Iceland Hike – 2016
Iceland had been on my mind for a few years before I finally booked a ticket to go there. Getting there from Canada used to be quite expensive, but with the opening of some cheap flights from USA and Canada, my husband and I planned to take our vacation there in 2016.
I had read a lot of trip reports of people crossing the country West to East or North to South. However I did not want to plan something too ambitious as this would be my husband's first long distance hike. I ordered some 1:100 000 maps and decided on a route that would leave directly from Keflavik airport, where international flights land and would eventually lead us to the Laugavegur trail, supposed to be one of the most beautiful treks in that area. The goal of our trip was to hike, explore, have fun while not spending too much money.
We landed very early in the morning and started walking from Keflavik airport towards some trails nearby. As we were walking on the side of the road someone stopped to offer us a ride which we declined; we wanted to walk the whole way to Skogar, where we were planning to end our hike. After approximately one hour we got to the start of a trail.
It took us a couple days to reach Reykjavik using hiking trails. The landscape was amazing, we walked in moss and lava fields for most of the way to the big city. We went into Reykjavik mainly to find a grocery store where we could buy our supplies for the next 10 days and mail ourselves a box of supplies at the Hrauneyjar Guesthouse in the highlands that we would pick up further on our hike.
To plan the trip I used 1:100 000 maps I bought on the OS app called "PDF Maps". These maps showed a lot of trails all over the country. I traced a potential route with the application and then took screen captures on my tablet. I printed the screen captures of the maps so we could have a paper copy with us and would not rely only on electronics for navigation. I believe the maps I used have not been updated recently as we found a lot of trails to be non-existent when we got there, especially for trails close to Reykjavik. However we were always able to manage by changing our route slightly and did not end up in any "dead-ends".
We ended up walking around 450 kilometers over 20 days. We could have planned a longer stretch as we ended up having free time, exploring side trails and doing short days in order to keep to the schedule. We freedom camped most of the time while hiking, except for one night in a room at the Hrauneyjar guesthouse where we picked up our resupply box and two nights on the Laugavegur trek where we stayed at the official trail campgrounds. We never freedom camped close to houses or in sight of a road. Iceland has become a very popular travel destination and we did not want to be annoying tourists. We only camped in spots out of sight, not at walking distance of a campground and where we were sure not to bother anyone. As always, we also practiced Leave No Trace camp principles. I took information about freedom camping on the blog Iheartreykjavik.net. It is mentioned on the blog that freedom camping is permitted under the following conditions:
“Camping with no more than three tents is allowed on uncultivated ground for a single night, unless the landowner has posted a notice to the contrary. However, campers should always use designated campsites where they do exist. Do not camp close to farms without permission. If a group of more than three tents is involved, these campers must seek permission from the landowner before setting up camp outside marked campsite areas.”
We traveled at the end of August and beginning of September. The weather was very pleasant for hiking but could change very quickly. A tent that can hold up to strong winds is necessary. In the regions where we hiked we could have hiked with a tent that is not freestanding but I have read that in other parts of the country a freestanding tent is recommended.
Iceland being a remote wealthy country with a small population, the cost of living is quite high. Regular tourist expenses such as car rental, gas, hotels and restaurants are very expensive. Most of these expenses can be avoided by planning to explore the country on foot rather than by car. You get to see less territory, but at the same time you get to see a lot more of the territory where you are traveling in. We managed to keep the cost of the whole trip to a very reasonable level by camping most of the time and making our own food. You can see the total cost for the trip in the table below. Although the cost of the trip was low, we realize that the gear we were using is not necessarily very cheap. However we already owned the gear and there is nothing that we bought specifically for Iceland. Unaccounted for in the detailed expenses below are three nights at a brand hotel in Reykjavik that we got for free by using reward points.
A few notes on our gear list below: I brought a -15C (5F) degree sleeping bag, which was too warm for the season. A -7C (20F) would have been sufficient with warm clothes for colder nights. We never ended using our headlamps since there was so much daylight.
