Hiking in Landmannalaugar
For our first day in Landmannalaugar, we had planned to do the combined Bláhnúkur and Brennisteinsalda hike, covering about ten kilometers. Starting from our cabin, we took the F208 heading north.
The Fjallabak region is truly out of this world, and we wanted to stop every five minutes to take photos.
The Bláhnúkur Hike
Around 11:00 AM, we began our hike towards the blue mountain of Bláhnúkur. The weather was cloudy, with occasional rays of sunshine that made the landscape even more dramatic.
The climb was quite steep but once we reached the summit, we were rewarded with a stunning panorama of the surrounding mountain ranges, especially Brennisteinsalda with its red slopes. When we spotted a few minuscule hikers in the distance, we realized just how vast these landscapes were, a truly humbling experience.
Next we descended the other side of the mountain, downhill to the river which we had to cross on foot to reach Brennisteinsalda. We decided to have a snack in the foothills of Brennisteinsalda mountain before heading up to the summit.
The view from the peak is simply superb, an unobstructed panorama of the Vondugil plain stretching to the horizon. We returned to the campsite around 3:00 PM and got ready to hit the road again.
The F225
We had heard great things about the F225 off-road trail so we decided to take the plunge and spend the evening in Selfoss, a town we all really enjoyed.
The F225 was a memorable drive, without a doubt one of the most beautiful off-road experiences we had the chance to enjoy in Iceland. It wasn’t a techical trail either, with only one real river crossing which we managed without any issues in our trusty Duster.
I will never forget the vehicle cutting through vast black sand plains in a desert-like landscape occasionally dotted with bright green moss on either side. For much of the drive we had the iconic Hekla volcano with its Rauðaskál crater dominating the horizon.
After a two-hour drive from the Landmannalaugar campsite, we arrived in Selfoss for a well-deserved dinner.
