Day 4: A Hike and a Hot Pot
Let me first start out by saying that this day was by far my absolute favorite day in Iceland. I apologize in advance for the super long blog post but I just get so excited recapping this adventure we had.
After day 3 we were feeling rejuvenated and ready for a more action-packed day. We began our day with a hike up Mount Esja. This is something that was recommended to us online and by some people who had been to Iceland, so we figured we would give it a try. The mountains was about a 20 minute drive from our hotel so we slept in a little later and waited until the sun was completely up to leave for our hike. We had been looking at this mountain all week from our hotel room and knew we had to climb it.
Our journey to the mountain was relatively easy although we made a few wrong turns (mostly my fault because I’m horrible at reading directions). At first we ended up in some truck station and we knew we were going the wrong way, but we didn’t know how to turn around or where to go. Since we didn’t have much data, we couldn’t use our phones for GPS so we had to rely on our Google maps pre-printed directions, as well as landmarks to get us around. After about 10 minutes of making a few wrong turns we ended up at the right destination and shortly after there were about 3 other cars packed with people wanting to hike the same mountain. I looked at my boyfriend and we both quickly grabbed our gear and headed for the mountain.
For our hike up Mount Esja it was relatively warm so we wore a lot of layers, and ended up stripping most of them. I wore a pair of thermal leggings and snow pants on my legs. For my upper body I wore a thermal undershirt, fleece sweatshirt, and a winter coat. About 5 minutes into the hike I was wearing just a thermal undershirt because it was really warm.
The hike started off relatively easy but soon we felt like we were free climbing the mountain. There was a path that we were able to follow up the mountain, but the snow was so heavy and thick that it began covering up a majority of the path and we couldn’t tell which way we were suppose to go. We came to a point in between two mountains and we both looked at each other trying to figure out which side we were supposed to climb. A few minutes later an older man came up behind us and pointed us in the right direction. He informed us that we needed to keep walking straight up and then turn right. We thanked him and set out on our way, but at this point the hike was feeling more like a climb and my slight fear of heights was starting to get the best of me. I’m not really afraid of heights but I did not feel safe at certain points of the mountain. My boyfriend however, had no problems.
We walked all the way up the side of the mountain until we came to small path that was on the edge of a cliff. My boyfriend went first and quickly made it across with no fear. I however, was not as brave. I took one look at the icy cliff, and one look down at the ground and sunk my bottom in the snow terrified. At this point I felt trapped because he had already made it across but I was afraid to take one more move. I knew I could get myself across by crawling but then I knew I would have to eventually come back and go back down and that would be worse. I didn’t want to get stuck. My boyfriend kept encouraging me to come over but I knew that if I made one wrong step I would fall, maybe break my legs, but nothing too serious. I just wasn’t willing to risk it…
I sat there for another 5 minutes and my boyfriend made his way back over to me. I was trying not to get upset but I was annoyed that I couldn’t finish the hike and I was getting stressed because there were two tour groups with 10 people each coming right behind us. I knew I had to make a decision quickly: risk my life getting across this super tiny cliff, or just head back and know that I never made it to the top of Mount Esja. Lucky for me I didn’t really have to make the decision because my boyfriend knew that if I made the decision I would be annoyed all day, but if he made the decision then I would be fine. He told me that it wasn’t worth it and we both headed back down the mountain towards our car. The total hike was about 4 miles to the top, and sadly we had only gone about 1.5 miles. I was really annoyed walking back down because I saw all of the tour groups going right across the steep icy patch like it was no big deal. I thought to myself, “maybe you’re just being a baby, go back up there and try it again”. As tempted as I truly was, at that point I had already made it pretty far down the mountain and close to my car. For the next 1–2 hours I was pretty annoyed with myself and still to this day I wish I could have made it the top. But I guess that means I’ll just have to come back to Iceland some day…
My advice for people climbing Mount Esja is that I strongly encourage you to do it, and any other hike in Iceland. In the summer months I’m sure it is a lot easier because the trails are clearly marked and you don’t have to worry about as much ice. In the winter I would still recommend it too. Most people make it up there and back with no problem, but it is ranked “medium” on a scale of difficulty. With snow and ice all over there can be parts of the trail that are unsafe and force you to find a different way. Overall it’s a beautiful mountain and the views are truly breathtaking.
