Landmannalaugar to Hrafntinnusker. 7.5 miles (12 km) with around 1542 net feet (470 meters) of elevation gain.
We rose as soon as quiet hours ended -- 7am. I wanted to get us out the door and going, since, usually, if there's going to be bad weather, it happens in the afternoon. That is not a hard and fast rule, just a general way of things as far as our hiking experience goes. We therefore were the first in our room to get up. I tried very hard to quietly move our things downstairs to pack so as not to disturb those who wanted to sleep in, but I think I made a bit of noise anyway. Oh well, quiet hours were technically over and I was as conscientious as I could be without forcing myself to sleep in with everyone else.
It was already raining when we got out the door. We ate breakfast at the outdoor, but covered tables...a French woman who had been camping asked if we could share the table. I said yes, but when her friend joined us, the two spread their things all over the place and acted as though they were doing us the favor of allowing to be there with them even though we were there first. The girls and I shrugged off their rudeness and, after we finished eating at our own pace, stayed under the roof with them as we packed and got ready to go.
Cold rain doesn't bother us as long as we're dressed for it...which we were. The rain does prevent us from taking as many photos as we'd like, but we did the best we could without risking the well-being of our iPhones/cameras.
Here we are, just outside the hut at the start of the trail.
The trail goes up the little hill behind the girls in the above picture, then it crosses lava fields on a fairly flat path. There are many little intersecting trails up there, all tiny dayhikes one can make if one were to hang about Landmannalauger for a day or two. Stick to the more obvious path, the one with the stick marker with the red top, and you'll be on the right trail. Eventually, as you curve to the left and make your way out of the lava fields, the path will look like this -- almost wheelchair accessible.
You'll go down a bit and pass this pretty little pool on your left...
Then you'll go up a bit, and then flat again...
...and then into this cool notch area that has volcanic vents everywhere (the steam in the photos below is coming from specific vents)...
Right after that little valley, you start to really climb. Still, if you're used to mountain hiking, then the climb will feel fairly short and minimal. Take a care NOT to stick your face or hand over any of those volcanic vents...you don't want to risk an injury from an unpredictable mini-eruption of water or rock.
Once you do a bit of climbing, you find yourself on top of a plateau. On a clear day, I imagine the whole area is stunningly gorgeous...we thought it beautiful as it was, and we did have views enough, but the constant rain made it difficult for us to adequately capture what we were seeing.
I have to also say that at times the rain poured...and yet, we were hot. We were wearing far more layers than we are used to when we mountain climb, so we deliberately left our hoods down most of the time so our heads would get wet and we could cool off. We had plenty of dry clothing in plastic bags in our packs, and our down layers were keeping us quite warm, so we never felt chilled. If I were to do this day over again, I would have packed our down coats and done the hike in fewer layers of clothes (but still waterproof). The temperatures and weather were like a late fall, rainy mountain hiking day in NH, and we were dressed for Denali.
Once past the first plateau, you cross a second one...this one is foggy and I can see how it would be easy to wander off course during a snow storm if one didn't keep one's calm. There are markers there, but they are very narrow...wooden sticks, basically, with some faded red and yellow paint on the top. Our visibility was good enough, so we never had a problem. We had enough gear with us to stop and safely spend the night right on the trail in the event of zero visibility, but we never even came close to that.
Eventually, the trail descends a tiny bit and one is greeted with snow/ice patches. We walked over several of those...
There's a spot, perhaps twenty minutes (can't remember exactly) walking distance from Hrafntinnusker, where a large cairn pays tribute to a young man who died of exposure walking the Laugavegar Trail...in July. I can see people having problems on this trek in adverse weather. One could say we had adverse weather on this day. It rained most of the time -- at times, it poured -- it was cold, and the wind kicked up. We had the gear and experience to handle it -- for us, it was nothing we hadn't encountered many, many times before -- but for a new hiker, or a hiker without the right clothing, this kind of weather can be deadly.
We reached one long expanse of flat snow/ice which gently curved to the left...we walked on that for quite a while, and then came to a small black hill. We stepped off the ice and onto the hill...and then the snowfall started. It went from gentle and downward to fast and sideways in about ten seconds. We turned to the left, following the path, and saw a solar panel contraption right ahead of us. We were to learn that a solar panel contraption along the trail meant a hut was nearby...sure enough, after a right turn and a tiny ascent, we looked down and saw Hrafntinnusker a bit below us. The snow picked up to a mini-blizzard as we made our way to the hut. As soon as we stepped up to the platform which housed the hut, the wind picked up again and almost knocked us over. Sage managed to get a few pictures...
