Hverfjall 420 m/ 1378′
International– Iceland
Total Time: 1:40
Distance: 4.5 km/ 2.8 miles
Elevation Gain: 213 meters/ 700′
Crux: Class 1
Trailhead: Hverfjall trailhead, no services
Companions: Holly
Iceland’s volcanic history is on full display in the Myvatn area in the Northern part of the country. The region is complete with hot springs, thermal basins, fumaroles, pseudocraters and tephra craters. One of the best hikes in the region is Hverfjall, which according to the sign at the trailhead, is one of the largest and best preserved tephra craters on the planet, over a half mile in diameter. With a slight chance of rain in the afternoon, we made it our first stop of the day.
With no trees in the surrounding landscape, it was hard to get a scale of the mountain, looking absolutely massive and hard to believe it would be such a short hike. But as we started up from the trailhead and got a better sense of the height crater, it was clear it wouldn’t be long before we were on the rim, taking about 15 minutes. But for what it lacks in height it made up for in size, over 1 km across with a sole hiker a speck on the opposite rim.
We decided to hike the rim clockwise to give us a good view of the higher mountains to the south and Myvatn on the return. Following the rim, we enjoyed the ever changing views of the central crater and briefly paused at the high point on the south side of the rim.
But we wanted to take advantage of our morning rainless window, so we hiked back down to the trailhead to explore the Hverir thermal features, Skutustadir pseudocraters and Krafla crater before heading north to Husavik for whale watching the next day.
