Volcano Hike With a Geologist Near Reykjavik | Best Things to do in Winter Iceland

[Music] hey everyone it's Wes here from travel with West and today I'm taking you on an icy volcano hike in the picturesque Landscapes of Iceland near the town of grindvik for this activity I've paired up with Geo adventures and our guide jeppi to explore some recent volcanic sites including the rll's fall volcanic field so right now we're about to head to just outside the town of grindvik uh where there's been a lot of uh volcanic activity uh we have a three-hour hike with a geologist who is go

ing to take us to one of the recent lava Fields I don't think it's going to be the one that actually damaged the town that whole area is closed and you know this people are going through a lot they've been displaced so they don't want to you know do tours of you know their homes being destroyed and kind of their lives being uprooted so I totally get that um yeah so we got about an hour drive uh and then I'll see you guys out on the [Music] hike well we just made it to the uh starting point for o

ur volcano hike uh we're meeting the geologist and any of the other tour people here uh it's pretty incredible um actually it's just wide open snow covered volcanic rock uh it looks really cool so I'm excited to to check it out maybe we'll see some lava I don't know um I think the uh the sites that we're going to seeing are kind of dormant at this point but we'll see we'll see what we got in store while you can hike through this area on your own I'm really happy that I spent my time with the geo

logist from Geo Adventures who was able to educate me on the area and Iceland's unique geography you're going to get a lot more out of your time hiking through these volcanic sites with a trained geologist than you will exploring them on your own this is a great activity for people to enjoy who are spending time in rikic or nearby Geo Adventures offers roundtrip shuttle transportation to the trail head from the capital city or you can drive here on your own like I did which can make it easier to

visit places like the nearby Blue Lagoon or to continue on with your itinerary if you aren't planning on heading back to rikic once the group has all made it to the trail head your guide will make sure everyone is properly equipped for the hike which is about 4 miles or 6 km round trip doing this activity during the winter means you'll need to have on spikes to navigate the snowy and sometimes icy terrain if you don't have your own pair of spikes don't worry Geo Adventures can provide you with

a pair to use during your activity for gear you want to dress according to the season you're visiting in during the summer this is going to be a lot easier since the temperatures are warmer but you'll still want to bring plenty of water snacks sturdy Footwear a raincoat and backpack cover just in case the weather turns against you if you visit rll's fall for this volcano hike during the winter like I did then you're going to need a little bit more you'll definitely want snow boots or waterproof

hiking boots for the snow spikes which we already touched on two pairs of warm socks really warm gloves and you'll also want to dress thoughtfully in layers when you're hiking in the winter you can get hot really quick under a bunch of warm clothing and I frequently found myself taking my coat off and on to regulate my body temperature but actually you can also take off your your glowes you might also want to consider purchasing some heated apparel if you're visiting Iceland during the winter I'

ll leave a link in the description to some gear by vestus which includes battery heating elements in their coats gloves and socks which can be a real game Cher when visiting windy Iceland during the winter as for how long long this activity will take you'll spend approximately 3 hours hiking taking breaks learning about the geologies and inspecting the recent lava Fields if you're coming from rikic remember to factor in an additional hour for driving each way during the hike you'll encounter a f

ew different volcanic fields which our guide jeppi provided a lot of background information on so it's mostly red the iron here the orange yellow is sulfur then on top this millim like the same green you have there is a glass of face something that you don't know you don't realize until you see the smoking coming up could be half an hour could be 20 minutes as well yeah and not a lot of warning yes and this is what's happened last time to the Blue Lagoon they evated the area at 6:00 in the morni

ng when the eruption already started behind the mountain the fracture system we have between 30 to 35 fractures active today so if you can come a little bit closer please I show you this type of rock is called basaltic Rock and 90% of Iceland is made by Ma basti rocks if you want you can do a check to trust I trust to if you have trust issues you can you it was really interesting to learn how Iceland uses GPS and satellites to track movements on the Earth's surface to detect potential volcanic a

ctivity while much of the landscape was covered in snow during our February hike it was really cool to see the lava fields from prior years exposed in contrast against the landscape even though some of these fields were created years ago there's still quite a bit of heat trapped below the surface which prevents snow from accumulating on top of them there are are even certain places during the hike where you can still see quite a bit of steam coming off the volcanic rock while there are larger gr

oup options for this activity a nice thing about Geo Adventures is the small group nature of the activity this meant that we were able to interact with our guide ask questions handle different lava rocks and even try our luck testing the temperature of one of the Lava Rock Fields it's important to remember that even though this is considered a volcano hike it's actually really difficult to see flowing lava up close in Iceland Instagram might make you think otherwise but the flowing lava from new

eruptions only lasts a short period of time and even then getting close to it can be extremely dangerous since volcanic activity creates a lot of toxic gases that are harder to detect and kind of pay attention to than just the heat one of my favorite ways to acclimate and gain a better understanding of a new city is to do some sort of guided walking tour when I arrive this is basically the equivalent of that except instead of walking through city streets you'll be walking through Icelandic Land

scapes and learning about what makes this place so special the unique blend of Adventure and education make this a really unique and fun way to spend an afternoon during your Iceland trip so I left my tour group I'm going to get some extra drone shots at the end of this Geo Adventures tour so I hope you guys like it let's see what we can find thanks for joining me on today's adventure and don't forget to check out my other guides for more travel planning resources to make your Iceland trip truly

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