Reykjavík Grapevine - júl. 2020, Blaðsíða 30

30The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 05— 2020Guide
Crawling fog, hidden
top
It took me and Poll$ around fifteen
minutes to walk up the flat rocky
hill. Looking back, I immediately
understood why Vífill chose to
check the weather there. In front of
me, a huge white fog crawled from
Nesjavellir in the North. It didn’t
matter that currently, the sun was
shining brightly over Reykjavík.
Like I said before, these mountains
have a way of bending the sky and
weather to their will. It was offi-
cially a race. I would have to climb
before the fog arrived.
The fog won. As we approached
the top, we could no longer see
the city, just the flat stones on the
ground in front of us. It was like we
were surrounded by fog machines
or the breath of some ominous
creature.
At this point, we reached our first
chain, beautifully kept up by the
Iceland Tourism Association. “You
t h i n k you ne ed
help?“#I asked Poll$.
In response, she
jumped smoothly
to one rock, then
another. Impres-
sive indeed.
Climbing up, I
was greeted by an
odd shape of an old
troll standing out of a rock in front
of me with white fog all around.
Perhaps there is some legend about
the troll of Vífilsfell, but I didn’t re-
ally find anything on Google.
The upside-down world
One more rope to the top and the
rest was easy. That said, I couldn’t
see much through the fog, even
though the sun shone all around.
“This is the upside-down,“# I
told Poll$. She didn’t understand a
word and just looked at me blankly.
I mean, what was I thinking? She
wasn’t even born when ‘Stranger
Things’ was a thing.
Keilir
379 m.
Keilir is a fairly straightforward
mountain. It’s more about the
hike, which journeys through grey
lava carpeted by grey moss called
Afstapahraun, which was flow-
ing there in the 14th century. You
can even see the edges of the lava,
where it literally froze and became
spikey, like a huge wave that just
stopped in the middle of the air.
The area is now, once again,
threatened by a volcano, Mount
"orbjörn, which geologists think
could erupt any-
time now. If you
were look ing to
watch the glori-
ous devastation, I’d
suggest the top of
Keilir, truly.
Any way, Poll$
and I got to the top
of the mountain
and back to the car in four hours.
We were becoming naturals.
Hengill
803 m.
Finally, mountain number sev-
en. I decided to hike Hengill last,
mostly because I love this route.
The hike starts at Hellishei!ar-
virkjun, where the city area gets
its geothermal power. And on the
way, there is a geothermal area,
with a hot river, which ends down
at Reykjadalur, where many tour-
ists, as well as Icelanders, visit over
the summertime.
The hike is demanding. It’s 10
kilometres and up steep terrain.
On this particular sunny day,
our photographer Art once again
joined us for a video, which you can
watch on YouTube.
Diversity
The route’s strengths are in its
diversity. One moment you’re hik-
ing in a moor, the next you’re sur-
rounded by sharp rocks, overlook-
ing Nesjavellir and "ingvellir at
the same time.
But the true joy of the hike is at
the end, where silence is absolute.
At that moment, we could only
hear our breath and heartbeats, as
we stood on the summit, overlook-
ing the whole southwest of this
beautiful country.
The wind in the veins
On my way back down, I felt wind
f lowing within my veins. The
palagonite had replaced my heart
and the harshness of the rocky
landscapes was now part of my
skin.
And, without any sarcasm or
corny poetry, I felt these moun-
tains fill my soul again like they
had done when I was young. And
like then, now I felt like I was ready
for everything.
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"On the way
back, I felt like
the wind was
flowing within
my veins.”