|
The wind did not stop all night. The floor shook any time there was a
particularly strong gust, which was often. I think I woke up around 4:30am
and never really went back to sleep. Eventually I got up at 7am (when
quiet time ends).
The skies were clear, and the warden gave us the good news that there
was no more rain in the forecast today. However, the winds would still
be vicious, and would last until 5pm, so there was no way avoiding it
considering our bus was scheduled to leave Skógar at 2pm.
Prepping in the Baldvinsskáli hut
We packed up and left around 8:15am, but we were one of the last to
leave the hut. I think the only ones left after us were the warden,
the two tent campers, and two guys who had hiked up from Skógar
yesterday. I think they'd originally planned to hike to Þórsmörk today,
but it was out of the question because of the wind. I think it was a
good decision for them to turn around. We'd play leap frog with them all
the way to Skógar today.
So, to get to Skógar we had to follow the dirt road downhill. As I
was getting ready, Nathan walked around the corner of the hut to
start on the road. The next thing I know, I see him running backwards
as if he were blasted out of a cannon. He had been unprepared for the
ferocity of the wind, since the hut itself had been partially sheltering
us from it.
We steeled ourselves against the head wind, which was quite ridiculous.
We decided to try to stick to a tight formation and draft off each other
like cyclists. It sort of worked, though gaps opened up between us
and the going was very slow. The wind blasted dirt particles into our
legs and our faces. We were all covered up in balaclavas or face masks
and sun glasses. But still...
Eventually we got through this head wind portion as the trail turned
toward the right so that the wind was mostly coming from the left.
However, things didn't get easier. In fact, it got worse at times.
In some places near ridges, gusts of wind would literally knock us to
the ground. Several times I got pushed way off trail and I had to
try to use my trekking poles to avoid falling. But I still fell a
few times. Though it doesn't do it justice, here's a video of the high winds.
On one particularly nasty stretch, Jean fell many times. The two men
who'd left after us also fell at this stretch. One of them was nice enough
to take his pack off and go back up and help Jean the rest of the way to
our resting spot. We could see dirt clouds below caused by the wind.
At the rate we were going, it was possible we might miss our 2pm bus.
But I was hoping the wind would get better as we got lower. It would
never go away completely, but the ridiculous gusts would peter out.
Dust from the high winds
Dust from the high winds
In the meantime, though, we decided to tighten up our formation to protect each
other from the wind. That also probably helped. Our pace improved, and we
reached an intersection where we had 7.5 kilometers to go. We would start to
see lots of other hikers now, including some day hikers coming up from Skógar.
We took the right fork to go on the trail next to the river (instead of the road,
which leads away from the river). We started to see beautiful water falls,
and the falls just kept coming one after the other. This is one of the prettiest
stretches of the trail.
Skoga River
Skoga River falls
Descending next to the Skoga river
Skoga River
Skoga River falls
Skoga River falls
Now that our pace had quickened, I knew we'd make it to our bus on time. While we didn't
really stop for food much, this did give me the opportunity to stop to take more
pictures. And stop I did, many times. Waterfalls, gorges, river, green hillsides.
If I ever return to Iceland, I'd probably want to
do this stretch of trail as a day hike and bringing my tripod
(preferably on a sunny day to get more rainbows). Here's a short video of part of the river.
Skoga River falls
Skoga River falls
Skoga River gorge
Skoga River
Skoga River falls
Skoga River rainbow
Skoga River falls
Skoga River gorge
Skoga River gorge and falls
We reached the top of a long metal staircase, where we could see scores of
tourists climbing up to see the top of Skógafoss. We descended, coincidentally
at the same time as the two guys from the hut. It was weird having spent the
night in a small remote hut and now returning to civilization in the form of
hundreds of tourists. Those who weren't on the staircase were walking to the
base of the falls.
Two falls
Skoga River
Falls
Falls
Skógafoss
We arrived at the bottom around 1:15pm. There was dirt and sand in my mouth, on my
face, everywhere, despite having been mostly covered up by my balaclava and sunglasses.
I tried to clean up a bit, but I'd later find out I still had
dirt everywhere.
The woman we'd met yesterday was at the bus stop, but her bus wouldn't come until
3:30pm. But she assured us we were in the right place for the bus. Soon enough,
the bus came (we reserved it in advance), and we hopped on board. We recognized a
few people from the hut last night.
A few general notes about our trip on the Laugavegur and Fimmvörðuháls Trails:
It rained every day of the trip except our rest day at the Volcano huts, and
the last day (when it was insanely windy). If you do this trail, you may get
lucky and get sun the entire trip. Or it might rain every day. Be prepared.
Our rain gear was sufficient, but not great. We'll be looking into better boots
and rain pants for sure for the future. I was glad we didn't bring a tent,
as tent camping did not look pleasant under the weather conditions. On the other
hand, we brought some things that in retrospect we could have left behind:
our sleeping pads, a water filter, stove and pot. That could have saved us some
weight, although weight in general wasn't an issue because of the lack of the tent.
I never felt my pack was too heavy.
In summary it was a nice hike with some beautiful stretches but also some boring
desolate stretches. And the rain and wind marred the trip a bit. But, that
comes with the territory. We might return to Iceland, but the kids will tell
you they prefer the milder weather and vegetation in Tasmania. Personally,
sometimes I feel like we go on these adventures to far off places, and that's
good and all, but what I really miss is a trip in the good ol' Sierra Nevada.
Well, if you've read this far, here's your treat: On the 3rd day of the trip,
while hiking away from the glacier, the song "A Sort of Homecoming" by U2 popped
into my head out of nowhere. I knew then that I had to make a slide show of the
trip including that song. So here you go: a slide show of our backpacking trip. Enjoy.
| 
Facebook Fan Page
Twitter
RSS Feed
