As we woke up on the Saturday morning we looked over the lake, Skorradalsvatn, towards the mountain on the other side, Skarðsheiði. The summit, up to which we were going to hike, Hádegishyrna (975m), was covered in fog. So was the entire slope of the mountain and, from time to time, even the lake. It was not the most promising weather for a hike.

As the morning progressed the fog moved up and down the slopes. So did our hopes of enjoying a good view, they alternated between high to low. However, shortly before noon, the fog had retreated and covered only the very top of the mountain. We decided thus it was time to get started, in the hope that the fog would retreat further and disappear before we reached our summit.

We ascended the mountain from the east, through bog, gravel, moss and from time to time over patches of the remainder of the winter snow. We headed into the fog above us. As we moved higher up the mountain the fog retreated. Only at the very top the fog hampered our visibility. However, it was not consistent enough to deny us a nice view of the surrounding flatland while we ate our sandwiches and beer for lunch.

We took a different route down, following a ridge running northward. The way down was steeper than the ascend, and at times it was a tricky descend when the route went through slopes with loose rocks.

We came down from the mountain slightly west of the farm called Litla Drageyri. In order to get to the road we had to go through a small patch of birch woodland, or as we call it in Iceland, a forest. We found it tricky to get to the other side of the dense woodland and at some point we feared to become the first people ever to get lost in an Icelandic forest [1].

At last we managed to get through the trees and were back on the road. The hike turned out to be just over 10k and it took us just under 4 hours, including a generous lunch break on the top.

[1] Question: What should you do if you get lost in an Icelandic forest? Answer: Stand up!