Today’s hike is mostly along the Markarfljót to the hut at Emstrur (or Botnar). The trail begins with a walk through beautiful birch forests. Many of us know this part from their frequent excursions to the Volcano Bar over the past two days.

Soon, however, do we encounter our first stream crossing. The Þröngjá is a small braided stream that originates from nearby Merkurjökull. That makes the water milky and cold.

Nevertheless, after a lot of hemming and hawing we easily cross the main channel and soon thereafter we’re back on the trail, gaining elevation slowly but steadily.

Luckily we get to see most of Christoph’s favorite mountain along the trail: Einhyrningur, a mountain that distinctively resembles a rhinoceros.

After a  few hours we reach the confluence between the Markarfljót and the Fremri-Emstruá. By now both rivers run in deep gorges and a few of us hike to the cliffs overlooking the confluence.

By now we are about half a mile from the hut – as the crow flies, and maybe two miles – as the rest of us walks. Since the hut is on the opposite side of the canyon we have to descend a couple of hundred feet, cross the river on a bridge, and head back up the other side. The original trail is still buried under snow, so we climb the “Botnar Step” on a new path that zig-zags across a scree slope.

After about six hours of hiking we make it to the hut. Usually the path past the Botnar step is easy, this time, however, due to the high snow we have some difficulties and our boots get wet one more time. At Emstrur we have reservations for a hut and soon we’re all in a comfy warm room, watch Jon and his eager helpers prepare dinner, read a bit, write into our field notebooks, play cards or just sit there and enjoy the warmth. After a day out in the cold and rain it doesn’t get much better than this.

back to day 5
onward to day 7

Today was a day of rest. Many of the group slept in, others went on short hikes, nobody did much in particular. Christoph and a few students decided to explore a nearby waterfall that was described in one of Christoph’s German guidebooks. Alas, the Germans kept their secret: the bridge was washed away, and nobody felt like hiking a few miles upstream to the bridge at the Básar hut. Some of us went on a  little photo hike to one of Iceland’s native birch forests, others decided to head up Valanúkur, a smallish mountain just off the hut wit an amazing 360-degree view and only an additional twenty minutes to the Volcano Bar at Húsadalur.

The birch forest has some impressive trees in it and the old saying :“Should you ever get lost in an Icelandic forest…” might not be all that useful. Christoph recalls getting “sort of” lost here thirty years ago when he hiked the Laugavegur for the first time.

Jon raved about the view from Valanúkur and the beer in the Volcano Bar in Húsadalur. The often advertised hotspring at Húsadalur: not much to write home about – a lukewarm concrete contraption.

Dinner was delicious and expertly prepared by Dan and Jon, who had it down to a science. The dessert would have been a chocolate cake, but Dan carried it for three days at the bottom of his pack, so we had to make do with chocolate crumbs.

back to day 4
onward to day 5

Late that night the clouds gave way to sunshine and a spectacular view across glaciers and mountains. Most of us slept upstairs in the attic; only Jon preferred a steamy night with the two Germans.

The upstairs was not much better: every time I came in from the outside my glasses and camera lenses fogged up. The students, in their quest for darkness had covered up one of the small windows. The second one was by Christoph’s sleeping bag and stayed wide open. All in all we had a decent night – it reminded me of an old Bavarian saying: “Erfroren sind schon viele, erstunken ist noch keiner.” (I am sure you guys can google it).

The following morning was great. We enjoyed the fresh mountain air (what a contrast to last night !) and had our usual breakfast of oatmeal, hot chocolate and tea on the porch. Soon thereafter we took off to cross the pass at Fimmvörðuháls.

Unfortunately the weather deteriorated rather quickly and we hiked most of the time inside or just below one big gray cloud.

Soon we reached the two volcanic craters Magni and Móði (named after the two sons of Thor). The ground was still warm from the 2010 eruption. We climbed up the few meters to the top of Magni and enjoyed a geothermally heated rest.

Soon we left the snow behind and descended into the Þorsmörk valley. We made it safely past a few iffy spots (one now named “Linnea’s Delight” or “Glæði hennar Linnear” as the caretaker of the Þorsmörk hut translated it for us onto a napkin. The slopes were still steep, the trail sometmes went over a few exciting knife edges, but soon we all made it down to the river in the valley.

