Reykjafell Trail – Hiking Iceland

Reaching the starting point

You can come quite close to the mountain itself with public transport. First take bus number 6 (direction Haholt) from the Hlemmur main station in the centre to the bus stop called Artun. The bus drive will take you around 15 minutes.  If you are not planning to leave from Hlemmur, check the Straeto’s website for other buses that drive to the Artun bus stop. Then take bus number 15 (direction Mosfellsbær) to the last stop on the route – it will take around 20 minutes. Both bus number 6 and bus number 15 drive regularly – at least every half of an hour. The last stop of bus 15 is called Reykjavegur and should be hard to miss as the bus stops there for a longer time. You are more in danger of going off too early (like I did) as the four stops before the end station all are called something with Reykjavegur. Therefore wait with getting out till the bus stays put at the end station while the driver takes a short break.

Trail

As the trail is relatively short and easy, it is appropriate for everybody, even for families with kids. The above attached GPS route starts 2 bus stops before(!) the last stop of bus number 15. However, I did just walk to the end station and continued the hike from there on. Therefore, you can still use the GPS route if you are planning to start the trail from the end station.

From the last bus stop continue on a wide dirt track towards north and after 300 meters you will reach a big farm. Turn right behind the farm on another wide dirt track which first runs towards east but soon turns towards northwest. After following it for approximately 700 meters you will arrive to a crossroad. Turn right but continue only for 50 meters or so. Then you will see a stepladder over a fence of barbed wire on your right. Climb over the stepladder and continue on the narrow path that leads to the top of the plateau. The path is not very worn and therefore it’s hard to follow it – especially with a light snow cover. However, it is marked with orange sticks at some places and as you can see the top of the plateau while ascending, navigation shouldn’t be a problem. The climb is quite steep and offers a great view on the Atlantic Ocean, Mount Esja and the Ulfarsfell Mountain.  After ascending for approximately 1 kilometer you will reach the top of the plateau and on your left you will see the highest peak marked with a pyramid made of stones. The highest peak offers a great view.

Getting back to the starting point

As I didn’t want to hike back to the starting point on the same trail as I used for the way up I decided to descend the plateau over its southeastern side. From the highest peak you thus follow a narrow path, marked with orange sticks, that runs towards east. After walking several hundred meters on this path a great view on Reykjavik will open. Soon you will arrive to a directions sign. Here you should continue on the path leading east until you reach a small river. However, I decided to make a “shortcut” and went off the path leading east and instead went southeast, only to arrive to the same river after several hundred meters. I would recommend you to stick to the path as the terrain where I was walking is very rocky and at some places also swampy. The swampy areas were not a problem in November as they were frozen, but in summer I believe it could be hard to walk on a terrain like this. In general I don’t think that I saved a lot of time with this shortcut as the demanding terrain slowed me down. When you reach the river (which you won’t cross) you will see a path that runs next to it. Turn right on the path and follow it for approximately 2 kilometers – it will eventually turn into a road. At some point you will reach some houses and a fence of barbed wire that runs across the road. The fence is for sheep and is high enough that you can go under it if you bend a bit. I did just that and then continued descending. Soon I arrived back to the big farm which I passed at the beginning of the hike. Then I continued back to the bus stop.

Woolx Merino Wool Hat – New

The Woolx Merino Hat is made of superfine 100 % 18.5 micron Merino wool. The material is extremely pleasant to the touch and the hat offers incredible comfort all over. I really like it and thus I regularly use it for my hiking trips, running training and even for everyday activities. However, in these harsh conditions the hat didn’t provide sufficient warmth as the strong wind effectively penetrated the fabric. Therefore, I put on the Carinthia jacket’s hood and suddenly I felt the difference: My head was warm and comfortable for the rest of the hike. The hood is otherwise relatively thin but as it is made of Gore-Tex Windstopper material, it offers great protection against wind and rain – and together with the comfort and warmth of the woolen Woolx hat I was ready to face the storm. You can read the full review here.