Owing to the rain outside playing maracas on my tent I packed my rucksack (with difficulty) in the very confined space inside. My socks have been wet for a few days, and now my sleeping bag has damp patches although it is still cosy and warm, maybe as it is synthetic rather than down. I left Dettifoss before any tourists had arrived a little apprehensive of the route ahead. I had downloaded it from the internet to reach the volcanic phenomena at Leirhnjúkur. As there are no trails from Dettifoss to Leirhnjúkur the route I had downloaded crossed much open land, and I was concerned that it may be difficult to push through the vegetation or other obstacles. From Dettifoss to the Hliðarhagi tourist hut it was not too difficult, the land only had low, gentle hills, and although it was necessary to jump from hummock to hummock at times, the undergrowth did not prove too difficult. Lichen and mosses; patches of red, splashes of white, furry greens, brightened my way. Even the river crossing I expected turned out to be dry. The tourist hut was open, with a note on the table warning of bed bugs on the mattresses.
After the hut things became difficult. There was no visible path up the hillside that followed, at least not in the right direction, and at first the creeping willow and birch made it difficult to push through. I persevered, following occasional sheep tracks. After the initial climb, the main obstacle to my walk came into view, a long ridge its summit lost in the low cloud. At first the route followed the base of the steep slope of the mountain's east face, then near a gully, turned to go over part of the mountain range. The climb was up loose scree at a high angle, sliding stone and gravel beneath my feet made more challenging as I was now in the clouds with poor visibility. To avoid some precipitous drops in the mist which hid everything more than a few metres away I needed to follow the route on my GPS very closely, its author clearly had the benefit of better visibility to pick the best way up. It was slow progress peering at my GPS while using my "sticks" to gain purchase and push me up on the steep, loose stones, but the climb did eventually give way to a plateau. After some downhill and a low ridge the trail suddenly hit a long, straight fault in the landscape, which created a cliff where the ground had dropped away into the mist. My route continued along its line for some way until it found a way down onto a bank of snow. I was pleased to join a vehicle track a little later which took me to the sights around Leirhnjúkur.
The first of these was the Krafla crater lakes, the water an attractive bluish white hue with some steaming and sulphurous fumaroles nearby. Joining the tarmac road a sign said that they had drilled into magma at around 2900 metres (must have been dramatic) and that there were reserves of hot water at shallower depths. A power station in the valley was using this geothermal energy, this hot water to produce electricity. Silver pipes spidered across a valley linking wells drilled to produce the hot water (or dispose of the waste) to the power plant. Orange domes had been placed on the wells. More smelly fumaroles were nearby, a wooden boardwalk, slippery with a film of wet clay and in a poor state of repair led me around them. Steam beached from holes in the beige coloured hills, which contrasted to the recent black lava flows which filled the valleys beyond.
I had intended to wild camp somewhere in this area but thought I could make the Myvatn area by 7 or 8 pm where there would be more facilities. The path to Reykjahlíð was an exciting one, crossing recent lava with a ropey, pahoehoe surface, with caves and fissures to avoid stepping into. While it was fun jumping from one chunk of lava to another, the path also slowed me down. Once off the lava I did speed up although there were ascents and descents to cope with and photos to take (no point rushing and missing the whole point of the hike). Approaching 8 pm, I arrived at the campsite. I noticed they had some huts, and given the wet state of much of my stuff, I decided to stay in one, a chance to dry my socks!
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