adventure trip report With a nasty bit of damage
06-21-2012, 12:37 PM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
adventure trip report With a nasty bit of damage
To explain it a little more a guy in California contacted me half a year ago and after a little chat i agreed to take him on i Icelandic aventure.
This is the story.
I met with clark little later then we had planed. My Bmw had started some steering pump trouble the day before. It was driveble but bearly.
Here is a picture of it next to the Blue lagoon. Its a must go place when you travel to Iceland.
we drove over Hellisheiði witch is a lava covered health land between Reykjavik (capital) and Hveragerði (my town) with alot of offroad trails. witch often gets impassable during winter.
Anyways we arrive in Hveragerdi and i drive him to the Hotel after a pizza and beer at the local restaurant.
The next day we start early. Leave around 10am after fueling.
We head east. Down the south cost of Iceland.
we are heading to a place named Skogar. Thats 80miles away from Hveragerdi but the road is good so it takes us an hour to get there.
This place is right under the famous Eyjafjallajokull Glacer and its volcano that grounded all flight in Europe in 2010. Since then hiking to the volcano and the two older volcanos has been popular. Its about 10mile hike but mostly upward and boring for the first 7 miles. In the picture below you can see the start of the hike.
We did not want or had the time to take the full hike i decided to talk to the farmer at that owns the 4x4 trail to the volcano. I had talked to him in the past and he had always let me drive up there. So i thought this was no trouble. But now he didn't let anyone go through. This trail went through his driveway and he was just fed up with all the traffic through his farm so he had put up a gate and had a lock on it. Didn't metter if i pointed 10000kronur to him he didn't let us in. Grumpy old farmer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92ssvEX2Lz4
So we got back to the main ring road and headed back west. And into the highlands. On the way we stoped next to the old natural pool at Seljavellir ( Seljavallalaug)
The pool is one of the oldest swimming pool in Iceland and was first loaded with stones in 1923 and then cast a year later. Courses were initiated in the pool, as part of compulsory education, The pool is 25 meters long and 10 wide and the largest pool in Iceland until the year 1936 .After the eruption of 2010 eruption filled Seljavallalaug of ash. Early summer 2011 brought together a group of volunteers to clean the pool with loaders and excavators. Locals often make themselves the refreshing 15 minute walk up to the pool for bathing, especially on long summer nights.
when we got back to the truck. Lot of high green mountains under the glacier.
Clark with the monster truck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gssenx_5uMc
then we headed up in to the valley that leads to the highlands between the glaciers Tindfjallajökull and Eyjafjallajökull. and in the middle huge dark brown glacier rivers Krossá, Þröngá and Markarfljót. The valley is closed in between glaciers, Mýrdalsjökull being at the rear end of the valley. This leads to an especially warm climate, better than in the rest of south Iceland. In the protected valley, there is green vegetation of moss, fern, birchwood and other small shrubs.
+
During to the eruption at Eyjafjallajökull in the spring of 2010, much of the area was covered in a thick layer of volcanic ash. It took several months for nature to return to normal.
Crossing Markarfljot river - YouTube
One of the Markarfljót's tributaries is the river Krossá, flowing through Þórsmörk, which is notorious for sudden changes in its water level.
The highest discharge ever measured in the Markarfljót was 2,100 m3/s (74,000 cu ft/s) in 1967, during the Steinholt jökulhlaup.
then we headed up and over the valley into i highland called Emstrur. There is the mountain Einhyrningur (unicorn) there is a "must stop and take picture in every trip spot
)
From there is about 5 miles drive to The markarfljotsgljufur canyon.
A huge beautiful canyon in the highlands with incredible colors.+
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j7C6...ature=youtu.be
If this isn't the place for a powerful Icelandic beer , no place is.
then we drove on into the highland and had to cross another powerful river Nyrði-Emstruá
runs roaring coal dark in considerable waterfall the river was one of the biggest barrier driving the trail in the past.
Remember, those are 44" tires.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqfTladqGrc&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxAn1...ature=youtu.be
Nyrði-Emstruá - YouTube
We keep driving deeper into the highland. and had to cross another river. River famous for axle and diff brakage but its water is low now.
Crossing BláfjallakvÃ*sl @ fjallabaki - YouTube
Then 5 miles from the river is the abandoned (For now) montain huts at Hvanngil
This is a good spot to stop , sit down and have something to eat, we have now been driving for 6 hours and covered over 60miles of trails.
