FidEgan's FastPacks -Epidose 1- The Iceland Pick

John and I are currently on a 2 year trip where we are pursuing our passion of trail running through the various landscapes and environments of the world. As we pass through each country we want to post our top pick for a trail run that we did. This does not mean that this is the best trail to run in that country. It just means that it was our favorite that we did. We are both using Ultraspire Fastpacks to carry our gear, hence the name of the column.

Where: Vatnajokull National Park - Skaftafell Visitor Center, Iceland

Facilities/Trailhead: Skaftafell has a visitor center and campground both for tents and RVs. Camping is only allowed in the campground. This visitor center provides access to a variety of trails in the area. The bathrooms are spotless and there are also coin operated showers.   There is also a cafeteria for a post run snack and hot drink. 

Fees: Entering the park is free. Tent camping was 1150 Kroner per person which is $9.75 USD.

Terrain/Trails: The terrain is volcanic in nature that has then been shaped by glacial ice and water. Various glacial tongues stretch down into the valleys that are flanked by steep jagged mountains. In the center of the park is the largest glacier in Europe. Rivers flow over the lowlands forming wide rock and sand moraines. These areas are subject to periodic flooding from both volcanic activity and ice dams bursting underneath the glacier. The trails are a combination of single track and cross country. On the maps the solid lines are trails, dotted lines mean that there is little to no track.  Iceland is subject to quick and severe weather changes.  Be ready for cold, rain/snow, wind even if it seems nice when you leave the trailhead.  Bugs may be an issue later in the summer but were not when we were there in early June. 

Distance: A variety of options exist for both distance and amount of vertical that the runner chooses. Our run was about 25km (15.5 mi).

Description:  A friendly Ranger at the trailhead confirmed that the run we were contemplating would be a beautiful place to go.  The trail system right around the Visitor Center is a bit of a maze but good maps are available at the Center and the intersections are well signed.  The run started with 100 yards of warm up down a bike path before it was up the hill we went.  The plan was to follow the M3 trail which initially starts by hiking over the ridge of Skaftafellsheithi.  This trail went past several waterfalls and up and down the gullies created by the streams associated with those waterfalls. 

The top of the ridge was rock and grass but the initial climb was through scrubby trees and on the backside of the ridge the trail went through a beech forest.  Trees are in scarce supply so to stumble into this forest was a pleasant and unexpected change. 

 The trail then descended into the moonscape of the Morsardalur moraine below the Morsariokull glacier.  Extensive views up the valley of the Morsa River could be seen.  A glacial tongue of the Vatnajokull Glacier extended down into a flat valley with a braided river running through it flanked by steep green mountains.  In almost every gully there were streams and waterfalls cascading down them.  There are two bridges across the Morsa River and the trail took us to the upper bridge. 

It is here that a decision can be made.  We elected to cross the valley and head up the opposite side of the moraine on the M3 trail.  This ended up being a trail in name only.  The path became a cross country trek over boggy ground and crossed a variety of small streams multiple times.  We eventually cut out onto the rocky ground more in the center of the valley which was actually quite runnable.  We eventually reached one stream crossing too many and it started to rain hard so we turned around just short of where the valley turns up into the Kjos valley.  This section was a little slow going since there were some navigation issues to figure out and trying our best to find the least wet way across the bogs and streams.

The other alternative would have been to stay on the east side of the valley and not crossed the bridge.  The M2 trail goes up that side and eventually dead ends at Morsalon Lake.  This is a true trail on the map and probably would make a better (but shorter) run. 
On the way back we elected to take the M1 trail back which looped down further into the valley to return to the Visitor Center.  There is a section about 500 meters long where the trail disappears as it crosses 3 shin deep rivers.  The nice thing about these river crossings was that after the third one when our feet were soaking wet and so cold that we could barely feel them we noticed that on the hillside there was steam rising up with a small trail that went to the area.  We went up it and found a hot spring pool.  We happily waded into it.  Our feet had been soaking wet and ice cold but now they were soaking wet and warm which was a much better situation.

The trail then cut back across the lunar rock moonscape of the moraine before crossing the lower at the lower bridge. 

It was then a short run on mostly flat trail to get back to the visitor center.