Hekla: hiking the volcanic Gateway to Hell

Hekla is one of Iceland's most active volcanoes. With a long history of dangerous eruptions, this volcano was long considered as a 'gateway to hell'. Luckily is remained calm while I was climbing part of it.

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INFO & PLANNING TIPS - HEKLA

Culminating at 1491 meters (4892 ft), hekla is one of the most famous active volcanoes in Iceland. My stop there was not planned. I did research for that post after by climb and I am now scared to have climbed it as it is quite active and does not give much warning!

Hekla is a stratovolcano part of a volcanic ridge which is 40 km long (25 miles). The most active part is a 5.5 km fissure called Heklugja. There are a series of cratere all along. Hekla has an unusual form quite rare around the world.

Hekla was called the Gateway to Hell in the Middle Ages. Since then frequent eruptions have devasted farms, disrupted nature and killed people reinforcing this impression and it was not climbed until the 18th century. Major eruptions have been estimated at 20 and minor at 25. Some lasted several months to a year uninterrupted and others had 14 to 18 craters active at the same time! On top of that I have read that Hekla is quite aseismic which means activity is only visible 1/2 hour to 1& 1/2 hours before the eruption. Almost not warning!

TIPS FOR TRAVEL PLANNING ADDICTS - HEKLA

Getting to Hekla

Route 26 and then a trail heading East
From Landmmannalaugar take the landmannaleid and then a track in the South direction (but no indication)
4WD imperative

Visiting Hekla

The easiest way up is from the north - if you climb all the way to the top you should have glacier gear (head to Wild Iceland for pictures taken of the glacier part)
It is not recommended to go without a guide (I went on a super jeep tour with Discover Iceland)
It is an active volcano so you are taking a risk when you climb it.
No facilities

From Landmannalaugar to Hekla

I drived towards Hekla from the colorful mountains of Landmannalaugar first on the Landmannaleid and then on a 'track'. My driver knew the direction and found tracks (although not all the time). I drove past incredible scenery and were lucky with interesting clouds. We had a lot of fun 4 wheel driving through a lava field (the photo was taken where it was flat but then it became a roller coaster 🙂

View from where I left the car

At one point we could not drive further. We stopped the car and I was gratified with stunning views on one side: there were different layers of mountains and at the back the top of the Vatnajökull glacier.

Climb to the first crater of Hekla

From there my guide pointed out a trail leading up... I jumped on my feet and walk the slippery trail up to the first crater. I am not fit so I can tell you that this section is only moderate difficulty as I was able to reach the first crater, a small one but still it is pretty cool. Next to the crater was a recent lava field.

View from the first crater

Once I reached to top and breathed again, the scenery was really stunning. It was not easy to photograph but l loved the various colors, the large valleys and the stange looking mountains. I was running out of time and stamina so I decided not to push further and walked back down.