Sunnudagsganga

Sunday walk

I always find it fascinating - besides the well-known, famous places, tourist hot-spots, and sights, there are still small, unknown places in Iceland that are not in travel guides, are not online insider tips, and may not be quite as spectacular - but still beautiful. And where you are still completely alone.

The crater Kerið with its red rock and the crater lake, almost every traveler to Iceland who has visited the Golden Circle here in the south of Iceland knows it. About 600,000 people probably visited Kerið last year, according to Arctic Adventures, the owner of the land since 2023 – which means that almost 30% of all visitors to Iceland visit this crater.

But the Kerið is not the only crater with a lake in the middle that exists here. But other craters are not developed for tourism, there are no signs, no large paved parking lot, no restroom kiosk, no food truck, and no entrance fee to pay; there is not even a proper road.

Nevertheless, one can walk to this crater here on an official, well-marked hiking trail.

The established hiking trail leads through the moss-covered lava landscape and is well marked at the yellow stakes to recognize with the blue markings. At this spot here, there is also an old trail marker, I assume.

The lava here is not very old yet, only a few thousand years. But it is densely overgrown, I estimate, with lava moss or more precisely fork moss - the plant that typically settles first on the cooled rock after an eruption.

On the other side of the path, opposite the lava landscape, lies the green crater covered with grass and small trees, with its small blue crater lake full of aquatic plants.

Here is the view from the other side over the crater rim onto the lava landscape.

Already quite green, for Icelandic conditions, I think!

With one last look at the expanse of the landscape, we then went back again.

That was definitely a nice Sunday walk. We got to know a beautiful crater with a crater lake, of which we hadn't even seen pictures until a few days ago. And we were all alone here, no other person for miles around. So nice!

Translated from here.