Just because we had an hour of somewhat nice weather last night did not mean that the weather got better. This morning it was all gray again. We had a rainy breakfast, stopped for a quick group shot at the hut and then we were on our way. Today’s hike was not particularly long or difficult, but it would bring us up onto the Jökultungur plateau and we would spend a lot of time in snow and fog.

Soon we reached the steep slope of Jökultungur and we slowly inched up the mountain. Several hikers on the way down warned us that it would soon turn very muddy – they were right.

As soon as we reached the geothermal field the trail become very clayey. Heavy wet boots got even heavier, the clouds dropped lower, and we hiked through a wonderland of fog, steam, mud and snow.

Soon, however we left the mud behind and reached the home stretch: the long snow-covered plain that leads up to the hut at Hraftinnusker. The GPS claimed it was less than three miles, but it could have been forever. The clouds hung low, and visibility was rather poor. We followed old tracks and went from trail marker to trail marker.

Luckily the snow was still deep enough that many of the annoying gullies could be crossed easily. After an hour or so we finally saw the hut sitting on an obsidian hill.

We had reservations, but the wardens had bad news for us. The hut was severely overbooked. He expected 70 visitors for about 50 beds. However, we did pretty well: all the students had one big room, and the professors slept out in the hallway.

We shared the remainder of the attic with a bunch of Brits, and considering how many folks were squeezed into one small space, we spent a rather restful night.

back to day 7
onward to day 9