I was picked up at 9am by the Glaciers and Waterfalls guide, Kalman and we set off to the Reykjanes Peninsula to hike to the erupting volcano. En route we stopped off at a traditional fish drying farm. The smell packed a punch as I stepped out of the minibus!!
We drove through a huge lava field which takes up most of the plain between Reykjavik and Reykjanes peninsula and it is remarkably barren. In some areas the lava is covered by a thick carpet of moss and lichen which is particularly beautiful and is very characteristic of Iceland.
We drove all the way along Kleifarvatn Lake (where I dived in the geothermal bubbles earlier in the week). The cloudy day added to the drama.
Next we stopped at Krysuvik, an area covered in bubbling mud and steaming pools. It was absolutely beautiful.
While it was certainly an expensive tour, the driver made such an effort to tell us loads of details and showed us as many sights on the way down there as possible. It was really good!
The hike to the volcano starts from an established carpark and has a very well established trail – two previous eruptions very close by in 2021 and 2022 mean that this is a really swept up operation and just a couple of days after the eruption began they had opened up the trials.
The Visit Reykjanes website is the place to go for any information about access.
And there is a live YouTube stream of the eruption.
The path is mostly loose volcanic rock and gravel and it snakes round, up and over a number of rolling hills.
After 6.5km I rounded a corner to see the volcano fairly close for the first time. It was spectacular watching the lava jump out of the crater. The lava being thrown up in the air has a huge amount of hot gas in it and also appears to carry a lot of momentum. It hangs in the air and seems to move in gravity-defying slow motion.
I headed straight to the high viewpoint on a nearby hill which involves a couple of pretty steep ascents but is absolutely worth getting the highest vantage point.
Photos do not do this incredible sight justice. Seeing it with my own eyes was a really breathtaking experience and having the hike as part of it also made it feel a bit like a pilgrimage.
I spent more than an hour watching huge spurts of lava shooting up and around the crater and was also pretty excited to see the river of lava kick into full flow a couple of times, breaking through the black crust with a fiery red glow.
Both the hike back to the minibus and the drive back to Reykjavik were uneventful and I am so glad that I made the trip happen after it had been cancelled on Monday!
👍🏻 I still can’t seem to like the actual post 🤗
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