The road continues across the Langviu Lava Field, River Markarfljot and past Lake Alftavatn, where there are two huts that have hut rangers during the summer season.
At the Alftavatn highland camp we met the hut rangers. There trucks were small compared to the 4Runner.+
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCUgd...ature=youtu.be
some street sign , highland style
Wheeling from Alftavatn highland camp we began to encounter more snow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NomUx...ature=youtu.be
(east) Myrdalsjokull glacer in the far distance with the huge volcano Katla on top of it. God bless Europe flights WHEN that volcano erupts. They give it few more years tho.
(south) Tindfjallajokull glacer in the distance
looking (south east) into the valley with Alftavatn camp in far distance
After the trail got higher the snow got thicker.
This is mountain Laufafell. Its 1464m or 4803feet high. Two months ago this whole area was covered in snow and we travel allot around here during the winter on trucks and snowmobiles.
with cliffs all around the top its considered impasseble
for people to go up there.
but me and a tight groop of snowobilers went up there two mounths ago. Its funny to still be able to see our tracks up the cliffs.
Its funny to still be able to see our tracks up the cliffs.
We drove on old snow from the winter. Nothing in the gps gave away any info to be worrying about anything. But there can always be small Meld water spings this early in the summer. But in my years of offroading i have never seen anything like what happened next
Driving at around 10mph the truck all out of sudden falls down , hits the other site of a ice cave with the front and then falls a little more.
Getting out of the truck is not easy. The doors are jammed by ice but we finaly get them To open enough to get out. Then i see Clark fall down into this hole in the ice and disappears. I and then stick his head back up. I pull him up and we laugh about it.
How funny it be to have a picture of him in that hole... well we reacted it and took this picture that is now ALL OVER the internet. How funny is that.
While he is down there he takes those pics in the tunnel. On of the best stuck truck picture around.
I inspect the damage on the truck and see one of the coil mount has broken of the axle and the coil sping got away with it. The front fender messed up with alot more frontal damage that i didn't see for ice.
It was clear right away that i needed winch to get the truck out of there and with no phone signal at the spot the VHF radio was the only way to contact people.
Now most offroaders have it but as it was in the middle of the week i didn't think we had other trucks in the area. But in first my first call in the radio a got an answer from the hut rangers at Hrafntinnusker about 35miles away. They like me didn't have phone signal so they called in the radio to Landmannalaugar park where they had phone signal.
The guys at Landmannalaugar then called the rescue team in the town about 100miles away from where i was stuck.
Now every simple question needed to get between four persons. The rescue team needed my gps coordinates.
That alone took about 10minutes.
they needed to know allot of things like what route we took. And one and one. Every simple question took awhile to get to and from.
nice
After they had gotten the information they needed i asked Clark to stay in the truck and listen to the radio while i took a hike to top of the hill to try to get some phone signal. This took about a hour and i didn't get on good enough signal to call .
Getting Unstuck - YouTube
two hours later the guy on the mog came and the winch the truck upp. The damage was far more then i had expected.. front bumper had been kicked in pushed the front mount intercooler into the radiator that hit the engine pulleys. Thefront radiator suport beam got bent and the hood and fender and grilley was finished. Worst was the hole in my brand new 350$ radiator.
with the radiator out the truck had to be towed 100miles to town.
The rescue guys Unimog
the 4runner had to be lifted with a high lift jack to got the coil spring back in place.
this doesnt look good hah
and the icecold four hour tow back to civilization..
Got the truck back home yesterday as i have been busy with work and havent dug into it yet.
Will hopefully have some damage report tomorow. But am not very positive right now lol.
This is the story.
I met with clark little later then we had planed. My Bmw had started some steering pump trouble the day before. It was driveble but bearly.
Here is a picture of it next to the Blue lagoon. Its a must go place when you travel to Iceland.
we drove over Hellisheiði witch is a lava covered health land between Reykjavik (capital) and Hveragerði (my town) with alot of offroad trails. witch often gets impassable during winter.
Anyways we arrive in Hveragerdi and i drive him to the Hotel after a pizza and beer at the local restaurant.
The next day we start early. Leave around 10am after fueling.
We head east. Down the south cost of Iceland.
we are heading to a place named Skogar. Thats 80miles away from Hveragerdi but the road is good so it takes us an hour to get there.
