Day 3 - Hiking from Alftavatn to Emstrur - 15 km (9.5 miles)

 DAY 3 - August 28, 2023  

Today, we trek from Alftavatn to Emstrur huts. We walked through black volcanic rock deserts and green valleys and mountains. It was mostly flat and an easy, enjoyable walk with stunning views.

When we woke up, it was raining outside. We waited till past 10 am to start the hiking.

We start with a river crossing !

What an amazing view with the different shades of green.

Can see the Hvanngil Huts - these huts are 3.8 km from Alftavatn.

After Hvanngil huts, there was another river crossing. This one was a bit deep and water came up above our knees. The waters of this river was glacial cold !

I am still wearing this poncho, since there was a light drizzle. It looked like the rain may stop soon. This poncho cost me 20 dollars at the base camp - very expensive for a 1-2 dollar poncho!

As a bonus for the walk across the chilly river, our guide took us on a side hike to show this waterfall. 

The views again were simply stunning!

Panoramic view of the valley!

We are leaving all the green valleys and entering the black sand desert!

Part of our group. Neel is on the left. Fourth from the left is our guide- Halldor.

The full group minus Neel. There were 3 young ladies from Iowa (in their mid-20s). The oldest were a couple from Hawaii (maybe close to 70 ys old)

The clouds made the views more majestic! You can see a glacier in the distance.

We could see 2 glaciers - the Myrdalsjokull and the Eyjafjallajokull glaciers. Eyjafjallajokull is very well known for its 2010 eruption that caused a lot of havoc with air-travel for a few days! Hidden under Myrdalsjokull is Katla, one of Iceland's most active volcano.

Taking a lunch break by a beautiful waterfall. The picture shows Larry and Shannan Oates from Indiana. Larry has trekked up Kilimanjaro and also done the Everest Base Camp.

The lunch was a sandwich and some trail mix or chocolate.

Post lunch, we continued the trek. We had another 6 km to get to Emstrur huts.

The landscape was stunning. Some people say this is the most boring day of the trek, but for me, this was one of the best. The views were stunning and it was desolate. 

Neel is messing around :-)

It sometimes felt we were walking on an alien planet!

Posing on a rock! The views are expansive!

Some plant that is growing in this cold desert-like environment.

Trail going around the bend...

This is Maelifell (means Measuring Hill). It is a 200m cone volcano that stands out in a desert of black sands and rises to an altitude of just under 800 m. It was once concealed under the Myrdalsjokull glacier, the third largest glacier in Iceland, but became exposed when the glacier retreated at the end of the last Ice Age, approximately 10,000 years ago.

This place is completely surreal, with a mountain shaped like a pyramid carpeted in green moss that contrasts spectacularly with the black desert of Mealifellssandur.

This volcano was stunning in its beauty! Look at the contrast with the landscape!

Almost didn't want to leave this beautiful mountain !

We were now getting close to the Emstrur huts.

I wrote all our family's name in the desert sand - Neel, Satto, Indu and Alex.

 

We did a side detour to a beautiful canyon called Markarfljótsgljúfur. The canyon was 200 m deep, carved by the Markarfljót river.

Picture with Halldor !

Neel is giving ode to my poor knees !

So glad Neel was with me on this beautiful hike. He was a big support and also kept the mood light !

What a gorgeous picture of the canyon with Neel silhouetted against it ! 

As we were leaving, a helicopter flew inside the canyon- it was pretty thrilling just to watch it.

After leaving the canyon, we walked down to the Emstrur huts. Neel again carried my backpack, since by now my knees were hurting again.

The Emstrur huts. There's a glacier visible in the distance.

The sunset that evening had an amazing orange glow to it.

Halldor cooked a nice meal for us. He made rice, salad and grilled fish. For Neel and I, he grilled something that they call Oumph meat, a vegan meat substitute - it was delicious! 

Due to some scheduling issues, the bus that was to come pick all of us up at Thorsmork tomorrow was showing up at 3 pm instead of the original 6 pm. I usually pride myself on being a fast walker. But because of my knee pain, I had slowed down significantly. The 3 girls from Iowa were also usually the last to reach. All of us slow pokes were asked to head out early by 6:30 am tomorrow; so, we reach on time for the bus. The rest of the group would head out more leisurely around 9 am and be there on time for the bus. 

After dinner, we settled down to sleep. This hut had multiple mattresses in each section and we were all packed one next to the other (similar to the hut in Landmannalaugar). Each of us slept in our sleeping bag, that we had rented from the trekking company. My sleep wasn't that good, worrying about the bathroom situation (the bathroom being outside and a good few steps to reach!).