Cooking eggs in nature

There aren't many places where you can simply cook an egg while hiking in the great outdoors - but in some corners of Iceland you can.

My husband went hiking on Monday, nearby in an area with hot mud springs.

And he was also prepared for culinary adventures - with a fresh egg, an "egg timer" that changes color so you can see how well-cooked the egg is, and a plastic bag (unfortunately we didn't have a net).

Varúð! Hverasvæði

Hverasvæði means "solfatar field". Solfatars or fumaroles are when hot, sulfur-containing water vapor or gas flows out of cracks or holes in volcanic areas. A mud pot ("leirhver", in English "mud pot") is a hot spring that, in geothermally active areas, is fed by groundwater inflow, whereby some of the water evaporates and the remaining water, along with water vapor and volcanic gases, then bubbles up rises to the surface in some places.

Such mud pots can be really life-threatening - it is said, for example, that the town of Hveragerði introduced street lighting at the beginning of the 20th century after a man fell into one of these mud pots in the town in the dark and died.

My husband was really lucky with the weather - absolutely golden September here in Iceland. And all the steaming springs in the early evening light, that has a very special charm!

But you really have to be extremely careful in such a landscape, as beautiful as it is. Visitors are warned by numerous signs and barriers.

Be careful, mud sources!

There are many dangerous mud springs in this area. New sources are constantly emerging with no clear signs on the surface. Stay on the paths and don't go too close to the mud springs. Enter at your own risk!

By the way, the warning on these signs that new springs are constantly forming in such areas without you necessarily being able to see it on the surface is absolutely serious!

Cooking eggs in nature

My husband cooked his egg in one of the hot springs here during his hike:

The egg went into a plastic bag along with the Egg Timer. My husband then hung the whole thing in one of the hot springs, here in this surreal landscape, and he weighed down the handles of the bag with a large stone to make everything possible secure yourself well and keep enough distance yourself.

The bag then hung in the bubbling spring for 10 minutes, after which the "egg timer egg" indicated that it was hard-boiled.

However, the freshly boiled egg was now really hot and my husband had to wait a bit before he could even peel his egg. But it worked perfectly and tasted good!

Refreshed, we went back home...

The safe alternative:

If you would like to cook your egg in the Icelandic nature, I recommend the Geothermal Park in Hveragerði - here visitors can buy an egg and rent a "fishing rod" and then cook their egg freshly in one of the hot springs. A cool experience for small and large children!

Geothermal Park in Hveragerði, egg cooking 2013/2014

[Translated from here.]