Iceland review - 2002, Qupperneq 14

12 ICELAND REVIEW
Man vs. nature: a traveller stands at the base
of Raudufossar, a wide, intricate waterfall
that thunders over a red rock face off F225.
F225 is a more diverse drive. At Landmannalaugar, F225 joins F208, which continues
east to Eldgjá canyon and then south, making a wide arc around the northern and east-
ern boundaries of Mýrdalsjökull glacier. No part of this route is for the unprepared trav-
eller – no supplies or services are available apart from a small café at Landmannalaugar,
and there is no petrol.
The map on my lap is covered in names that, to someone who doesn’t read Icelandic,
are pretty much impossible to attach to their geological counterparts. Still, their
detailed account on paper is evidence that this stark landscape has been navigated
before today. Because at the moment, it’s just us and our dust trail. For one of the most
celebrated scenic drives in Iceland, the road behind the mountains is dead.
Detour: Hrafntinnusker
Thirty kilometres into F225, we make a sharp right on to a rutted path where an arrow
reads 10 km to Hrafntinnusker and points south over an unpromising hill.
Hrafntinnusker (‘obsidian skerry’) is the lava flow from Mt. Hrafntinnusker. A steep,
10 IR302 - Fjallabak bs-rm 2.9.2002 10:00 Page 12