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Þórsmörk, Iceland. 26.06.2011.

Hiking in Þórsmörk, South-Iceland.

Read about Þórsmörk here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9E%C3%B3rsm%C3%B6rk

About this hike:

I try to hike every time I come home to Iceland in the summertime. This time I hiked with my friend Bolli Pétur who is a priest in North-Iceland. We hiked the famous route Fimmvörðuháls which starts in Skógar and ends in Þórsmörk (you can also do it the other way round).

We decided to do it in two days instead of the usual one day and stayed in a hut between the glaciers (Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull). The hut, Fimmvörðuskáli, lies only few hundreds meters away from a recent eruption in Fimmvörðuháls and on one site you have Eyjafjallajökull which recently erupted and on the other site you have Mýrdalsjökull with the infamous volcano Katla which is predicted to erupt very soon. I admit that I didn´t sleep much that night..... ;)

You can see the route explained in this picture of mine: www.flickr.com/photos/sigfus/6225915030/

About Fimmvörðuháls:

Fimmvörðuháls is the area between the glaciers Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull in southern Iceland. The route between Skógar and Thórsmörk goes through this pass and is one of the most popular walking routes in Iceland, despite being 22km long and involving 1000m of climbing. At Fimmvörðuháls there is a modern comfortable mountain hut owned by Útivist, one of the Icelandic hiking associations. Also nearby there is an older, less equipped hut called Baldvinsskáli. The route from Skógar is particularly beautiful as numerous waterfalls are passed along the way. The route is only accessible between mid-June and late-August. On the night of 16 May 1970, three travellers died on the mountain pass in a snowstorm.

Read more here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fimmv%C3%B6r%C3%B0uh%C3%A1ls

Þórsmörk, Iceland. 26.06.2011.

Hiking in Þórsmörk, South-Iceland.

Read about Þórsmörk here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9E%C3%B3rsm%C3%B6rk

About this hike:

I try to hike every time I come home to Iceland in the summertime. This time I hiked with my friend Bolli Pétur who is a priest in North-Iceland. We hiked the famous route Fimmvörðuháls which starts in Skógar and ends in Þórsmörk (you can also do it the other way round).

We decided to do it in two days instead of the usual one day and stayed in a hut between the glaciers (Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull). The hut, Fimmvörðuskáli, lies only few hundreds meters away from a recent eruption in Fimmvörðuháls and on one site you have Eyjafjallajökull which recently erupted and on the other site you have Mýrdalsjökull with the infamous volcano Katla which is predicted to erupt very soon. I admit that I didn´t sleep much that night..... ;)

You can see the route explained in this picture of mine: www.flickr.com/photos/sigfus/6225915030/

About Fimmvörðuháls:

Fimmvörðuháls is the area between the glaciers Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull in southern Iceland. The route between Skógar and Thórsmörk goes through this pass and is one of the most popular walking routes in Iceland, despite being 22km long and involving 1000m of climbing. At Fimmvörðuháls there is a modern comfortable mountain hut owned by Útivist, one of the Icelandic hiking associations. Also nearby there is an older, less equipped hut called Baldvinsskáli. The route from Skógar is particularly beautiful as numerous waterfalls are passed along the way. The route is only accessible between mid-June and late-August. On the night of 16 May 1970, three travellers died on the mountain pass in a snowstorm.

Read more here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fimmv%C3%B6r%C3%B0uh%C3%A1ls

Þórsmörk, Iceland. 26.06.2011.

My fellow hiker, Bolli, walks under a cliff where a part of the famous Fimmvörðuháls hiking trail lies....

Read about Þórsmörk here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9E%C3%B3rsm%C3%B6rk

About this hike:

I try to hike every time I come home to Iceland in the summertime. This time I hiked with my friend Bolli Pétur who is a priest in North-Iceland. We hiked the famous route Fimmvörðuháls which starts in Skógar and ends in Þórsmörk (you can also do it the other way round).

We decided to do it in two days instead of the usual one day and stayed in a hut between the glaciers (Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull). The hut, Fimmvörðuskáli, lies only few hundreds meters away from a recent eruption in Fimmvörðuháls and on one site you have Eyjafjallajökull which recently erupted and on the other site you have Mýrdalsjökull with the infamous volcano Katla which is predicted to erupt very soon. I admit that I didn´t sleep much that night..... ;)

You can see the route explained in this picture of mine: www.flickr.com/photos/sigfus/6225915030/

About Fimmvörðuháls:

Fimmvörðuháls is the area between the glaciers Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull in southern Iceland. The route between Skógar and Thórsmörk goes through this pass and is one of the most popular walking routes in Iceland, despite being 22km long and involving 1000m of climbing. At Fimmvörðuháls there is a modern comfortable mountain hut owned by Útivist, one of the Icelandic hiking associations. Also nearby there is an older, less equipped hut called Baldvinsskáli. The route from Skógar is particularly beautiful as numerous waterfalls are passed along the way. The route is only accessible between mid-June and late-August. On the night of 16 May 1970, three travellers died on the mountain pass in a snowstorm.