This place is right under the famous Eyjafjallajokull Glacer and its volcano that grounded all flight in Europe in 2010. Since then hiking to the volcano and the two older volcanos has been popular. Its about 10mile hike but mostly upward and boring for the first 7 miles. In the picture below you can see the start of the hike.
We did not want or had the time to take the full hike i decided to talk to the farmer at that owns the 4x4 trail to the volcano. I had talked to him in the past and he had always let me drive up there. So i thought this was no trouble. But now he didn't let anyone go through. This trail went through his driveway and he was just fed up with all the traffic through his farm so he had put up a gate and had a lock on it. Didn't metter if i pointed 10000kronur to him he didn't let us in. Grumpy old farmer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92ssvEX2Lz4
So we got back to the main ring road and headed back west. And into the highlands. On the way we stoped next to the old natural pool at Seljavellir ( Seljavallalaug)
The pool is one of the oldest swimming pool in Iceland and was first loaded with stones in 1923 and then cast a year later. Courses were initiated in the pool, as part of compulsory education, The pool is 25 meters long and 10 wide and the largest pool in Iceland until the year 1936 .After the eruption of 2010 eruption filled Seljavallalaug of ash. Early summer 2011 brought together a group of volunteers to clean the pool with loaders and excavators. Locals often make themselves the refreshing 15 minute walk up to the pool for bathing, especially on long summer nights.
when we got back to the truck. Lot of high green mountains under the glacier.
Clark with the monster truck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gssenx_5uMc
then we headed up in to the valley that leads to the highlands between the glaciers Tindfjallajökull and Eyjafjallajökull. and in the middle huge dark brown glacier rivers Krossá, Þröngá and Markarfljót. The valley is closed in between glaciers, Mýrdalsjökull being at the rear end of the valley. This leads to an especially warm climate, better than in the rest of south Iceland. In the protected valley, there is green vegetation of moss, fern, birchwood and other small shrubs.
+During to the eruption at Eyjafjallajökull in the spring of 2010, much of the area was covered in a thick layer of volcanic ash. It took several months for nature to return to normal.
Crossing Markarfljot river - YouTube
One of the Markarfljót's tributaries is the river Krossá, flowing through Þórsmörk, which is notorious for sudden changes in its water level.
The highest discharge ever measured in the Markarfljót was 2,100 m3/s (74,000 cu ft/s) in 1967, during the Steinholt jökulhlaup.
then we headed up and over the valley into i highland called Emstrur. There is the mountain Einhyrningur (unicorn) there is a "must stop and take picture in every trip spot
)
old pics
A huge beautiful canyon in the highlands with incredible colors.+
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j7C6...ature=youtu.be
If this isn't the place for a powerful Icelandic beer , no place is.
then we drove on into the highland and had to cross another powerful river Nyrði-Emstruá
runs roaring coal dark in considerable waterfall the river was one of the biggest barrier driving the trail in the past.
Remember, those are 44" tires.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqfTladqGrc&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxAn1...ature=youtu.be
Nyrði-Emstruá - YouTube
We keep driving deeper into the highland. and had to cross another river. River famous for axle and diff brakage but its water is low now.
Crossing BláfjallakvÃ*sl @ fjallabaki - YouTube
Then 5 miles from the river is the abandoned (For now) montain huts at Hvanngil
This is a good spot to stop , sit down and have something to eat, we have now been driving for 6 hours and covered over 60miles of trails.
The road continues across the Langviu Lava Field, River Markarfljot and past Lake Alftavatn, where there are two huts that have hut rangers during the summer season.
At the Alftavatn highland camp we met the hut rangers. There trucks were small compared to the 4Runner.+
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCUgd...ature=youtu.be
some street sign , highland style
Wheeling from Alftavatn highland camp we began to encounter more snow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NomUx...ature=youtu.be
(east) Myrdalsjokull glacer in the far distance with the huge volcano Katla on top of it. God bless Europe flights WHEN that volcano erupts. They give it few more years tho.
(south) Tindfjallajokull glacer in the distance
looking (south east) into the valley with Alftavatn camp in far distance
After the trail got higher the snow got thicker.
