Photos, videos and docs of Gudrun, with the keywords: "Highlands"

Highland roads

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Sun, 05 Jul 2026 09:03:17 +0000

Gudrun has posted:

SC204- street signs

On F910 (Austurleið) at the turn-off to F902. The mountain in the background of the volcanic wasteland is Askja volcano.

F in a road name means Fjall (mountain), these tracks are only suitable for large 4x4 (no Dacia Dusters!), they are not surfaced, have river crossings and can be quite challenging. They are open only in summer (late June/ July - September/ early October depending on the weather).

Police and rangers are patrolling the highlands to help if someone runs into trouble and to make sure nobody does any offroad driving which is strictly forbidden.

Fines can be up to 1 million krona (not quite 7000 Euros) which many Icelanders think is much too low. A recent case of vandalism caused quite a stir:

icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/nature_and_travel/2026/06/30/french_tourists_believed_to_have_reached_isafjordur

Highlands

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 10:44:53 +0000

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SC 151- Composition Rules - here: Rule of Thirds (1), Layering (3).
Alternative contribution:: Golden Ratio (12) www.ipernity.com/doc/523247/52967388

On Hringvegur through the Icelandic Highlands in wintry conditions- ice, snow and high winds.

Abandoned

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 11:38:52 +0000

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Presumably the driver got help, as this is in front of a café and filling station - even though it's in the middle of nowhere!

Þetta reddast (it will work out alright) as Icelanders like to say;-)

Our bus got stuck in an official beach parking lot. The driver googled the nearest farm, called them and they came with a tractor and pulled him out. We missed the fun because we went for a walk in the meamtime.

Beitarhúsið

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 08:08:05 +0000

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Café in the middle of the highlands just off the ring road. It belongs to the 8 km distant farm of Möðrudalur, at 469m the highest inhabited place in Iceland (and in winter only reachable by superjeep).
At around -10°C and with a very strong wind nobody wanted to sit outside;-)

HBM!

Horse fence

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 06:10:44 +0000

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at Landmannalaugar

HFF!

Hornito

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 12:13:36 +0000

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A Hornito (literally: little oven) is a small turret shaped spattering/ degassing vent that develops in effusive eruptions. Hornitos are rootless, meaning they aren't fed from deep sources but from hot lava running in tubes not far from the surface. When pressure in the tubes gets too high the lava and gases break out in such vents.

whc.unesco.org/en/list/1604
www.katlageopark.com/geosites/mainly-geology/lakagigar

By the melting patterns in the 1st note and the volcanic glass in the 2nd you can see how hot and fluid the lava must have been.

Nýidalur

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Mon, 14 Nov 2022 12:07:02 +0000

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Nýidalur (830m) lies on highland road F26 with Tungnafellsjökull glacier nearby. There are huts with bunk/dorm accommodation run by the Icelandic touring club. We only had our lunch break there and thankfully could use the hut, on two former visits we were shivering on the benches outside...The water in the washrooms is the coldest I have ever experienced!

This part of Sprengisandur highland desert has permafrost, the 1st note shows the polygonal patterns made by ice wedges. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_wedge

Frostspalten: lineare Schrumpfrisse in gefrorenem Boden, die durch Kontraktion bei sehr tiefen Temperaturen gebildet werden, an der Bodenoberfläche bilden sie oft ein Polygonnetz. Durch Gefrieren von eindringendem Schmelzwasser werden Eiskeile gebildet.

Yet even in this harsh climate flowers grow:
Bartsia alpina (Alpenhelm)

Silene acaulis (Moss campion, Stängelloses Leimkraut, Lambagras)

Skaftá valley

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Wed, 19 Oct 2022 10:35:41 +0000

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Skaftá valley with Fögrufjöll mountains in the background, seen from Lakagígar.

During the Laki eruptions (1783/84) Skaftá river dried up completely as the lava shot down the valley into the lowlands. The phreatic explosions as hot lava reacted with water could be heard from far away.

en.unesco.org/global-geoparks/katla

Lambavatn and Lakagígar

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Sun, 16 Oct 2022 12:58:57 +0000

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Another one from Laki, looking SW over Lambavatn and Kambavatn.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki-Krater

www.vatnajokulsthjodgardur.is/en/areas/laki-eldgja-langisjor/plan-your-visit/laki

Signposts

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 11:55:38 +0000

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Near Dreki hut at the foot of Askja volcano in the middle of the Icelandic highland desert (the light coloured stuff is pumice from the 1875 Askja eruption). It's always fun to come across such signposts seemingly in the middle of nowhere!

For the 125km to Nýidalur you would probably need at least 6-7 hours in a 4x4 with high clearance as this F-road goes through lava fields and various fords. We only did the "easier" eastern part to Askja and that took us 5 hours for 100km. www.dangerousroads.org/europe/iceland/9864-f-roads-in-iceland.html

Original photo

Far Horizons

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 13:59:13 +0000

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Southern Highlands seen from Kistualda (767m), a small hill near highland road F26 with a wide ranging view. The mountain in the distance is Hekla volcano (1491m).

