Laugavegur Trail - Landmannalaugar to Hvanngil - June 2024
Summary
On our first day on the Laugavegur Trail, we hiked from Landmannalaugar to Hvanngil over the course of 16.5 miles and roughly 3,000 feet of elevation gain.
We hiked from mile marker 0 to roughly 15 on the AllTrails link above. We found this trail to be longer than what is documented on AllTrails, and unfortunately there is no marker for Hvanngil at this time.
Where
Landmannalaugar is a location in Iceland's Fjallabak Nature Reserve in the Highlands. The Laugavegur Trail connects Landmannalaugar in the north to Thorsmörk in the south.
Logistics
From Reykjavik, we took a 3.5 hour bus ride through TREX to get to Landmannalaugar at around 11:30. The bus ride makes 1 stop along the way, and the final 45 minutes of the bus ride are beautiful as you approach Landmannalaugar.
Hiking
We arrived at Landmannalaugar with most of what we would need for 2-3 days of hiking. Before we set off, we filled our water bottles, took photos at the start line, and had a quick conversation with the Safety Warden to get an understanding for the remaining snow in the highlands and the wind and rain conditions for the upcoming days. In typical Iceland fashion, the Warden informed us that we should expect cold days with rain and some wind. At least we knew what we were getting ourselves into and had prepared accordingly!
At the start of the hike, we were surrounded by many other hikers as Landmannalaugar is a popular destination for those that would like to base camp and do shorter day hikes in the area. Fortunately, within 2 miles the tourism faded and we were spacing out a bit. From the onset of the hike, we noticed the unique landscape that this trail had to offer. A combination of volcanic rock, hot springs, snow and green moss created picturesque views as we ascended towards the highlands.
Once up into the highlands, we trudged through snow while facing strong winds and added snow, hail, and rain mixtures. We were quickly reminded that the challenge of this trip would be the conditions in Iceland, but fortunately found our gear was up for the test.
After a few miles in these conditions, we were able to take shelter for a few minutes at the Hrafntinnusker shelter. There was a warming area for hikers, which we thoroughly enjoyed as a brief reprieve from the harsh conditions we were enduring at this point. We used this time to stop for a late lunch and meet other hikers doing this trail. One pair of friends from Belgium had ridden on the bus with us and had plans to hike to Álftavatn that day.
After we felt prepared to press forward, we exited the warming shelter and continued on. At this point, we knew it would only be a little while until we started to descend out of the highlands. Fortunately, the worst of the weather was behind us and the next few miles went smoothly. We also would only run into a handful of other hikers after leaving Hrafntinnusker which made for a positive contrast from the start of the hike.
Upon descending the highlands, we were rewarded with our first view of the Laugavegur Trail we had envisioned for months leading up to this trip: the dark grey and black volcanic rock and soil mixed with the bright green moss growing on some of the larger mountains in the distance. To top it off, we were also able to spot nearby glaciers at this point too!
After a few more miles, we approached Álftavatn after having hiked 14 miles in around 6 hours. It was misting, cold, and windy. We agreed as a group that it would be worth looking into available shelter options in lieu of camping given the conditions. Unfortunately, the shelter situation was not very ideal in Álftavatn, however the Warden had mentioned Hvanngil was not much further away and would very likely have better options both in weather and shelter if we had the energy to press forward. It was a unanimous decision by the group that we would accept the extra hiking and take a chance at Hvanngil.
Fortunately, we were quickly rewarded for our decision as we crossed over a small mountain out of Álftavatn, the weather broke quickly in our favor. After a river crossing and some added, relatively easy miles, we finally approached Hvanngil, exhausted from 16.5 miles in 7.5 hours. Now came the moment of truth to see what options existed for us. The Warden at Hvanngil informed us we were in luck as we were a group of 4, she could offer us an entire room to ourselves in the shelter. This was welcomed news given what our gear had gone through the entire day. Everything was wet and cold, and this was the warm up we needed!
We concluded the night drying off, talking about logistics for the upcoming day, and sharing thoughts about how impressive Day 1 was already!
Photos
All photos were taken with my current phone at the time, which was the iPhone 12 Pro.
