Iceland Sea to Sea – Day 4
7/10/15
17.9 miles (101.5 miles)

Oh where to start?  Or, more to the point, where to end?

We got in about 8 easy miles this morning on a combo of road and cross country to arrive at the Kerlingarfjöll campsite by mid-morning.  We got sodas and looked over our maps. We decided to aim for a hut about 10 miles away through the mountains, passing the geothermal site Hverdalir along the way.

 

There was real trail and some elevation gain to Hveradalir and it was great! The actual trail through Hveradalir was a little less great in terms of sustainability but it was amazing to tromp through all the steam vents, boiling mud pots and colorful rhyolite hills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After plenty of gawking and photos we climbed higher into the snow to continue on our planned route. We followed a path of footprints though the snow (always a gamble) and ended up at the wrong pass. We looked south to a sea of snow right where we were headed for the next few days. We took a long pause to get out our maps and compass and gps and reassess our position, possible routes and conditions.

 

 

 

We’ve been here long enough now to know that a line on a map marked as a “trail” is generally more of a suggested route, maybe with some cairns here and there if you’re lucky.  Given the constraints of time due to my return flight and the amount of food we are carrying (4 days left at this point), and the miles left to the next resupply point, we felt making the necessary 18 miles/day might be a stretch over trail less and snowy terrain. I felt irresponsible proceeding with the amount of food I had.

We suddenly went from the high high of the sights at Hveradalir to suddenly making the call to turn around, likely ending our “sea to sea” hike.

We took an alternate route back to the campground and cooked dinner at a picnic table.  I’m having a very hard time accepting this as the end. After months of planning my original route, having that fall apart once I got to Iceland, and then scrambling to regroup and find another plan, and now doing it again,  I’m starting to get mentally drained.

Looking over maps tonight, I saw a 4wd road a little west of our planned route south of Kerlingarfjöll, and at lower elevation. Yet another new plan that adds mileage, bumping the necessary  average daily mileage to ~22mi/day for the next 4 days.

And it’s a road walk. A dirt 4wd road, but still a road. Wing It is clearly not thrilled with this option, understandably. If I decide to go ahead with it, I’m not sure she’ll join.

As of tonight, we are getting up early tomorrow and proceeding with the new route.