous and once you reach the top of the hike, it’s pretty simple. We wandered around near the tomb for a while and then made our way to the Southeast side of the mountain where we found the remains of a farm from the 1800s. It was so interesting to explore and consider the lives of the people who used to live there.
After our morning hike, we started driving East through the Eldruin Lava Fields, which are the result of a volcanic eruption in the 1700s. The lava rocks were beautiful and covered in thick green moss. Our aim for the afternoon was to go hiking in the Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, however, as we were travelling in the spring, the hike was closed to protect the canyon from erosion caused by hikers walking on the wet ground.
So we continued on our way, passing a few more notable waterfalls and before long made it to Skaftafell in Vatnajökull National Park. We arrived around 1pm and decided to participate in a glacier walk with Arctic Adventures. The people running the hike were very helpful and nice. If you need to borrow rain-pants or hiking boots, I would recommend chatting with the staff in person, rather than buying online. They were happy to lend us some gear for free. While I really enjoyed the glacier hike, I would recommend opting for the longer hike if you can. The short hike along the edge of the glacier just felt like a bit of a tease. If you want to actually walk on the glacier, for safety reasons I would recommend paying for a guide. However, the park is open to the public, so if you’re happy to just walk near the glacier, you can still have a pretty amazing experience for free!
One of the benefits of a guided glacier walk is the background information the guides have. Vatnajökull is the largest icecap by volume in Europe and covers 8% of Iceland. Our guides told us that the glacier is receding at an alarming rate, and with current rates of climate breakdown can be expected to totally melt away in only 25 years.
The price of camping at Skaftafell is a little exorbitant (they charge extra to shower)! so we continued on our way in search of a free camping spot. We eventually found a beautiful spot a ways off of the Ring-Road with beautiful glacier views.
