A beautiful island dotted lake, a wild and unique volcanic landscape: no trip to Iceland should miss Mývatn – just be prepared to share it with every cruise ship in town.
Driving towards Mývatn from the east we noticed a chain of stone cairns leading across the moor. Quite closely spaced, no doubt due to the horrible weather in Iceland, they are memories of a time when there wasn’t even a proper road in this region.
That is no longer the case. Smooth bitumen leads to Mývatn, and it is now an essential stop on any trip to Iceland.
Sitting bang on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, it has a long and continuous history of volcanic activity. The lake was formed by a lava dam and even today the region is not peaceful. The earth steams and bubbles in an alarming fashion and previous eruptions scar the landscape with craters and lava flows.
This, coupled with the lake which is one of the best and most varied bird watching areas in Iceland, means there is quite a lot happening – find a spot by the water and prepare to spend a few days exploring the region.
VITI
After three days of sunshine which allowed us to do the superb Jökulsárhlaup walk from the Dettifoss waterfall to the great canyon of Ásbyrgi, normal weather resumed. We had a day of heavy rain and low cloud and spent it in waterproof coats and trousers – no one has ever come to Iceland to look glamorous!
Viti was our first stop on the north eastern side of Mývatn, a volcanic crater which was created when the Krafla volcano exploded in 1724. It is filled with deep blue aquamarine water which fortunately we were able to see quite clearly from its edge closest to the car park.
It is possible to proceed further up around the rim, the fate on the day of a bus load of very muddy tourists. We took one look at the slippery ankle deep muddy swathe to the top and decided the view was just as good from the bottom.
LEIRHNJÚKUR
Just below Viti, there is a large parking area for this vast lava field. The horrible weather actually added to the atmosphere, a post apocalyptic vision of black desolation with the steam from a thousand vents drifting across the scene.
It was a strangely neglected area: the loo at the carpark was locked (we amused ourselves for a while watching people queuing), the board walks were slippery and broken and the rope fences sagging.
The path skirted a bare clay hillside and climbed to a blue pond of bubbling mud pots. Further on there were viewpoints over the tangled lava flows, the most recent from 1977 to 1984. The rock was still warm in places and it was an awe inspiring example of the power of nature.
Nature is actually harnessed in this valley in the form of the Krafla power station which sprawls around the hillside and emits even more steam than the earth.
One curious stop can be seen in the middle of a little car park as you descend the hill on the left. Not only is the adjacent stream warm, but there is a giant freestanding hot shower – strip off if you dare!
HVERIR
Back in the valley, a quick right and left leads to the parking for Hverir whose colourful lunar landscape has some impressive solfataras or mud pots.
I think every garden should have one of these: a fetching shade of deep powder blue, the viscous mud bubbles away merrily with plops and gurgles. It was strangely therapeutic to watch.
Equally dramatic but rather more explosive were the steaming fumaroles, centred on a banked up cone and emitting clouds of evil smelling hydrogen sulfide steam.
TIP: Instead of paying a steep 1,200 kr for parking, drive on west to the gap in the hills for a free parking spot. It is a pleasant 20 minutes downhill walk to the site which you can explore at leisure before returning over the top of Námafjall Ridge.
From the bottom, Námafjall looks like a huge walk but it actually only took us 20 minutes to the top and was well worth it with fabulous coloured slopes – look for the yellow sulphur deposits which were once mined for gunpowder.
The best approach is from the track which leads past the site (and a derelict hot pot) to ascend more gently in quick zig zags. Despite the rain, the grip was still surprisingly good and we were rewarded with expansive views in all directions. Just drop off the other end to get back to the gap carpark (or the site carpark) to end a stunning circuit.
REYKJAHLIÐ
There isn’t much to Reykjahlið, the little village at the top of the lake, but it has the essentials: petrol, a store, alcohol shop and fish and chips – not that we were going near those again after our experience in Húsavik!
We stayed at the Bjard Campsite (2,400 kr. including showers) opposite the gas station which had a great location with sloping lawns leading down to the lake. We put our tent up on the edge and enjoyed the serene waters with gently wuffling ducks.
AROUND THE LAKE
We spent a pleasant day meandering around the lake in our car, the circuit being about 35 km long. We ignored the Grótagjá, Hverfell and Dimmuborgir trio on this loop as we intended walking between them separately, but they are all handy to Reykjahlíð and accessible by car.
Rough lava walls were visible as we drove south from Reykjahlíð, as well as contorted lava formations. Our first stop was Höfði, a lush headland of birch trees and wild flowers whose enterprising owner had installed a very smart turnstile loo block in the car park – entry 200 kr. As there is a lack of public facilities in Iceland, I suspected he was raking it in and at least the car parking was free.
