ICELAND - the land of FIRE and ICE. We spent a wonderful and adventurous 9 days in Iceland over Labor Day (You can find the blog post here.)
Our time was filled with numerous hikes, beautiful sunsets, and breathtaking views. One of our most memorable experiences was our day with Southcoast Adventures!
ÞÓRSMÖRK SUPERJEEP ADVENTURE:
Spectacular hiking options and adventurous rides over various un-bridged glacial rivers.
Southcoast Adventures Gljúfrabúi base is located down the road from the famous Seljalandsfoss waterfall. There is an amazing campground that is located at this base (Hamragarðar Campsite) that sits below the Gljúfrabúi waterfall. You can park your camper van here for the night while you spend a full day in þórsmörk hiking.
TIP: Spending the night camping at Hamragarðar Campsite allows you to beat the crowds at Seljalandsfoss and Gljúfrabúi waterfalls
Our Þórsmörk superjeep adventure started first thing in the morning with a 45 minute drive from Gljúfrabúi base to Þórsmörk, which is the sight of many trail heads.
The drive to Þórsmörk itself is quite entertaining! You’re fording rivers and going over large rocks down one of Iceland’s F-roads all while spotting glaciers and mountains in the distance.
We did several hikes during our time in Þórsmörk valley. The main one that we did was . This is the longest of the most popular ‘short hikes’ in the area (around 10km) usually starting in the canyon valley. We started in Húsadalur and made our way to a delicious lunch at Húsdalur at Volcano Huts cabin. Our guide was Darri and he kept us entertained all day with stories of Icelandic Trolls (The Christmas story was especially entertaining.) and normal day to day life in Iceland.
My husband’s bag was lost for the whole first five days of our trip so we had to cut our hiking day short. Just a heads up, there is no where to buy men’s underwear in Iceland - HaHa! (We finally found some at a local grocery store on night four!)
We had enough time to stop by a small canyon on the way back to Gljúfrabúi base, however. The canyon involves some jumping from rock to rock over a small creek/river. Once inside the canyon, you use this chain that has been bolted into the side of the canyon in order to pull yourself up over a small waterfall to see the much larger waterfall. It was gorgeous!
If I could do this trip all over again, I would spend a couple days in Þórsmörk taking in all the sights and doing multiple hiking trails. Everywhere you turn, the views are incredible and all so different. I would have to say this is probably the most favorite hike that I have ever done.
ABOUT ME:
I was born in Mississippi but raised a Tennessee girl! I attended undergrad at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where I received my degree in Biochemistry. I then proceeded to go to pharmacy school at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center with my last 3 years in Knoxville. (Go VOLS!) 6 years ago I followed my sweetheart to Dallas, Texas, where I have been ever since!
I am currently a practicing Inpatient Pharmacist with a love for traveling. I love to get off the beaten path and go places/do things that are not the normal “tourist” thing to do. I love hiking and adventure travel!
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Follow me: @thatblondetravels