Beautiful hike in Hornstrandir national park

We have been waiting here in Ísafjörður for the weather and ferry schedules to be favorable for a day hike at Hornstrandir national park. Yesterday was finally the day, and it was so worth the wait!

Hornstrandir is on the tip of the northernmost westfjord here, so close to the Artic circle… but not quite, we were about 10 miles away. It’s so remote the only way to get there is by boat, there are no roads to drive there.

The ferry took 75 minutes there and an hour back. When we got to Saebol there were around 8 houses and no dock, so they put us in zodiac boats, gave some people life jackets and ferried us ashore.

The boat was mostly locals with groceries and luggage going to the few homes there. There was one other couple on the ferry hiking for the day like us. Once we left the beach we were alone.It was a beautiful day and a gorgeous hike that took us up to the top of the fjord and then down the other side.

Once we reached the top we could see the fjords and bays and glaciers all around. The view was breathtaking. Steve took over 150 pictures.

The whole hike was about 9.5 miles and took us 5 hours. The weather was great, clear, warm, not too windy.

There was almost noone else on the trail, except for a group of 16 women from the US Canada and Iceland who were bringing the first film festival to Hornstrandir National Park. They were having a great time. It was fun to chat with them and hear about their project. They were hiking all over the park and debuting a few films at each spot. They had just started the evening before at Saebol where we got off the ferry.

We crossed many streams along the way, one of them actually required us to take off our shoes and roll up our pants to wade across. The ladies leant us sticks to help cross which was really nice. The water was cold, but refreshing.

We got to Hesteyri one hour before the ferry schedule at 630 pm. We had been told however to expect the ferry may be anytime after the schedule and often 45 minutes to 1.5 hrs later.

Luckily there was a cute little café with a deck, warm sunshine and views all around. We sat and enjoyed drinks and pancakes and chatted with the other couple we had met that morning in the ferry.

Finally around 7:15 the ferry came. Exhausted and happy we enjoyed the ride back, grabbed quick dinner in town and then back to the campsite to collapse in bed.

What an amazing day!