After my little meltdown on Mount Esja my boyfriend and I set out for our geothermal hot pot. This is the one thing that we had no planned out ahead of time before our trip and it ended up being hands-down our absolute favorite part of the entire trip. This is a must-do for anybody traveling to Iceland.
So on the night of day 3 we were both feeling tired and came back to our hotel early to get some sleep. We began looking at all of our activities planned for our trip and realized that we didn’t really have anything planned except for hiking Mount Esja. I had been reading about hot springs like Blue Lagoon, but I had heard mixed reviews about Blue Lagoon, especially because it’s not even natural. I wanted to find a free geothermal hotpot that was all natural, and that’s when we came across and article about Landbrotalaug. It’s a super small, super hidden hot pot in the middle of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula. It was about a 2 hour drive from Mount Esja. There were no true directions on how to get here because it’s a natural landmark with no designated shop or parking lot, it’s truly natural. So we used this guys GPS coordinates and his superb landmark directions to find it. If you want to check out the amazing article you can find it here.
Our directions led us to the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, but once we got close enough we were on our own. We truly felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. There was not a person, house, or car in site when we got close. The nice part about the drive was that since the Snaefellnes Peninsula is all rugged and mountainous, there are literally no roads so it’s actually harder to get lost than you think. The directions told us to look for a crater called Eldborg Crater, on our left when driving. We saw a crater, which turned out to be the crater but we were skeptical and began questioning what a crater looked like so we kept driving, only to go past it. After realizing we weren’t seeing what was on the directions, we turned around. We turned around and found the abandoned farmhouse where we were supposed to turn. We made a quick turn and followed that road. At this point we were practically driving on volcanic rock, and no where near any type of paved road, or even gravel road. We were beyond in the middle of nowhere, and it was very exciting. The next set of directions told us to look for a small sign that said “Heit Laug Hot Spring”, we saw it on our right, but it was very faded and a tad harder to spot than the photo. Once we saw that sign we knew we were here. We didn’t exactly know where to park and we were worried that someone might actually show up to this pot. The truth it that it’s a huge field and there really is no clear path so we just parked in the middle of nowhere and set out to the hot pot.
The next thing we had to do was cross a huge pond, which was actually a sheet of ice so some might say we were lucky. We carefully stepped on each rock as we made it across and we immediately saw the steam rising from the boiling pots. At this point it was probably about 30 degrees outside. Strategically my boyfriend and I changed in the car and put our swim suits on underneath our outer layers. I wore my bathing suit, a sweatshirt, and my winter coat on top, and then for my bottom half I wore my bathing suit bottoms and snow pants. This was it would be easy to get into the hot pot and change after. We slowly shed a few layers making sure to keep our hair dry and not get in too quickly. It felt like a super clean hot tub with no bubbles. The hot pot was super tiny and could comfortably fit us two but no one else. We were lucky that we were the only ones there because the “other hot pot” was less than half a foot deep so we couldn’t actually get in. The hot pot we sat in was not too deep; I could stand up straight in it and my shoulders were out. We hung out in the hot pot for about 20 minutes before deciding it was time to go.
When we finally decided to get out of the hot pot I asked my boyfriend for the towels, and he looked at me, and his face turned bright red. I looked at him confused and he then proceeded to tell me that he forgot the towels in the car. Now normally that wouldn’t be a big deal but our car was super far away at the time and one of us would have to get out put out dry clothes on while still soaking wet, cross an icy river, and make our way to the car to get the towels. My boyfriend heroically volunteered and went to grab our towels. After dealing with that dilemma I dried off my arms first while still keeping my legs in the hot pot and then proceeded to put my sweatshirt on before taking my legs out and drying those off. The feeling of wearing only a bathing suit while in 30 degree weather was brutal, but the pictures we took were totally worth it.
After finally drying off we made it back to our car and headed home trying to beat the sun before it went down. This is something that I recommend every person does while visiting Iceland.
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If I Can Afford Iceland You Can Too!
