How to explore Iceland

Have a desire to see the Northern Lights? Want to soak in the hot springs of the world renowned Blue Lagoon? While those are probably two of the most popular reasons people desire to visit Iceland, there are roads less traveled to be found that lead to untamed wilderness and natural breathtaking views.

Are you seeking such an adventure outside of the typical visitor itinerary? Do you want experiences that will give you unique, once-in-a-lifetime memories and photos to share with your tribe of followers? If yes, then here is what to do.

Option 1: you enter a raffle and win a free spot on backpacking tour.

or

Option 2: you find a person who won and tag along with them.

but if those aren’t available…

Option 3: search for a great tour company and join one of their trips.

Lucky me, I got option 1! I was at a race on Thanksgiving day in 2016 that had a vendor expo set up. One of the prizes I entered for was with a travel tour company. The prize was for a free trip to any of the destinations they had to offer, based upon the dates and availability. I’m very happy to share that my ticket was pulled and I won! Even if it was by default since the first ticket pulled was a no-show and you had to be present to win.

At this time I had not yet met Jeremy, the other half of our 2 travelers; I didn’t even know he existed in my world let alone in my city. So fast forward to April 2017. We were at a great place in our dating relationship, and in my mind I already knew he was The One for me.

When I looked at the calendar, the only place with trip dates that worked with our schedule was to go to Iceland at the end of July/beginning of August. It was a trip for hiking/camping. After reviewing all of the information we decided it looked like an amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience that we couldn’t pass up. I mean seriously, when am I going to win another free trip to Iceland?

This trip was described as a “backpacking” excursion where we would be going on long day hikes between 8 to 12 miles each day to take in all of the awe-inspiring beauty that the vast landscape of Iceland has to offer. At night, we would camp out under the stars at various destination points along our trail.

Just a heads up – this is a long post, but appropriately so since we went on long hikes each day. I’ve broken the post down by each day of our trip. There are lots of pictures of the beautiful landscapes of Iceland, so just keep scrolling.

Obviously before we left we knew that this was going to be a pretty physically demanding trip, so we had to make sure we were prepped and ready prior to our departure.

Gear we bought

Since we would be able to use these for future trips, we opted to purchase

• backpacks
• mess kits
• thermal socks
• Rain gear – jackets, pants, waterproof bag covers
• Hiking boots (must be waterproof)
• Water shoes

Gear we rented/borrowed from our guide

Other pieces of gear, we rented from the tour group company that would be waiting for us when we made it over to Iceland. This saved us money in regards to our checked bags and being able to stay within the weight limits.

• 2-person tent
• air mattresses
• sleeping bags rated for 20 degree weather
• walking poles

To physically prepare, we began taking long walks wearing our hiking boots to make sure we wouldn’t have any issues with blisters.

Flying out – our first international trip together

At the time, our guide recommended the use of WOW Airlines for flights to and from Iceland. But first we had to get to Boston to catch that flight. *Note: WOW Airlines is no longer in operation, so I would search for other options.

We flew from Miami to Newark, then had another transition in Boston. From Boston it was a direct flight over to Iceland. Our flight out of Miami was in the early AM. We landed in Newark, NJ while breakfast was still being served. Besides the fact that we love breakfast food, this food was amazing! We ordered from iPads at our table and could customize as needed for my food sensitivities. Highly recommend this spot.

Next we were on our way to Boston, where our outgoing flight to Iceland was delayed. We used this time to call the banks to let them know of our travel plans so they wouldn’t think our cards had been stolen.

In hindsight we obviously should have done this much earlier, but thankfully it all worked out. We also learned that one of Jeremy’s credit cards had an international transaction fee that we didn’t know about, so we dedicated one of my credit cards to all of our spending in Iceland. So remember to check all of your cards and call the bank before you go.

We flew through the night and arrived in Icelandic airspace just as the sun was rising up over the clouds. The different types of terrain so close together was something spectacular that I had never seen before.

Once we landed, collected our luggage, cleared customs, and exchanged some money, we boarded a bus to take us to a bus terminal in to the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik.

Our first day/night was spent on our own exploring in the capital before meeting up with our tour group the next day.

Day 1 – Touring the capital, Reykjavik

Once we got to the bus terminal, we had to figure out how we were going to get to our hotel. We decided to rent a car so that we could come and go wherever we wanted without transportation getting too expensive.

