Wednesday Septembe 2, 2026
- Start: Þorsmörk (Thorsmork Volcano Huts)
- End: Hvolsvöllur, Iceland
- Distance: < 3 miles
Our plan to hike the Fimmvörðuháls Trail on day three of this Icelandic adventure fell through spectacularly. The warden at the Thorsmork Hut strongly advised against our hike for three reasons: (1) heavy rains last week caused a mudslide that was making part of the trail unsafe; (2) several crevasses opened up on the glaciers that our route was supposed to cross; and (3) a snowstorm moved in this morning, bringing very high winds and no visibility on the pass. We could have worked around any one of these hazards, but all three made our plans unsafe and impractical. So, on the warden’s recommendation, Finn and I pivoted to plan B. We bought tickets for the 16:00 bus to Hvolsvöllur (where we’d parked our rental car), and we spent the rest of our time in Thorsmork enjoying some of the shorter trails in the valley until the stormy weather pushed us indoors for good.
Highlights
- It’s easy to see why tourists spend several days in Thorsmork, even if they don’t plan to hike the Laugavegur or Fimmvörðuháls Trails. This lush valley offers many smaller local trails to enjoy.
- The top of Valahnükur’s summit provides panoramic views of this entire area, and the trail up will definitely get your heart pumping
- I was shocked to see wild bilberries (very similar to a small blueberry) growing in Iceland. The last time I saw bilberries on a trail was last September on the Tour du Mont Blanc.
Challenges
- It was disappointing to hear the warden advise us to bail on the final leg of our hike. Nobody wants to quit. But I couldn’t, in good conscience, send Finn (or me) into a situation that might require a rescue.
- Thorsmork has only one bus departure each day, so we had to wait until 16:00 this afternoon for our only chance to get back our rental car. After a 90-minute bus ride, we still had to drive to Skogar, where our hotel reservations awaited us at the southern terminus of the Fimmvörðuháls Trail.
