Iceland with Backroads: Geothermal Hike

Previous: South Iceland Day Trip                                                                Next: Glymur Foss & Oddaleid Trail

July 12

Hengill Geothermal

On this day we separated from our daughter Elizabeth, and we met up with our Backroads hiking group at a hotel in Reykjavik at 9 AM.

This is the Backroads portion summary as provided by Backroads:

We checked out of the hotel, leaving Elizabeth. She would go on to do some tours the next couple of days on her own before she headed home. She went on a whale watch and did an advanced horseback ride.  But the highlight for Elizabeth was the “Inside the Volcano” excursion…the one that was canceled on us on day 1.  We’re glad one of us got to go on this adventure. She said it was awesome and well worth the price. She said the 45-minute hike to the entrance of the volcano was actually a fairly challenging 2-miles along a lava field. The descent and ascent were via a scaffold elevator while the guide explained what they were seeing along the 400′ depth.

Em and I met with our friends John, Brenda, and Charlie in the hotel lobby at 8:30 AM and we walked to the meetup point for the Backroads portion of our Iceland adventure. We met at the Canopy by Hilton, which was about a 15-minute walk. We got a quick orientation and introduction from our three Backroads trip leaders and then got into one of their shuttle vans. We received our Day 1 Itinerary.

There were 18 people on this trip. Our fellow Backroaders were from U.S.A, Canada, and Italy. The trip leaders were from Spain (Chema), The Netherlands (Remco), and New Orleans (Nabila), plus an additional van driver from Iceland who said as little as he had to, but he was nice, and he did keep us all alive, which is always a plus. All of our leaders were great.  Remco, though, was a fan favorite because he was fun, easy going, gregarious, and tall and handsome…several others remarked on his resemblance to me.

Our first stop was a trailhead about 45 minutes outside of Reykjavik. Before the hike began in earnest, we got a group photo.

This was the longest hike of the week at 5 miles, but not a difficult one. On this hike we got our first glimpse of Iceland waterfalls that could only be found when hiking, as opposed to off the side of the road. We also got our first glimpse of the geothermal aspects of the Iceland landscape. We hiked around the Hengill Geothermal area and one of Iceland’s geothermal plants.

 

 

From the plant we continued hiking about 20 minutes to the endpoint, the uniquely modern, and isolated ION Adventure hotel in Nesjavellir, our accommodations for the night. For anybody familiar with Woody Allen’s futuristic film Sleeper, this hotel could have been used in that film.  After checking in, we had lunch at the hotel. The afternoon hike turned out to be at Thingvellir National Park where we had gone two days prior on our own when doing the Golden Circle (click HERE for that). So, instead, Ann and Luise joined Em and me in the hotel’s outside geothermal spa pool. Aahhh! This is where we met Haley from Georgia, one of our Backroads companions.

The Backroads group gathered in the Northern Lights bar at the hotel before dinner to get better acquainted with one another. It was a great group of people (which is usually the case on a Backroads trip).

We had a fantastic dinner at the hotel. Then we had drinks afterwards in the lounge with great views of Lake Thingvallavatn, and waterfalls…which goes without saying when you’re in Iceland. Even better, it was still light out at midnight!

Bed

Next: Glymur Foss & Oddaleid Trail