We first went to our hotel to check in and drop off our bags. The space was VERY modest (partially so I could splurge on the back end of the trip). We knew what it looked like when we booked it, but since we were only spending one night we agreed it should be fine. We used Travelocity to book the room in order to get a discount. Just keep in the mind the basic hotel rooms over there are considerably smaller than the hotels in the US.

After we dropped our stuff off, we headed out to explore. Driving around, we found a cathedral that was apparently quite a popular landmark. We didn’t research as much as what we could/should have other than hearing about The Blue Lagoon (which was a little too far away for us to go), partially because we knew our guides would take care of everything once we met up with them.

For this short day trip, I used a lanyard to carry my money and passport so there was no need to tote around a backpack. The temperature was chilly for me, so I wore a light-weight jacket.

Once we entered the church, there was a lot to see. There were Statues and stained-glass front to back, and you can’t miss the organ pipes.

The pipes on this organ were quite impressive.

After exploring inside of the cathedral we began to walk down towards the water.

These condos sit just across the street from the water’s edge.

This statue named the “Sun Voyager” is located near the lighthouse.

This lighthouse helps guide all of the boats into the harbour.

Rock stacking is apparently a thing in this area, so obviously Jeremy felt the need to join in. In stealth ninja fashion, he climbed over the wall to start stacking. We have a video of his rock stack that we will be sharing later on.

This area of Harpa had nice paths for jogging and biking. Clearly it was a typical “warmish” day over there as most people were jogging around in shorts and tank tops. Meanwhile, I was in my jacket, sweatpants, and gloves. Like I’ve said before I’m a Floridian. I am not made to hold up well in the cold weather for extended periods of time. Between having the thin blood of a Floridian and not enough body fat to insulate me for added warmth on top of what Jeremy refers to as my always cold corpse hands & feet (poor circulation) I didn’t have much of a prayer to be shedding my layers anytime soon.

On the way down to and from the water there are quite a few little shops to check out. Plus this bakery! It was just opening for the morning and already had a line out the front door and down the block, which is obviously a good sign. We had stumbled upon a little local gem. Everything was baked fresh. They even had windows into the kitchen so you could watch the bakers hard at work. It was so good! Sorry we didn’t get the name of it.

We explored a bit more around the town, but since we were tired and wanted to get to bed early, we headed back to the hotel. Dinner was courtesy of the gas station across the street, which happened to have a Subway restaurant in it.

I also took this opportunity to try and load up on snacks since I was very apprehensive about the next few days and what little access we would have to food outside of whatever we carried with us. Before bed we utilized the free wi-fi to Facetime with our parents to let them know we had arrived safely and to tell them about our day exploring the city.

5 days/4 nights of hiking & camping

Day 2 – Bus trip to base camp

The following morning we checked out of the hotel and headed back to the bus station to return the rental vehicle and board a travel bus to our next destination. It was about a 3-hour bus ride if I remember correctly. The first portion of the trip had beautiful scenery.

Long sections of river lined the side of the road with rolling grassy hills and icy glaciers off in the distance.

During the later portion of our trip, our bus was following “roads” that were barely visible. There were no gas stations, no houses, no people. How they make it to and from these campgrounds each day is amazing. At least the bus had wi-fi so we could make contact with our family before we went completely off the grid.

After the long journey, we finally arrived at our first basecamp. We met up with our two tour guides and the three other members of our travel group, an older married couple and an older single woman from Australia that was an absolutely incredible lady. Throughout the trip she would share some of the amazing journeys she had been on.

Our guides had our tents set up and ready to go for us. We had reserved a two-person tent, while the other three had said they would just share one tent. Very tight quarters, but we learned to appreciate this because it helped us to stay warm. The pre-setup allowed us to drop of our stuff and still have time for an introductory hike up the mountain before dinner.

Our first summit that day was to a peak overlooking our base camp. For this hike we didn’t have to carry our backpacks, a “gift” considering what we would be doing for the next few days.

It was amazing to see our base camp keep shrinking from view the higher and further away we hiked.

One interesting tip/technique that we were told by our guide was when hiking you are supposed to walk differently depending whether you are ascending/climbing up or descending/going down.

When hiking up – place your weight on your toes and move with a forward lean. See that steep incline with the zig-zag path up ahead? That’s the path that leads to the top.