We crossed the main channel of the Krossá on a rather bouncy bridge, but the remaining channels had to be crossed via stepping stones, which caused some excitement. In the end everybody made it and the number of soaked boots was held to a minimum. We got a good campsite behind the hut, the hot shower was amazing, and dinner, supplemented through a couple of visits to the hut store and the nearby volcano bar, was enjoyed after a long day of hiking.

back to day 3
onward to day 5

Þor, or Þor-urrr-urrr-urrr as Jon pronounces his name, our bus driver picks us up at 8 AM for a quick drive to Hvolsvöllur (grocery shopping) and then on to Seljalandsfoss (waterfall watching and pulsur eating). We all enjoyed the walk behind the waterfall.

The hotdogs and muffins at the local Pylsurvagurinn are delicious. We all stock up on “real” food one last time before we’ll head out to Skogar to begin the Laugavegur which starts just a few miles down the road at Skógar.

After a short period of packing and pack-adjusting Þor said good bye and we were on our way – up the endless steps to the top of Skógarfoss. From there on we followed the river upstream, past many sheep and even more waterfalls.

After a few, seemingly endless, hours we arrived at the footbridge across the river. Unfortunately the steps that led up to the bridge had been washed away, the railing didn’t look so good, and that early in the season nobody had even considered fixing the damage. Luckily we crossed the river a little bit upstream, where a large snowfield covered the entire gorge.

From there on we followed the jeep tracks to the hut Baldvinskáli. The rain eased up a little bit and we saw a faint outline of the sun, but by now everybody was tired and the hike turned into a slog. Finally, the hut appeared amongst the clouds. All we had to do was cross a little moat of quicksand and a mile of snow. Everybody made it up there.

We put our packs down and investigated the hut. Compared to a few years ago it was in excellent shape. No mold on the walls, nice knotty pine panelled rooms and a clean attic with plenty of mattresses on the floor. Beats camping on a windy ridge any time. Downstairs was occupied by two German ladies, who  had cranked up the stove and were not too happy about the late arrival of 17 additional hut guests. We cooked dinner outside and only Jon decided to spend the night in the German sauna. The rest slept in the attic.

Baldvinskáli has no spring, but it was easy to get melt water from a nearby snowfield. Later that night the clouds cleared and we could enjoy the view across the glaciers and the clouds below. Not a bad ending for a busy day.

back to day 2
onward to day 4

 

 

 

 

After a delicious breakfast of oatmeal we head out to do the classic Golden Circle tourist tour. While most buses start at Geysir and end at Þingvellir we’ll be doing it backwards: starting at Þingvellir and camping at Geysir, so we have all evening to observe the springs.

We listen to Jon making up half of Iceland’s history and explaining rocks (basalt) and tectonic processes to our class. Considering that it was pouring buckets at that time, he had an amazingly attentive audience. Afterwards we hike down into the Almannagja, inspect the drowning pool and walk across the valley to the waiting bus. Next stop: Gullfoss.

On good days we spend about two hours at the falls. Today we were more efficient. After maybe an hour we’re on our way to Geysir, our camp site for the night.

At Geysir we set up tents and waited for “a very old man”, who turned out to be in his sixties rather than nineties, to collect the fees for the campsites. Afterwards we explored the springs, watched Strokkur go of repeatedly and measured the temperatures of several hot springs.

Afterwards everybody seemed to congregate in the restaurant, enjoying the comfy leather couches and drinking beer and coffee.

Luckily, the campsite had a picnic table that was somewhat sheltered from the rain, so we enjoy a delicious dinner and had “snikkerkaka” for dessert (see below).

back to day 1
onward to day 3

 

This year’s ENVS field trip revisited an old favorite: we spent 12 awesome days in Iceland. The weather was miserable but the trip was as amazing as ever.

We arrived in Reykjavik at the crack of (non-existing) dawn, got our bus transfer to the city campground and set up tents in a light drizzle. Then we headed into town for some early sight seeing.

The night was short, and it showed early in the afternoon. Jenna must have slept for hours, but Lia wasn’t doing much better. She blamed it on some really big guy in the seat next to hers.

We barely got them awake enough to try out the local pool (ask the girls about their highly traumatic shower experience!) and have local fare at Reykjavik’s best hotdog stand, which happens to be right in front of the pool. The students may have had their doubts, but after two bites they agreed: Their professors were right (as usual), and Icelandic hotdogs are awesome! “Eina með öllu” is all the Icelandic you really need to know.

I think we had them all in bed by nine (OK, all but Giuliani and Dan – maybe).

Two side notes:
No matter where Bill Clinton ate his dog (Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur), the best hotdog stand is NOT at the harbor – far from it.

The title, you ask? Well, my favorite “Twenty Shades of Grey” was already taken, and gray had to be in the title. It’s the favorite color of rainclouds, storm clouds, the inside of clouds, overcast sky, fog, more  clouds,  andesitic lava flows, and backpackers from at least three continents.

onward to day 2