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Iceland is known to be the land of ice and fire, and in the past few years it’s really shown the world what that really means. The country is situated on top of two tectonic plates, the North American and the Eurasian plate, and also right above a hotspot – a geological term for a volcanic area that has an unusually hot mantle underneath it. With over 32 active volcanic systems in the country, you’d expect there to be a volcanic eruption going on all the time.
Hiking to an active volcano was not on cards but this new volcanic eruption started in Iceland in Meradalir on August 3rd 2022, less than a year after the last eruption in the area ended. I reached Iceland on 19th of August and thought it would be a great idea to hike it . The volcanic eruption is located right next to Fagradalsfjall and only an hour’s drive away from the capital city Reykjavik, and about a 30 minute’s drive from the international airport in Keflavik. The nearest town is called Grindavik, which is in less than a 10 minute driving distance. The hike itself takes 2 to 3 hour each way. It goes through lot of lava fields and volcanic wastelands. We could still see smokes coming out from last year’s lava fields. It was quite cold and windy but top there was a magnificient display of fireworks.
It was long day , I came back at 3am in my hotel.