We had been hiking for probably an hour when we started getting close to the top.

The 360 degree panoramic views were breathtaking. We took quite a few photos on a rock ledge that truly made you feel like you were on top of the world.

There was a cool compass built in to the rock that showed the direction of every mountain and glacier in the area.

After everyone had taken all the pictures they wanted and took a short rest we began our descent.

When climbing down we were told to keep our weight more on our heels and don’t lean forward to avoid taking a tumble. It would have been a long, long way to fall to say the least. However, even though the terrain was steep and rough our guides did a good job helping everyone and we all made it down safely in one piece.

As I mentioned earlier, one of the things on the recommended packing list was waterproof boots and water shoes, since we would be experiencing river crossings and potential rain. Jeremy, after hunting around for a long time, finally found a pair at Walmart. I purchased some hiking boots from Columbia that were supposed to be waterproof, but I learned with that first step that they were more water resistant. Shame on me for not reading the label better.

This was a small river crossing that didn’t require us to change into our water shoes.

Once I started to feel the water creeping into the toe of my shoe, I immediately jumped onto the bank. Needless to say, I did not forge through the puddles like the others for the rest of the trip. Instead, it looked like I was practicing for the quintuple steps on American Ninja Warrior. I leaped from rock to rock until I made it clear of the water. Day 1 is not the day you want to soak your only pair of hiking boots.

There were 2 guides with our group, one male and one female. We’ll refer to them as guide M and guide F in this post. While climbing, the paths were almost always narrow so we normally traveled in a single-file line with the guides taking turns leading and trailing, making sure we all were keeping pace and not falling behind.

After our hike we headed back to basecamp to eat dinner. We had the option to go take a dip in the natural hot spring, but opted not to due to how crowded the area was at that time.

There was a little mobile shop where you could buy limited items. I think we bought a couple of snacks and some tea bags to take with us. This would be our only shopping area for the entire camping portion of the trip.

After dinner we enjoyed some tea to warm us up a bit then headed to bed. We knew we would be up with the sun in the morning and had a long first day of hiking with our packs ahead of us.

Day 3 – Venture to the volcanic fog lands of Hrafntinnusker

The hike took us through a variety of changing climates and terrain, from steep hills to icy fields. The extra walking poles the guide had on hand turned out to be an essential item for me. I was very thankful for his preparedness. Between the combination of climbing the steep inclines to different elevations and carrying the weight of my backpack I would not have been able to keep up with the group if it weren’t for those poles.

There weren’t very many wild animals around, just these guys and a few of their friends.

We also saw many geothermal water pools which give off lots of steam when they rise to the surface, along with a quite strong “sulfury” egg-like smell.

Layers of clothing were key to the success of our hikes. As we hiked through areas where the sun was shining bright our body temperatures would increase enough from the physical exertion of the hike so that our jackets weren’t needed.

At this point in the trip I was having some digestive issues and was experiencing quite a bit of abdominal pain at that time. I kept slowing down as the pain increased. Thankfully we were due for a short water and snack break, which gave me some relief.

Meanwhile, Jeremy was feeling great and loving every minute as he charged on ahead of me for most of this hike.

He did however wait for me to cross the snow first. I’m sure he was hoping to catch a glimpse of me wiping out or something funny like that. Thankfully, I did not fall victim to catching a case of “snowy bottom” and made it across without any wipeouts. So did Jeremy.

Along the way, another unique experience was that guide M told us we could drink the water coming directly from the streams. The water comes from melting glaciers and he explained that its super pure, naturally cold, and perfectly safe so everyone in our group took our bottles and just scooped it out. It was indeed cold, had a bit of a minerally taste, but actually was quite refreshing.

After a long day of hiking we finally made it to our next campsite.

This location had two areas for bathrooms, one up by the cabins and another outhouse down near our tent area. There were no showers at this site.

We had to work quick to set up our tents while it was still light out in order to get everything set up before the sun went down and the temperature dropped.

Due to the drastic drop in temperature overnight, our guides got us in to camp early so that we could secure one of these volcanic rock fortresses. The barrier of the stacked rocks helped to insulate us from the windchill.

Day 4 – Cabin ahead at Laugavegur

Before making a major ascent up to the next mountain peak, our day started with the opportunity to play in the snow by sledding down this snow covered hill. Our guide had a little board that we were able to sit on to slide down. Of course I had to do it!