As you can see, visibility was not exactly the best.
We made our way to the other side of the hut, looking for the main door. The door kind of blended into the side of the building. We pulled on it and immediately found another door to open. Once we opened that one, we got in and found ourselves in a heated "mud room" of sorts. Wet clothes were hanging everywhere and boots and gloves were lined up on racks. We were told to take off everything that was wet, hang it all somewhere, and then come inside the main area.
We were trying to get everything off when a woman called out for a doctor. The girls and I turned around to look, and there was a man lying half inside the hut, where we had just stepped inside, and half outside the hut. He had passed out immediately upon entering. The girls and I stripped off our outer layers as fast as we could and got inside so the hut warden could have room to help this fellow.
Turns out the fellow, a nice Englishman, had camped by the hut the night before and was just coming inside to take a break from the weather. He had gotten hypothermic without realizing it, and the blast of heat that encompassed him upon entering the hut, combined with his delicate physical situation, had knocked the consciousness right out of him. The warden, a tall woman who was kind and jovial the entire evening, had him sit in the heated "mud room" area with a blanket on him. She brought him warm sweetened tea and spoke with him until he was talking coherently (though shivering terribly). The man's friend, who had had no idea his partner was feeling bad at all...the passing out came as a surprise to him...stayed with him constantly. Eventually, the man felt well enough to take off his outer layers and come all the way inside the hut, where he sat in a different area with the blanket on him and ate. I offered him some sugary biscuits, which he accepted gratefully, and his speech and conversation skills returned to normal after an hour or so of folks keeping him warm and fed. He ended up staying the night in our room and was totally fine the rest of the night. The girls and I spoke with him later -- he was a nice fellow who didn't realize he was feeling bad at all until he found himself face down in the entrance of the hut with a bunch of people standing over him.
Right after the girls and I entered, while the warden was taking care of the hypothermic fellow, we claimed our bunks in our assigned room and changed clothing. We were completely soaked to the skin, in spite of our waterproof everything. I attribute that to being hot when we started out...we must have been sweating something fierce. We changed completely and hung our inner layers over a radiator. Sage found some Uno cards, and we ate chocolate and played cards until other people started coming into the room.
The first couple who entered were from the Netherlands, and they were named Dasja and Lars. They were kind, cheery people, and we'd end up seeing them at every hut along our trek. They were happy when they arrived, but just as soaked as we had been. We turned while they changed, and then we continued playing cards.
The next couple to arrive were from India. We saw them too at every hut from then until our finish, and I enjoyed speaking with them many, many times, but unfortunately I never wrote down their names! If you ever happen to read this, kind couple from India, please contact me. I enjoyed meeting you and speaking with you both over the course of our thru-hike. Anyway, the lady from India was chilled when she arrived, so she and her husband changed (everyone turned away again out of respect for privacy), then she got into her sleeping bag and stayed there for a while to warm up.
The next to enter were Brandon and Alex, the American young men we'd met the evening before. By this time, it was snowing hard outside. We looked out the windows and saw the ground covered in a half inch of snow. We were so glad we had arrived when we did! Seems we'd just missed the worst of the mini-blizzard.
The English fellow who had hypothermic issues claimed a bunk next, as did his hiking companion. We were then full in our small room. Everyone was cordial, and we had tables in our room on which to eat and play cards, so the evening was spent filling our stomachs, playing cards, and talking to everyone. The only time anyone was less than snug and warm was when someone had to use the bathroom...the toilets are in the same building but you have to go outside to get to the entrance door. Every time I went outside to use the bathroom, I felt bad for the people trying to camp...the weather was just plain awful, with sideways snow and blowing wind and cold temperatures.
We all had a good night of sleep. By mutual and unspoken consensus, everyone in our room went to sleep by 9pm. You could hear the storm continue to rage outside out windows. We were warm in our sleeping bags though, and the hut felt safe and cozy. It was a good evening.
Tomorrow -- Hrafntinnusker to Alftavatn
