Hornvik - Hafnarskard - Veidileysufjördur
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 6.83 mi
- Elevation gain
- 1,719 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Moderate
- Elevation loss
- 1,690 ft
- Max elevation
- 1,669 ft
- TrailRank
-
52
4.2
- Min elevation
- 8 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Coordinates
- 472
- Uploaded
- September 7, 2013
- Recorded
- September 2013
near Horn, Vestfirðir (Lýðveldið Ísland)
Viewed 15131 times, downloaded 432 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
I did this trip in end of July 2013 starting at the Hornvik camp site and ending up at the “camp site” in Veidileysufjördur where the boat pick up / drop off is. The hike starts at sea level, goes over a pass at 519 meters and than descends again down to sea level. Total distance 11km. It took me 6-7 hours, including breaks. In general I would say that the hike is of moderate difficulty: partly marked, no climbing required (never really had to use the hands), some patches of snow (one large & steep west of the pass) and some small creeks to cross (never had to take off the shoes). Having said this, I have to say that the weather was beautiful, blue sky and almost to warm... I do not know how the tour turns out in bad weather with low visibility.
On three occasions I lost / left the officially marked trail or the route where the trail should be according to the hiking maps. No guarantee that I always took the easiest path...
The first time I left the trail half way up to the pass. I followed a guided tour in the distance because I thought they new the easiest / quickest path. Well, they did not... I have uploaded three waypoints where I expect the real path to be...
The second time I left the trail was directly after the pass where there was a rather large and steep patch of snow. Instead of following the trail I decided to take the quick and easy way and slid down on my bum...
The third time I left the path (were it should be according to various maps) was about 1.5 km after the pass until reaching the camp site. It is quite simple: the marked trail does not match the maps, you always keep a bit to the east.
At the very end it looks like I have walked through the water, but it is actually a stony shore for 500m. You could also walk further up, but the grass is quite high and it is also a bit wet.
I highly recommend this hike, it is really nice. Just make sure to bring your own toilet paper to Hornstrandir ;-)
On three occasions I lost / left the officially marked trail or the route where the trail should be according to the hiking maps. No guarantee that I always took the easiest path...
The first time I left the trail half way up to the pass. I followed a guided tour in the distance because I thought they new the easiest / quickest path. Well, they did not... I have uploaded three waypoints where I expect the real path to be...
The second time I left the trail was directly after the pass where there was a rather large and steep patch of snow. Instead of following the trail I decided to take the quick and easy way and slid down on my bum...
The third time I left the path (were it should be according to various maps) was about 1.5 km after the pass until reaching the camp site. It is quite simple: the marked trail does not match the maps, you always keep a bit to the east.
At the very end it looks like I have walked through the water, but it is actually a stony shore for 500m. You could also walk further up, but the grass is quite high and it is also a bit wet.
I highly recommend this hike, it is really nice. Just make sure to bring your own toilet paper to Hornstrandir ;-)
Waypoints
Waypoint
0 ft
02 Estimated Trail
Waypoint
0 ft
03 Estimated Trail
Waypoint
0 ft
04 Estimated Trail
Panorama
1,703 ft
04 Pass Hafnarskard
Pass at 519 meters
Risk
Campsite
33 ft
06 Tjald Veidileysufjoerdur
The "camp site" and place where the boats drop off & pick up passengers.
Comments (8)
You can add a comment or review this trail
I have followed this trail View more
Information
Easy to follow
Scenery
Difficult
Very beatiful trail!
I have followed this trail View more
Information
Easy to follow
Scenery
Moderate
Trails are getting better since this was first logged. Volunteers have built more cairns, markers, bridges, etc.
@karljam: Thanks for the update
Hello Thore!
I am intending to follow your trail for my hike this coming june!
Do you think i should rent a GPS unit just to be safe?
Also, were there any fresh water streams en route to Botn?
Regards,
Aaron
Hello Aaron. That is for me impossible to judge, after all it depends on your skills and experience. The previous comments state that the markings have improved quite a bit and the trail is not difficult (in good weather), mainly a straight line. If I was to do the trail again, I would most likely go without a GPS and rely on the GPS of my smartphone in case of getting lost. But again, it completely depends on you. On the other hand: my GPS track of this trail is quite old by now. So get a GPS, record your hike and upload a new version of this trail to this website ;-)
Hi! Is this hike feasible to do round trip with 8 hours? Thank you! Elizabeth
Hello Elizabeth, it took me 6-7 hours including breaks. Even when not considering breaks I personally would not be able to make it in 4h one way. Further, you would need to go more or less exactly the same way back, which woulb be kind of boring. Maybe rather do a local walk at Horn.
We did this trail july 2020. The weather was kind of OK in the beginning (fog, little wind), but as we started ascending from Hornvik, it started to get worse (heavier fog and rain, strong wind). It was kind of difficult to follow the track on your own in this low visibility. But we followed this GPS track and downloaded another to help, so we made it evetually. After the pass, it is easier to follow the trail for the are more waymarks (rock piles). We could also cross all the creeks without taking our boots off, but sometimes it was a little bit tricky (hiking poles helped a lot!). I would recommend a proper GPS device for this track especially in bad weather. It took us approximately 5 hours, but we did not really stop, only for a few really short brakes. The scenery is probably really beautiful, we just could not see it :D