After another hour of hiking, once we all made it to the top, it was time for another break to take photos, hydrate, and have a snack to keep our energy up. Each time we posed for one of these photos it blew my mind to see just how far we had traveled.

Along the way we were told about things unique to Iceland’s geology and biodiversity like different types of mosses/plants and rocks.

For lunch we stopped on a hillside that overlooks a beautiful lake surrounded by glaciers and moss covered mountains.

Today’s lunch menu offered a create your own “pizza” option.

I was nervous to eat a whole lot at this time since my stomach was finally starting to feel a little bit better. While others ate, I enjoyed the view and the surrounding plant life. We were told it takes about 10 years for most of the plant life to develop due the the extreme climatic conditions. Then I bundled up in my space blanket because it was very cold at this spot.

After lunch we continued on towards Laugavegur. We were so excited and anxious to arrive at our next campsite because this was the night we got to take a hot shower, eat food cooked in a real kitchen, and sleep in a warm cabin.

As we continued on we found another site with a natural spring that we could use to refill our water bottles.

River Crossing

River crossing – For deep ones like this where hopping rocks rising above the surface are not available we would stop to change into our water shoes before crossing. This is another reason why layers are important. I had capris underneath my sweatpants so I wouldn’t get my pants wet. Again, the walking poles were super helpful during this time as I could better steady myself between steps.

Day 5 – Sleeping by the babbling brook at Porsmork

This day turned out to be a rainy one. Thankfully we had our wet weather gear and bag covers. Jeremy referred to this stunning outfit as the Purple People Eater Rainsuit.

Our tent site was located at the bottom of the stairs, next to a stream. We even had our own picnic table for our dinner set up.

After arriving at the site and getting all of our gear set up for the night, we had the option to go on a walk around without our packs since the rain had stopped. I wasn’t feeling well, so I decided to take this time to rest in the tent.

Jeremy went with the rest of the group to explore. When he came back, he said I probably missed out on the most beautiful views of the whole trip.

Feeling a little bit better after some rest, I decided to let him take me back out to show me some of the spots they went to.

Our tents were set up right next to this little footbridge that crossed over what I like to call the babbling brook. I loved listening to the sound of the flowing water while tucked warmly inside the tent as I went to sleep that night. It was a nice sound to wake up to the next morning too.

I even found enough energy for some yoga poses and balances.

Day 6 – Final destination, the hike to Landmannalaugar

The beginning of this hike required us to use this rope to rappel down the trail before crossing over the two bridges set above the river.

Although it was dreary, we continue pushing forward since there wasn’t any shelter nearby to stop at. We basically had to try to outrun the weather.

We were warned to be very careful around this crossing and to not get too close to the edge near the raging rapids area. We were told a couple of people that had gotten too close in the past had slipped and fallen into the water. They were swept so far down the river so quickly that no one was able to rescue them in time before they drowned.

Opposite the dreary sky, the ground lay covered with the most colorful beauty this portion of creation had to offer.

After a break for lunch, we continued on though one last river crossing and over a few more mountain paths.

Finally we arrived at the last location, which is where the bus would pick us up in a couple of hours.

As we were waiting for the bus to return to pick us up and take us back into town, we decided to go explore since we were finally able to leave our packs off for a little while. Jeremy wanted to find a way to climb up to the top of this mountain nearby. After climbing around and searching for a while, we found ourselves unsuccessful.

At the time I didn’t understand Jeremy’s necessity to get up there, but he seemed determined for one last summit. Later on down the trail, he decided to jump off the path and up on to the side of the steep mountain to get as high as he could. He climbed his way up to a small rock perched at the top, not waiting for me to join in.

Meanwhile, I’m still standing on the trail, scolding him for getting off the path, the one rule the guide had been telling us the whole trip, “Don’t step on the vegetation, remember it takes like 10 years to grow!” Notice the picture below he captured with my hands on my hips refusing to climb up there.

He somehow finally convinced me to crawl my way up the mountain. I had no idea he had been searching for a special spot for just the two of us so he could give me the best present I’ve even gotten.

I’m so thankful he was able to work around my stubbornness and figured out a way to get me up there.

We managed to make it all the way home before sharing our big news with anyone. Another stamp in the passport. Another journey in the books.