Askja and Dragon Gully
Askja and Dragon Gully
Highland road F88 leads all the way to the remote Askja area, a four-hour drive each way. Askja is only accessible by large high-clearance 4WD vehicles from approximately June 20th to September 20th. Small 4WD cars must not take this route. At the entrance to the Askja region, the Drekagil mountain huts offer dormitory accommodation (sleeping bags required) and kitchen facilities but guests must bring their own food.
Walk up Drekagil ‘Dragon Gully’, a deep gorge overlooked by strange dragon-like rock formations, leading to a small waterfall. Please check the condition of the path at the warden’s office before setting out. Leaving Drekagil, the road continues a further 8km to the edge of the Askja caldera. From the car park and toilets, continue on foot past the crater row formed during the 1961 eruptions. In 40 minutes you’ll reach Víti ‘Hell’, a gaping explosion crater formed during the powerful 1875 eruption.
From the rim of this crater, enjoy a spectacular view of Lake Oskjuvatn. The lake was formed when the roof of Askja’s magma chamber subsided after the 1875 eruption and the resulting circular depression filled with water. In the summer of 2014, a massive landslide fell into the lake, creating a huge tidal wave that almost reached the rim of Víti! This spectacular area was once used to train NASA astronauts for their Apollo moon landings. There are many stories connected to Askja, but perhaps the most intriguing is that of two German research scientists who disappeared without a trace in the summer of 1907.
Geologist Walther von Knebel and the painter Max Rudloff took a rowing boat onto the lake, never to be seen again. Several stories arose about their disappearance and von Knebel's fiancée, Ina von Grumbkow, traveled from Germany to investigate but found nothing conclusive. She had a memorial cairn erected above the north shore of the lake displaying the names of the two men, and at its base is a box with a guestbook that many have signed. Ina later wrote a book about her search and extended stay at the lake.