From Dreki huts it was 124km to Nýidalur this took 5 days. Two of which were rest days, as a storm hit forcing me to stop.
After a 5km of walking on fairly compact ground the F910 turned to dust, making walking for the next 30km quite difficult! For a while I pushed to the side of the road as it was slightly easier but felt guilty as you were able to see every footprint and wheel mark imprinted behind you. After 1km I chose to suffer more and pushed on the main track again.
This section covers the 124km from Dreki huts to Nýidalur hut. It was by far the most isolated section of the trip especially as the weather turned bad which meant that there were no vehicles for 2 days. I also didn’t speak to another human for 3 days straight after leaving the F910 towards Kistufell.
It was compressed track for the first 5km out of of Dreki, which was easy to push along. The next 30km however were the most difficult of the entire trip. Pushing a buggy along in 3cm deep black sand is not an easy task.
Sand! Which made for a hard 30km!
Largest ice cap in Iceland in the distance! Vatnajökull ice cap covers 8% of Iceland’s landmass and is the largest ice cap in Europe.
Wild camp spot at the second turn off towards Kistufell hut roughly 32km out of Askja. Note the ice cap in the distance!
There are 2 options in terms of tracks to get to Kistufell; both of which lead to the Gæsavatnaleið route. The first heads towards a flat alluvial plain, to the west of the Holuhraun lava field. Here there are tracks but they are frequently washed away and so having a GPS or compass is handy. The water can occasionally get quite deep and some vehicles have ended up stuck here in the boggy sand; the wardens had warned me about this and I decided that it wasn’t worth it with the buggy.
Instead I took the second turn off towards Kistufell which follows large sand hills with fantastic views of Vatnajökull in the distance. Upon reaching the very edge of the glacier the track takes a westerly direction, turning into loose lumps of rock and climbing for 150m. I walked through the Urðarháls and discovered the most amazing 170m hole in the earth filled with sand. I still don’t know how it was formed but seeing as the Urðarháls are the remnants of an old dolerite shield volcano I assume that the crater has a volcanic background.
From here it wasn’t far to Kistufell hut, which I had planned on sleeping in as I had been told at Dreki that the weather was meant to turn bad overnight. I had to un board the hut to enter it and found that inside it was quite cosy with beds, blankets and a desk and chair to sit at. I made myself comfy and listened to the wind howl through the night. The storm that was predicted had come in. Trying to leave the next morning I was battered by wind and sand, and soon decided that it was worth having a rest day instead. The heavy wooden boards that were used to board up the windows and doors had been blow about 10m away from the hut and I had to store them inside for fear of them doing damage to the building if they were left outside again.
I took the second turn off towards the Urðarháls and the old Gæsavatnaleið Route.
Track turned to rock: nice!
Kistufell mountain to the left. The road reaches a plateau just before Kistufell hut.
In Kistufel hut keeping warm during the storm.
After the day off at Kistufell hut I was going slightly stir crazy and despite the weather still being bad I decided to start walking again. Bad idea; the sand ripped across the plain in front of me. My eyes streamed in the wind, the ash gathering in the wet patches, making it look like I had rather terrible stage make up on. After about two hours the wind picked up even more creating swirling sand storms, perhaps it was time to camp?
The track leading towards Kistufell hut
Having to rock barricade the tent on the 2nd day of the storm so it didn't blow away
I camped in the shelter of a large volcanic boulder and had to rock barricade the tent, so that it wouldn’t rip up and fly away. Being new and volcanic the rocks were incredibly sharp and pierced holes into my fly sheet. Once inside I could see the fly sheet struggling in the wind, and no matter how hard I tried sand kept blowing in creating a fine dusting on top of everything I owned. I even found bits of black ash in my noodles that night!
The following morning it snowed but the wind had calmed down considerably and I was able to push 45km in one day! The idea of reaching Nýidalur was sharp in my mind and I was also coming up to the end of my 5th day away from Askja, so I wanted to contact family to let them know I had made it ok.
The 45km day was far from easy though, 6 river fords in 1 day! Most of which were totally fine, but there was one just east of Öxl (1036m) that in parts came up to my thighs, it was also quite fast flowing. Not ideal, especially with the buggy which caught in the flow of the water, creating a drag which wanted to pull me downstream. Eventually, after a long day I came out at the F26, the main route through the centre of Iceland. I had made it through the most isolated section and couldn’t wait to have a shower and conversation at Nýidalur!
Stunning rainbows over one of the 6 rivers I had to ford in just 33km of walking. These fords are between the Skjálfandafljót river, where the track meets the F910 again and Nýidalur hut.
Nýidalur hut in the distance after a 45km day!
Tungnafell mountain with glacier. A perfect end to what was quite a long day.