We stuffed our packs with still-wet, stinky race clothes and hit the trail early to make the hike from Húsadalur, þórsmörk toward Skógar, making our way between the volcanoes, Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull. Another marathon finisher was doing the same trek so we set off together. He aimed to finish the 30km, usually 2 day hike, all today, so we tried to keep up with his pace despite our extra weight. We were all moving pretty well for just finishing a 55km trail race, and covered a good distance in the mild temperature of the morning hours. I frantically snapped photos as we moved through a wide river bed, through unbelievably green hills, and past craters from the 2010 eruption looking over an endless expanse of mountains and valleys.
After some steady climb up soft lava and some chain-assisted scrambles, we felt the higher elevation with strong wind, fog, and the return of rain in time to begin the snow traverses of the Fimmvörðuháls mountain ridge. After a few hours, my knee felt the strain of the race and the weight of my pack, and wasn't too cooperative trudging through the sludge. I started to feel every step, but we met two more hikers (when we had to back track after a missed turn where the trail split), and the new company kept us moving along until we all reached the Fimmvörðuháls emergency shelter.
The rain fell on us steadily, the temperature had dropped, and nothing could be more encouraging than a short break, sheltered from the worsening conditions and sideways hail. The one-room hut had a wood stove to boil snow for water and I don't know when I've been happier to make a hot drink and sit and share travel stories for a while. I was reluctant to continue - we were only half-way and the weather was not improving, but we couldn't stay, so we pushed forward, wanting to complete the trek to Skógar. I was frustrated to miss the incredible landscape from closing our hoods tightly around our faces and soldiering through the rain, but the conditions didn't allow any slacking. Despite the weather, it was stunning, especially tracing the curves of a deep gorge and countless waterfalls toward the end of the trail.
It took about ten hours of hard hiking, and more than half of those soaked through from the waist down (our race shells did a surprisingly good job during the relentless rain), but we saw plains and the sea out in front of us, and suddenly we were standing above Skógafoss waterfall with a throng of other tourists and a 377 stairway to descend to the campground (ouch the worst thing for a sore knee). A few restaurants, a parking lot, and all the people felt strangely unreal coming out of survival mode, even if was only one day. We were drenched and starving, so we didn't pass the opportunity to gorge on three plates of fries and beer and sit inside for a while rather than tough it out with a small meal on the camp stove. We had already set up our tent among the other campers, so we crawled inside and slept under the roar of the falls and the tapping rain.
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| þórsmörk - Fimmvörðuháls - Skógar |
