Kjölur

Understand

The road has probably been used since the discovery of Kjalvegur and is one of the historic routes in Iceland. It was used as a travel route to Þingvellir to Alþing, but now runs west of the piste between Gulfoss and Blönduós, still used by many travellers willing to cope the challenge. Most of Kjölur is still an unpaved road, but the river crossings have now been bridged, making the road a bit easier to travel on as fording is no longer necessary. The road covers a distance of 165 km, but is only drivable during summer, from the end of June to mid-September.

Prepare

You will need a good 4WD to do this trail, but as all river crossings are now bridged, you don't necessarily need a very good one, just a 4WD that can traverse rough gravel conditions. Check with the car owner or car hiring business, which should know whether the vehicle can cope. Before leaving, check the road conditions and weather on road.is (current conditions). The entire website is in English, so you don't need to use a machine translator from Icelandic to English.

Get in

Getting into the southern end of the route from Reykjavík takes a little more than 1.5 hours, with a distance of 116 km (72 mi) to the Gulfoss waterfall.

Drive

Gullfoss - Hvítárvatn - Kerlingarfjöll Starting from Gullfoss, the route first leads through a ground moraine landscape over the 1 Bláfellsháls Pass (elv. 610 m) and past 2 Bláfell, a table volcano. From the pass, there is a beautiful view over the glacial lake Hvítárvatn to the west, which is about 30 km2 (12 sq mi) in size and 84 m (276 ft) deep. Langjökull's glacier tongues used to reach into the lake and calve. Whooper swans and pink-footed geese can be observed at the edge of the lake, a boggy grassy landscape. Shortly after crossing the bridge over the Hvítá River, you come to the junction F336. This goes to Hvítárnes, a hiker's hut by the lake. To the west lies the Langjökull glacier (1355 m), to the east you can see the colourfully shimmering Liparit mountains of Kerlingarfjöll, the highest peaks of which are Snækollur (1482 m) and Loðmundur (1429 m).

Sidetrip to Kerlingarfjöll (F347)

The Kerlingarfjöll (Old Woman Mountains) can be reached via a 10 km long track, which branches off the route 35 to the east. In Kerlingarfjöll there is a summer ski area and a shelter. From Kerlingarfjöll, the track continues up into the mountains to Hveradalur. Kerlingarfjöll is one of the most beautiful geothermal areas in Iceland – many solfatars and fumaroles can be found along the small stream that has eaten its way deep into the yellowish, heavily weathered rhyolite. The area continues deep below Hofsjökull.

Kerlingarfjöll - Hveravellir Back on Kjölur, the trail leads to the highest point of the route, Fjórdungsalda (673 m). At this north/south watershed (Kjölur just means "watershed" in Icelandic) there is a memorial stone commemorating the founder of the Icelandic Hiking Association. Now the landscape is changing and sand is gaining the upper hand. Drive to Hveravellir via Þjófadalavegur (F735). The track continues towards Langjökull.

Hveravellir

3 Hveravellir The Hveravellir geothermal area, on the northern edge of the Kjalhraun lava field, covers an area of 450 km² near the geographic centre of Iceland, between Langjökull and Hofsjökull glaciers. The multicoloured sinter deposits at Blahver, the largest spring in the area, are interesting. The most

Go next

Sprengisandur is another road crossing the interior of Iceland.