There were superb views over the lake from elevated look outs, a vista of scattered small islands and distant volcanos. Further exploration and walks can also be done at Kálfaströnd, the next headland.
The next stop was at Skútustaðir, where we had a nice walk amongst the pseudocraters whose grassy shapes look just like volcanic craters, but which were actually formed by boiling water popping through the lava. The lookouts were provided with seats to sit and enjoy the view, another rarity in Iceland and maybe a reflection on the fact that it seemed to be another cruise ship stop.
There were a couple of ugly hotels, petrol, and a handy craft brewery, as well as a sheep’s milk ice cream shop.
We left the throng behind and parked at the bridge over the Laxá River, which runs from Mývatn to the sea near Húsavik. It is another great salmon river and the beats along the river were tagged. It was easy to see why too: there were swarms of blackflies which got everywhere, although they weren’t too bad if one kept moving.
We had a nice wander upstream for about a kilometre, seeing lots of ducks, including the rare Barrow’s Goldeneye. Some nested on little islands amidst the rushing water, others with chicks hastened away over the surface or dived out of sight.
On the way home we passed the cone of Vindbelgjarfjall but Simon declined the scenic ascent and we were soon back in the shattered lava before Reykjahlíð. The church was miraculously untouched in 1729, when magma flowed to each side.
MÝVATN NATURE BATHS
These baths, created from the outflow of a geothermal power station, are touted as the next big thing to the Blue Lagoon.
Yes, they are big and blue and do all the thermal bath stuff with bells on, but I didn’t expect to find on arrival a scene resembling Piccadilly Circus in rush hour. There were tour buses banked up outside, alongside camping cars, hire cars and broken down Czeck motorcyclists whom we had last encountered at Grimsstaðir asking for a tow when their support vehicle got bogged.
In short too many people and not the sort of experience that I wanted to spend 6.500 kr. / 44 euros on. At the end of the day, a hot pot is a hot pot and entry at the local swimming pools is only about 1000 kr, or better yet, and a million times more atmospheric, find a free one in the wild.
A VOLCANIC WALK
It was a good day for a walk: the headline on the morning news was an astonishing announcement – there was no wind in Iceland! Anywhere!
Intending to combine three of Mývatn’s greatest sights into a day walk, we started at Dimmuborgir.
This is a fantastical world of lava pillars, ridges and columns formed by steam creating vents and erupting through the overlying lava. The rock is rough and spikey and has formed contorted shapes, so much so that it doesn’t seem unreasonable that 13 vicious trolls supposedly live in the area. Apparently they are usually active in the run up to Christmas when I fear if you venture this way, you may well encounter role playing locals.
We hastened on, venturing outside the cruise boat comfort zone as rapidly as possible. The highlight of the area is Kirkja, the church, a large cavern with an arched entrance.
Meandering on, we branched off on the path for Hverfjall, the world’s largest ash crater no less, formed 2,500 years ago when large steam explosions ripped the magma apart, forming the tephra and scoria from which the crater is made. Large clouds of ash were ejected and ensuing pyroclastic flows can be seen today in the surrounding layered tuff hills.
It is an impressive black lump when seen from the bottom, although our route direction meant that we approached the crater from the ‘difficult’ side, a nearly vertical 145 m. soft scree climb to the top, with just a few zig zags near the end.
The crater is about a kilometre wide; the rim walk covers just over 3 km, but the stunning views made all the effort worthwhile. The entirety of the lake, another ash crater, the scorched hills towards Viti were all laid out around us as we promenaded on a broad gravel track around the edge.
It is possible to walk right to the bottom of it where you must surely feel hemmed in by the sheer walls.
We descended by the ‘easy’ route which was still actually fairly steep and led to a car park and a posh paying loo. We bypassed these and wandered on through the lava hills to our next stop: the famous Grótagjá natural hot pot.
This will of course be instantly recognised by any Games of Thrones fan as the place were Jon Snow was deflowered by the ice maiden.
A rough scramble leads to the vivid blue pool nestling within a low cavern. It would be a magical place to swim but sadly it is no longer allowed. It is supposedly now too hot after magna streams entered the area in the 1975-84 eruptions although when I dipped a hand in it felt pretty good: 40° is my ideal temperature!
Another couple of kilometres and we emerged near Stóragja, another hot pot which has suffered the opposite fate to Grótagjá: it is now too cold, being a mere 25°. It also requires some abseiling to access it which would make it quite a challenging one.
The hot showers at our campsite were excellent – we took the easy option and headed home.
Later, after 3 weeks in Iceland, we enjoyed our first sunset. We had now been there long enough that it was setting, painfully slowly, at 11.15 pm.
