Page 34 - 2000 ICELAND

HVERFJALL CRATER

Breakfast and departure as usual
again today. Oskar started us off

with a “leg stretcher” of a couple of
miles in a sunken magma lake,

preparatory to climbing the volcano
crater he has in mind. We began

about 9:30 AM and walked among

some bizarre shapes which erosion
has created of the lava. There were

chutes, chimneys, spires, even formations such as the “church” which
actually looked like an archway into a church building. We saw a “keyhole”

formation in a larger remnant of lava. This whole area was created by a
magma lake’s collapse leaving hoodoos and these other weird shapes. Next,

we walked about 2 kilometers to the trailhead at the bottom of the Hverfjall

crater cone. It was about 150 meters to the top via a switch-backed but still
very steep and sandy trail that required some care so that you did not keep

slipping back down. The whole climb was up an exposed ridge in the rather
intense sun so heat was a factor in the climb. All in all, it was pretty arduous

and it took about 30 minutes to reach the very windblown summit for the
beautiful views in all 360 degrees. There were actually some trees, low hills,

Lake Myvatn, rivers and little towns and farms to be seen from this
viewpoint. The crater itself is about one kilometer across and 100 meters

deep.

Then we walked halfway round the crater and down to where we thought

the bus would be waiting. Surprise! We had to hike back to the cabins,
about two miles through another big lava field, older than the one we had

hiked in before, but still filled with sharp edges and pointed spears of rock
that made the walking somewhat treacherous.

Though we all made it all the way, one of the French ladies fell and

sustained a couple of superficial puncture wounds in her abdomen and