Day 4 - Hiking from Emstrur to Thorsmork - 15 km (9.5 miles)

 DAY 4 - August 29, 2023  

Today was the last day of the trek. As mentioned, the "slow" trekkers, including me (sad !) were asked to leave at 6:30 am, to make the bus on time. We woke up by 5 am, had oats and fruits for breakfast, packed a lunch and headed out. It was a beautiful morning. The guide let me know there were a few uphill and downhills initially and then it was mostly flat till the end. The trail was well-marked and there was no concerns we would go the wrong way or get lost in the highlands. The guide said he and his group would leave around 9 and catch up with us, but they never did.

The Emstrur huts, as we left and started walking towards Thorsmork.

The sign showing it was 15 km to Thorsmork (ending point) and 39 km to Landmannalaugar (starting point).

The three girls from Iowa started out before Neel and I. They were the slowest in the group. We thought we will catch up with them, but we never did.

It was a gorgeous sunny day and it was amazing to be out so early. We left shortly after 6:30 am.

The sun was just rising over the horizon.

What a view!

The trail initially was through barren desert-like landscape.

10.9 km to go !

You can see me in the distance there. There was no one we could see.

A very cool shaped mountain, called the Unicorn Mountain.

We could see 2-3 different glaciers on the horizon. The glaciers kept us company for most of the trek.

The fourth largest glacier, Myrdalsjokull, is in the background.

Slowly, we started seeing more plants and some flowers.

The trail and a river flowing to the east.

Neel took this shot of me and I love it !

Neel and I took a small break and enjoyed the views.

I loved this day of the trek. It was nice that it was only Neel and I. We had great weather. It was perfect!

How desolate the area was. We had not come across anyone so far.

Now only 4.8 km to Thorsmork!

 

More wild flowers!

We stopped for lunch. The views were simply stunning. We could see the Myrdalsjokull glacier most of the time.

Cannot take enough photographs !

Neel took a short nap. 

The tent group (that Neel was originally a part of) finally caught up with us. They too had left early (by 7 am or so) 

Fording the final river (Thronga River). This river can be deep, wide and fast-flowing but today, water levels were low and it was easy enough to walk through.

The guide of the tent group (Arvydas), along with the tent group trekkers. You can see the river behind is branched into many different paths along the course.

Now we are entering the Thorsmork region. There was a lot of vegetation, bushes and small trees.

We were walking through a small forest.

Stunning views !

The views were lovely - it was good to see some greenery!

Finally we reached Thorsmork, ahead of schedule!

Everybody was lying around and relaxing on the beautiful lawns outside the Thorsmork huts. We all had some snacks and were feeling so good at having completed the 54 km trek!

Neel is like- why are you still taking pictures of me, mom! The trek is done!!

After about an hour, rest of the hut group came into view. It was nice catching up with them again. We waited for the bus to come pick us up. The bus came after a while, and we all climbed in. The bus then did many river crossings - this was so fun to watch when sitting in the bus. 

After that we caught up with a jeep that was supposed to have all our luggage. We all retrieved our duffle bags. Neel's duffle bag was missing - apparently, it was still at the Emstrur huts. They promised to have it delivered by 6 am the next day. I am not sure how they pulled that off! 

We were driven back to Reykjavik, and they dropped us as close to the hotel we had booked. We took a cab to the hotel. Once checked in, Neel went and got me some medicinal lotion to put on my knees and then we went for dinner and went to bed early. Neel didn't have any spare clothes in his day pack and had to wait till next day to get the clothes delivered, which they delivered as promised!