I was excited for my final day of the trek. I knew I had a bus to catch by 6:00 pm, but was confident based on the other days that I could finish the final 9.3 miles in good enough time to head to the restaurant. Yes, that’s right, there was another restaurant at the end of the trail.

Of course, it was raining again in the morning when I woke around sunrise (5:30 or so), so I had a similar dilemma to the previous day. I was able to make breakfast, then packed up my tent during a brief stop in the rain. I set off on the trail in the rain around 8:10 am. Once again, overall elevation gain was a loss this day – and I kept hearing it was “mostly downhill” from here. There was more up and down as we started, and lots of black sand and stunning scenery.

 

There was a fairly steep downhill section in the sand where I fell on my butt. It was not a dangerous section, but it made me use caution and approach the downhills very slowly.

As I was slowly going down a hill, I saw one of the British chaperones who had helped me with my pack. “This is hard for you, isn’t it?” she said. And yes, I was definitely challenging myself. But I knew I could do it, even if I had to slow down to a half pace. We chatted a bit before she forged ahead.

 

There was a bridge section that included a built in grip as you climbed up a steep section. This was actually less stressful for me as the structure in place than some of the very steep up and downs of the first day. The British woman had used the word momentum that first day, and I kept thinking about keeping my momentum up hills.

 

The rain had cleared up by 9 am, and it ended up being a gorgeous day with lots of sun. I met some guys who had also camped the night before, and had a Garmin GPS with weather. I guess it said the rain would stop at 9 am so they went back to sleep, woke up, and packed up at 9. And the weather prediction was right. This holy device said rain would start again around 3 – probably when we would all be finishing up the hike (and rain didn’t start until 2:30, so it was pretty close).

I was seeing the start of fall colors all over the landscape (and I love the deep red in the rock below):

 

And I think I started taking photos just to show how steep and up and down I had to go:

 

It even felt warm enough with hiking and the lack of wind and rain to remove my layers. This might be one of my favorite photos, with the “unicorn” mountain in the background:

 

The landscape flattened out again, for some more long walks through black sand, observing fall colors and the glacier. I continued to meet up with people I’d seen all along, including the British chaperones, the Utah group, and the Israeli couple.

 

It was amazing to see sheep in what felt like the middle of nowhere:

 

There started to be trees and the landscape started to change. And we were not to the last uphill yet, as you can see from the trail below. Luckily the beautiful vistas were worth it.

 

Soon we would come to a big river crossing, the biggest yet. Whenever I got to a river crossing, it helped me to know that lots of other people were around. This one had several parts to get through, the deepest being knee deep. A lot of people really struggled with the cold temperature. And also tried to cross in the narrower parts of the river, making it more difficult. It’s hard when your feet are in pain from cold to remember that the widest part of the river is best, even though it looks further and harder to cross. I felt proud that I did well at this part that many struggled with. I struggled a lot with the fear of falling and heights, but did better with the crossings. You have never been gladder to put on your two layers of socks (toe sock liners and wool socks) and boots then after your feet have been through this river.

 

And suddenly, you are in the forest. After a nearly completely treeless hike, it was strange to be among the green trees, with hints of orange and red signifying the beginning of fall.

 

And then there was a sign indicating Thorsmork was near, and multiple destinations were at the endpoint. And guess what. MORE UPHILL.

 

But then I reached the peak started to descend, beautiful scenery all around. Walking toward a black ash field and the glacier and green-black mountains. And then I reached the post labeled “LV 1” and the sign indicating the official end of the hike (or start for those going the other direction).

 

At this point, I cried with joy. And emotion. Pride in myself. I had never done anything like this. And I did this hike in the wind and rain, went up and down steep hills with frightening drop-offs, crossed rivers of glacier runoff. All by myself. It was around 3 pm at this point, so I’d done the whole thing in around 7 hours this time.

I was overjoyed and followed the signs to Langidalur. I made it to the huts with a beautiful glacier backdrop and volcanic fields, with buses driving around the huge black rocks. I saw one of the British chaperones and we chatted, and I finally got use a bathroom.

 

I then asked the warden how to get to Volcano Huts. Volcano Huts are in Husadalur, 2 km away. Either place you catch the Sterna bus is a 2 km walk. I tried to think of how much 2 km was (it’s 1.2 miles) and wanted to cry. I thought I was done. She assured me I didn’t have to go back up those stairs and it was a fairly flat walk.

Thinking of the restaurant and friends that awaited me at Volcano Huts, I set off for more hiking. “This freaking hike doesn’t end,” I ranted to myself as I walked and walked before finally getting to Volcano Huts.

I entered the restaurant and saw my Israeli couple friends, Tal and Or. I approached them, and then some people sitting next to them said hi. I blinked. These were my Canadian friends I had seen at the bus the first day. We all made it!

There was a buffet lunch with lamb stew, salad, lots of delicious bread, and coffee and cakes. It seemed really good or maybe I was just starving after backpacking 33+ miles. I sat with Tal and Or and we enjoyed such luxuries as not just food and indoor heating, but electricity and WiFi. We had a couple of hours at this point until the bus came.

I ended up seeing my Utah friends as well and chatting with them. Trekking the Laugavegur Trail is like being in a club. No one else can really understand what you have been through, or the beauty you have seen, which can’t really be captured in photos. I bought a patch that said “Laugavegur Trail” (I kind of wanted a t-shirt with the trail on it but it was like $40 USD).

Eventually we boarded the bus and the bus ride started incredibly. We crossed many, many, rivers through the volcanic wheels on a bus with gigantic wheels, the glacier and beautiful mountains still looming in the background. Someone on the other side of the bus said they spotted an Arctic Fox (they are scared of people but I’d read of people spotting them in Thorsmork).

Eventually we got to more normal roads and stopped quickly at a waterfall, Seljalandsfoss. This was on my itinerary for my drive, so I knew we must now be close to the Ring Road.

It was a sleepy bus ride back in the rain to Reykjavik. Back to Harpa, and then a bit more trekking along the flat sidewalk to Kex. I felt odd in my unshowered, backpacker-y state as there was a hip-looking comedy show (people laughing at a woman speaking Icelandic on stage) that night in the basement and locals were around, dressed up for the evening. There is a fast food joint across the street that was still open (around 10 pm maybe?) so I got a hot dog and fries, which I devoured before taking the best shower ever. Kex has individual little rooms for showers, and the standard in Iceland seems to be waterfall showerheads. Plus our Snaefellsnes tour guide told us the shower water in Iceland was heated geothermally, so you can feel a bit less guilty about using up hot water.

The Laugavegur Trail was extremely hard but very rewarding. I couldn’t help but smile at the scenery around me even as the rain and wind poured down. At some parts I thought, can I do this? I had to put all of my focus into believing in myself. I thought maybe I would be slow as I often seem to be in Colorado hiking, but I managed a decent pace somehow, even with all my photo stops. People have talents, and hiking and backpacking do not come easy to me. People say the trail is technically easy but weather makes it difficult (I guess??? Not for me). What a remarkable experience. I still cannot believe I did it sometimes.