This is mountain Laufafell. Its 1464m or 4803feet high. Two months ago this whole area was covered in snow and we travel allot around here during the winter on trucks and snowmobiles.
with cliffs all around the top its considered impasseble
for people to go up there.
but me and a tight groop of snowobilers went up there two mounths ago. Its funny to still be able to see our tracks up the cliffs.
Its funny to still be able to see our tracks up the cliffs.
Driving at around 10mph the truck all out of sudden falls down , hits the other site of a ice cave with the front and then falls a little more.
Getting out of the truck is not easy. The doors are jammed by ice but we finaly get them To open enough to get out. Then i see Clark fall down into this hole in the ice and disappears. I and then stick his head back up. I pull him up and we laugh about it.
How funny it be to have a picture of him in that hole... well we reacted it and took this picture that is now ALL OVER the internet. How funny is that.
While he is down there he takes those pics in the tunnel. On of the best stuck truck picture around.
I inspect the damage on the truck and see one of the coil mount has broken of the axle and the coil sping got away with it. The front fender messed up with alot more frontal damage that i didn't see for ice.
It was clear right away that i needed winch to get the truck out of there and with no phone signal at the spot the VHF radio was the only way to contact people.
Now most offroaders have it but as it was in the middle of the week i didn't think we had other trucks in the area. But in first my first call in the radio a got an answer from the hut rangers at Hrafntinnusker about 35miles away. They like me didn't have phone signal so they called in the radio to Landmannalaugar park where they had phone signal.
The guys at Landmannalaugar then called the rescue team in the town about 100miles away from where i was stuck.
Now every simple question needed to get between four persons. The rescue team needed my gps coordinates.
That alone took about 10minutes.
they needed to know allot of things like what route we took. And one and one. Every simple question took awhile to get to and from.
nice
After they had gotten the information they needed i asked Clark to stay in the truck and listen to the radio while i took a hike to top of the hill to try to get some phone signal. This took about a hour and i didn't get on good enough signal to call .
Getting Unstuck - YouTube
two hours later the guy on the mog came and the winch the truck upp. The damage was far more then i had expected.. front bumper had been kicked in pushed the front mount intercooler into the radiator that hit the engine pulleys. Thefront radiator suport beam got bent and the hood and fender and grilley was finished. Worst was the hole in my brand new 350$ radiator.
with the radiator out the truck had to be towed 100miles to town.
The rescue guys Unimog
the 4runner had to be lifted with a high lift jack to got the coil spring back in place.
this doesnt look good hah
and the icecold four hour tow back to civilization..
Got the truck back home yesterday as i have been busy with work and havent dug into it yet.
Will hopefully have some damage report tomorow. But am not very positive right now lol.
Last edited by dropzone; 06-21-2012 at 08:36 PM. Reason: picture placement edited for clarity, please hit return after each pic thx
06-21-2012, 06:12 PM
#4
Registered User
Thread Starter
Dug into it today , no frame damage. mostly cosmetic damage. Hood, fenders, grille, radiator , Bumper , right headlight and front support beam, but nothing too critical.
Just too bad that i JUST finished painting it,and insurance wont cover it..
Just too bad that i JUST finished painting it,and insurance wont cover it..
06-22-2012, 11:08 AM
#5
Registered User
Wow, another great post. I have been following your post on Yotatech and I gotta say I love it when you post. The places you go are just beautiful and I am sorry to hear about the damages to your truck.
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07-16-2012, 03:36 PM
#9
Registered User
Thread Starter
The truck is back , got the front fixed and repainted , need new front bumper thoo.
Spent this weekend in the highland with good friends.
At Langisjór
Testing Go pro under water
Its the place where it did fall into the hole.. no snow there now tho.
small "glacer" at Hrafntinnusker
At Hrafntinnusker camp , a moon like landscape.
Spent this weekend in the highland with good friends.
At Langisjór
Testing Go pro under water
Its the place where it did fall into the hole.. no snow there now tho.
small "glacer" at Hrafntinnusker
At Hrafntinnusker camp , a moon like landscape.
07-22-2012, 04:30 PM
#11
Registered User
Thread Starter
yaah The unimog is fine , little on the heavy side , good for summer driving but not ideal for winter / snow.
07-28-2012, 06:01 PM
#13
Registered User
I am crazy jealous of you my friend. Going to Iceland is my ultimate dream. For 20 years I have dreamed of going there. Your country is simply magical. Thanks so much for sharing.
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