Leirhnjukur (Leirhnjúkur) Volcano Walk
Leirhnjukur (Leirhnjúkur) Volcano Walk
Duration: 2-3 hours leisurely walk stopping to look at the many features. Difficulty: easy, though the lava is rough in places. A short section of ascent and descent. Interest: a stunning volcanic area dotted with solfataras, craters and lava from the 1975-1984 eruptions. Start/End: from the car park north of the Krafla Power Station.
From the car park take the main trail across to the lava. Where the path dips you can see where the land subsided, following the eruptions. A boardwalk takes you to view a large geothermal pool. This type of activity often forms after the end of an eruption but this pool is made all the more impressive by the colourful mineral deposits around it.
From here take the trail to the right, which reaches the base of a large crater in front of you. Skirt around the left-hand side of the crater, which formed in the1724-9 eruptions, then bear left following the line of the fissure, from where steam still emerges. Walk to the end of the fissure where the trail divides (at this point you can shorten the walk by taking the path to your left to return to the solfataras and take the same way back to the car park).
To continue the walk, bear right and follow the path through the lava to climb the rounded summit of the colourful hill in front of you. From this fine viewpoint, you can appreciate the extent of the lava and the 8km long fissure that produced it.
Backtrack from the summit and continue on the same path in a southerly direction. Descend behind the coloured mountain and contour a short way around its base. Now take the trail to your right, which leads eventually back to Reykjahlid and Myvatn, but you will only be following it for about 20-30 minutes, until you reach a lava tube on your right – this is an empty lava channel from which magma emptied out at the end of the eruption, leaving it hollow.
Backtrack from here to the path you were on before and turn right and after about 10 minutes bear right again to return to the car park. Note there is no fresh water on this route so take a water bottle.