Read more here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fimmv%C3%B6r%C3%B0uh%C3%A1ls

Þórsmörk, Iceland. 26.06.2011.

Read about Þórsmörk here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9E%C3%B3rsm%C3%B6rk

About this hike:

I try to hike every time I come home to Iceland in the summertime. This time I hiked with my friend Bolli Pétur who is a priest in North-Iceland. We hiked the famous route Fimmvörðuháls which starts in Skógar and ends in Þórsmörk (you can also do it the other way round).

We decided to do it in two days instead of the usual one day and stayed in a hut between the glaciers (Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull). The hut, Fimmvörðuskáli, lies only few hundreds meters away from a recent eruption in Fimmvörðuháls and on one site you have Eyjafjallajökull which recently erupted and on the other site you have Mýrdalsjökull with the infamous volcano Katla which is predicted to erupt very soon. I admit that I didn´t sleep much that night..... ;)

You can see the route explained in this picture of mine: www.flickr.com/photos/sigfus/6225915030/

About Fimmvörðuháls:

Fimmvörðuháls is the area between the glaciers Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull in southern Iceland. The route between Skógar and Thórsmörk goes through this pass and is one of the most popular walking routes in Iceland, despite being 22km long and involving 1000m of climbing. At Fimmvörðuháls there is a modern comfortable mountain hut owned by Útivist, one of the Icelandic hiking associations. Also nearby there is an older, less equipped hut called Baldvinsskáli. The route from Skógar is particularly beautiful as numerous waterfalls are passed along the way. The route is only accessible between mid-June and late-August. On the night of 16 May 1970, three travellers died on the mountain pass in a snowstorm.

Read more here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fimmv%C3%B6r%C3%B0uh%C3%A1ls

Þórsmörk, Iceland. 26.06.2011.

As those know who live in Iceland or has visited the country, there is almost no wood in Iceland. A joke says: What do you do if you get lost in an Icelandic forest? Answer: You stand up..

Wikipedia about the Icelandic forest, or lack of it:

"When the island was first settled, it was extensively forested. In the late 12th-century Íslendingabók, Ari the Wise described it as "forested from mountain to sea shore". Permanent human settlement greatly disturbed the isolated ecosystem of thin, volcanic soils and limited species diversity. The forests were heavily exploited over the centuries for firewood and timber. Deforestation, climatic deterioration during the Little Ice Age and overgrazing by sheep, caused a loss of critical topsoil due to erosion. Today, many farms have been abandoned and three-quarters of Iceland's hundred thousand square kilometers are affected by soil erosion, eighteen thousand square kilometers so seriously as to be useless. Only a few small birch stands now exist in isolated reserves. The planting of new forests has increased the number of trees, but does not compare to the original forests. Some of the planted forests include introduced species.
Read more here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland#Biodiversity

Read about Þórsmörk here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9E%C3%B3rsm%C3%B6rk

About this hike:

I try to hike every time I come home to Iceland in the summertime. This time I hiked with my friend Bolli Pétur who is a priest in North-Iceland. We hiked the famous route Fimmvörðuháls which starts in Skógar and ends in Þórsmörk (you can also do it the other way round).

We decided to do it in two days instead of the usual one day and stayed in a hut between the glaciers (Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull). The hut, Fimmvörðuskáli, lies only few hundreds meters away from a recent eruption in Fimmvörðuháls and on one site you have Eyjafjallajökull which recently erupted and on the other site you have Mýrdalsjökull with the infamous volcano Katla which is predicted to erupt very soon. I admit that I didn´t sleep much that night..... ;)

You can see the route explained in this picture of mine: www.flickr.com/photos/sigfus/6225915030/

About Fimmvörðuháls:

Fimmvörðuháls is the area between the glaciers Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull in southern Iceland. The route between Skógar and Thórsmörk goes through this pass and is one of the most popular walking routes in Iceland, despite being 22km long and involving 1000m of climbing. At Fimmvörðuháls there is a modern comfortable mountain hut owned by Útivist, one of the Icelandic hiking associations. Also nearby there is an older, less equipped hut called Baldvinsskáli. The route from Skógar is particularly beautiful as numerous waterfalls are passed along the way. The route is only accessible between mid-June and late-August. On the night of 16 May 1970, three travellers died on the mountain pass in a snowstorm.

Read more here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fimmv%C3%B6r%C3%B0uh%C3%A1ls