Laugavegur Hiking Trail: Day 01
Let’s start the hike! Wake up early and walk with me.
Lauguvegur and Fimmvöröuháls
The Lauguvegur and the Fimmvöröuháls are 2 different Icelandic trail that could be done one after another. It's possible to start from the north and go south as we did or you can do it in the reverse way. Here's a full recap of the Trails.
If you’re searching for the beggining of the Fimmvöröuháls, just skip to Day 01 of Fimmvöröuháls.
FROM LANDMANNLAUGAR HUT TO HRAFNTINNUSKER HUT
The starting day is pretty though. Wake up in the hostel at 5:20, packing up and taking some electric scooter to reach the bus at the camping site in Reykjavik. If you are planning on starting your hike in Landmannalaugar, you’ll likely need to catch this bus that takes about 4.5 hours, so you’ll want to take this into consideration when planning out your first day of hiking. Alternatively, you could camp at Landmannalaugar and begin hiking the following morning. If you went with this option you could combine the first two stages into one longer day to make up time and avoid camping at Hrafntinnusker, but prepare for a looong day.
MOUNTAIN MALL
Landmannlaugar is a campsite, above all. It is located on a lava field, in the heart of a complicated landscape, marked by more or less recent eruptions that have congealed into very strange shapes. Where there is no lava there is the bright green of grasses and mosses, brushed on the slopes of conical reliefs – also young volcanoes. The campsite is very popular but have a lot of space. Don’t miss the curious grocery shop AKA Mountain Mall.
This eccentric shop is housed within a ring of retro school buses. They sell snacks, hiker meals, warm drinks, beer/wine, and hiking necessities. They also have some nice indoor and outdoor seating areas.
Arriving in Landmannalaugar around 11am, Davide decided to start immediately the trail without even have a hot spring celebration bath…
This first day includes 12 kilometers of soft ups and downs through a landscape of hills devoid of vegetation, where the brownish and white of the residual snow dominate. That seems pretty easy but the thing is that is the first day and the backpack is full and heavy on the shoulder.
The view is astounding and I never expected anything like this… Davide too was pretty impressed and was really happy to pose for some photo! Dark soil and sulfur gases mixes together in one hot environment that strikes hard with the cold wind.
The valleys near Landmannalaugar are pretty impressive.Suddenly you will find yourself climbing the broad summit of a mountain: it is the Hrafntinnusker. The area is notable because obsidian was mined here to decorate the facades of buildings in Reykjavík. And you see obsidian sprouting from the ground, in the form of almost transparent and glassy stones, and an infinity of splinters.
Then the panorama of the refuge opens up. To get here it’s approx. 5 hours of walking, if there’s still a lot of snow take 1 extra hour for safety. I don’t recommend camping here as the conditions can be quite rough.
The Hrafntinnusker Hut in all it’s gloryWe spent the evening chatting with some stranger, while eating some warm risotto. The hut was full of people actually, but we were so tired from the day that we fell asleep in no time with our earplug in.