Kreppá Bridge

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 08:47:47 +0000

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Bridge over river Kreppá on highland road F910.

hFF, folks!

Fagrifoss

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Sat, 20 Aug 2022 09:08:51 +0000

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EXIF: Canon EOS 6D/ EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM/ 1/80 • f/8.0 • 38.0 mm • ISO 250

Fagrifoss (literally: the beautiful waterfall) is near Road F206 to the Laki craters. Here the river Geirlandsá drops 80m into a canyon which is shot through with basalt dykes

Laki desolation

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Sun, 04 Sep 2022 08:57:08 +0000

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Part of the southern crater row.
Moss has colonized the craters but even after nearly 240 years hardly anything grows in the ash.

www.vatnajokulsthjodgardur.is/en/areas/laki-eldgja-langisjor/interpretation-and-knowledge/about-laki

whc.unesco.org/en/list/1604

Hofsjökull

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 15:57:40 +0000

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seen from Sprengisandur (highland road F26)

At 925 km² Hofsjökull is Iceland's 3rd largest glacier. It lies in the geographical middle of the country and covers a large shield volcano with a massive caldera.

Herðubreið

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Thu, 25 Aug 2022 04:52:23 +0000

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Herðubreið, the queen of Icelandic mountains - and seat of the gods? Many believe this is the Asgard of the sagas.

Herðubreið is a 1682m high table mountain (tuya) which erupted under ice age glaciation. At the very top (here covered by cloud) is a crater and some basalt whch made it out of the ice.
The mountain with its steep and near symmetrical shape rises 1000m above the vast surrounding highland desert and is visible from afar.

Víti and Öskjuvatn

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 12:29:58 +0000

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Panorama stitched from 4 photos
EXIF: 1/1000 • f/5.6 • 28.0 mm • ISO 100/ LEICA CAMERA AG LEICA Q2/ SUMMILUX 1:1.7/28 ASPH.

Askja is a big central volcano in the middle of the Icelandic highlands, consisting of 3 nested calderas. Öskjuvatn (in the background) is Iceland's 2nd deepest lake (220m) and developed in the years/decades after the 1875 eruption when the magma chamber had emptied and the caldera slowly collapsed and filled with groundwater. Viti (Icelandic for hell) in the foreground is a maar, an explosion crater from a phreatic explosion which also happend in 1875. The water is sulphurous and people used to bathe in it. At the moment this is forbidden, as Askja seems to be slowly warming up towards another eruption. There has been an uplift of 35cm in recent times and the alert level has been raised to yellow.

Snowfall when we arrived

Swiss National Day is celebrated on 01.08, even in Askja;-)

Lakagígar

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Sun, 21 Aug 2022 10:26:55 +0000

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Part of the northern Laki crater row with Síðujökull (part of Vatnajökull) in the background.

The Laki fissure eruption of 1783/84 was one of the greatest natural disasters of the last 1000 years. A total of 14,7 km³ of lava flowed from 130 vents, eventually covering 600km². 122 million tonnes of SO² and 15 million tonnes of fluorine were emitted. In Iceland 80% of sheep and over 50% of other livestock died of fluorine poisoning, more than 20% of Icelanders died of starvation.
The poisonous cloud covered much of Europe as a dry fog, leading to high excess mortality, crop failures and famine. Temperatures dropped by an average of 1,3°C for 2-3 years, causing an extremely cold winter and enormous flooding after snow melt in spring.

www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2007/12/19/the-summer-of-acid-rain

whc.unesco.org/en/list/1604

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki-Krater

Highland desert

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Sun, 24 Jul 2022 11:56:31 +0000

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River Kreppá in the Icelandic highlands, a desert of lava and pumice created by various volcanic eruptions, most notably from Askja. www.vatnajokulsthjodgardur.is/en/areas/odadahraun/interpretation-and-knowledge/about-askja
Road F910 (4x4 only) crosses the river on one of the very few bridges in the area. Note how high the bridge is, fording would often be impossible.
www.vatnajokulsthjodgardur.is/en/areas/odadahraun

I'm off to Iceland again, see you in August!

Brennisteinsalda

nobody@ipernity.com (Gudrun) — Sun, 28 Jul 2019 06:40:22 +0000

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Highly colourful Brennisteinsalda (transl.: sulphur wave) is a rhyolithic lava dome situated at the caldera rim of Torfajökull volcanic system. It has a high temperature geothermal area at its feet as can be seen by the steam. In the foreground right is Laugahraun, an obsidian lava flow which originated from the flanks of Brennisteinsalda in the last (1477) eruption.

Brennisteinsalda (übersetzt. Schwefelwelle) ist ein rhyolithischer Lavadom am Calderarand des Torfajökull. Der Dampf stammt vom Hochtemperaturgebiet zu Füßen des Bergs, rechts vorne ist der Obsidian-Lavastrom Laugahraun, der beim letzten Ausbruch 1477 aus der Flanke des Bergs austrat.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brennisteinsalda