Hiking in Hornstrandir and Getting Rescued in Hornstrandir

Hornstrandir nature reserve is the claw-shaped peninsula on the very edge of the Arctic Circle. Known for its harsh climate, it’s uninhabitable for most of the year. The last settlements here were abandoned in the 1950s. Inaccessible by roads, the only way to move within the region is by boat or hiking. The sense of solitude is exhilarating, apparently you can hike days without seeing a single person.

Sounds like a great place for a honeymoon!

Chapter 1: I think we’re in way over our heads

Our story can begin in the west tours office where i got angry at john because he kept saying our trip was “3 days” and we both had different meanings about what that meant. His meaning of 3 days was: 3 nights, 4 days. My meaning of 3 days meant: 2 nights, 3 days.

“-but i only packed for 2 nights and 3 days.” I protested in a quiet, angry whisper. Miscommunication. Welcome to marriage! The truth was i probably should have paid more attention or been more involved in the planning, but it’s alright. What did it matter now, we were about to leave and there was nothing i could do about it now.

We walked over to the dock and set our bags down as we waited for the boat. Borea adventures was hooking us up with a trip out there. Just as i was wondering who else was going to be on the boat with us to Hornstrandir, a tough looking camouflage from head-to-toe couple arrived. They were russians who now live in norway, and we talked about some past hikes they’ve done. Apparently up in svalbard in order to hike, you need to let the government know that you’re planning on hiking. Once you get a permit to hike, you need to either a) equip yourself with a rifle or b) hire someone who will carry a rifle for you. Why? Polar bears. Polar bears are a “casual nuisance” up in svalbard. Alrighty then.

It was time to get on the small boat that would take us up to Hornstrandir. It was about a 2 ½ hour ride and the captain warned us about seasickness. The waters can be rough up by the artic circle.

No fricken joke the waters were rough. The ride to Hornstrandir felt like riding a 2 ½ hour roller coaster with your stomach dropping every few seconds as you rode the waves. Luckily, i took some diesel motion sickness medicine that i bought at the isafjodur pharmacy – but around the end of the trip, it didn’t matter, i started to feel the nausea creeping up inside. Flashbacks to when i took the ferry last year in iceland and spent the whole 2 hours puking in the mens bathroom because i couldn’t find the womens bathroom. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice! Thank god we were almost there.

Here I am on the boat, seasick. Per usual.

Once we arrived, we rode a dingy and they dropped us off on the beach in hornvik. It was cold and raining. The little campsite welcomed us with no facilities (not that i was really expecting it). There was no shelter, and we were overconfident in our abilities and excited to start our journey.

Amateur move #1: not immediately changing into our waterproof gear and covering our backpacks.

We took a quick look at the map, took out our compass and then tried to figure out which way was north. Our goal was to hike up to the hornbjarg cliffs and loop back around and camp back in hornvik and then set off on the journey back to hesteyri tomorrow.

Amateur move #2 ½: have a compass that works. One compass completely did not work. Another compass that came with our first aid kit kind of worked. Also, we realized that our map told us nothing of importance. It was also getting soaked in the rain.

We finally found out which way was north and started to hike towards the cliffs along the beach. My bag was really heavy. Thank god i crossfit. But seriously, it was really heavy. Maybe i should have trained for this. As we hiked along the black, volcanic sand beach we saw an artic fox! It was really cute and was also happily chomping on a mangled, dead sea bird. It wanted nothing to do with us. Carry on!

We got to the mouth of the river where we were supposed to cross but the river was a good 8-9 feet deep and 20-25 feet wide. There was no way we could cross it there. But the map showed at the trail went right along the cross. Confused, and soaked, we agreed to hike up into the grasslands and follow the river until we found a spot that we could cross. There was another trail marked along the river.

Hiking along the river was arduous. The volcanic sand felt super sticky, so every time you stepped it felt like the sand was trying to pull you back into the earth. We were so soaked that it had to have added a few more pounds to the weight that we were already carrying-

Amateur move #3: we didn’t pack as light as we should have. That – or – we should have done training on carrying a heavy backpack. Aka—i should have been wearing a 20lb weight vest during crossfit. Or just to walk around town.

I started to feel nervous. I felt like we bit off more than we could chew – not surprising, we’re two overly ambitious people and we can get overzealous. Most times, that fearless ambition is a good thing. But with this trip, it felt like we were way in over our heads.

Chapter 2: Going nowhere fast

We hiked few good miles along the river and could not for the life of us find a shallow enough opening for us to cross without having to swim. There were no visible trail markers and our map told us nothing. Eventually, common sense hit us and we put on our poncho and although it was a game changer, it was too little too late because everything was already soaked.

We wasted a lot of time and energy hiking around the river looking for a way to cross. It was getting late, and although we didn’t have to worry about losing light with the midnight sun, we started to worry about weather getting worse up in the cliffs as the map looked like it showed us walking along the beach. What if the tide comes in? What if there are more rivers to cross? With all the uncertainties and questions, feeling frustrated and defeated, we decided to take the long hike back to Hornvik where we got dropped off and camp for the night. We were going nowhere fast. At this rate, we’d be walking in circles trying to figure out how to find the trail to cross the river.

Chapter 3: There’s Snow in the Mountain Pass

Once we made it back to camp, we had hiked 10 miles in a huge circle through volcanic sand, marsh, and mud. We were soaked, exhausted, and feeling defeated.

We were relieved to see a bunch of fellow hikers pitching up tents. They were 22 university students all part of a hiking club at their school and this was their big summer trip. They were from all around the world – mostly the uk – and they were super nice.

“Yeah, we just came down the mountain pass. There’s so much snow up there, and it’s really steep.”

My heart skipped a beat. Snow? We were already soaked. How were we going to be able to traverse the mountain pass through snow? It was the only trail back to Hesteyri. We weren’t equipped with climbing equipment and i wasn’t sure how well we’d do climbing up mountains with our heavy packs.

“We’re actually calling the coast guard now and there will be a boat coming tomorrow morning. One of our hikers is showing signs of hypothermia and another sprained his ankle. So if you need a ride back, i’m sure you could just hop on.”

John and i found a little hill to set up our REI tent (which was said to be waterproof, but was not). We started to unpack and lay things out, and everything was soaked – including us. Did i mention we were soaked yet? I’ve never been so cold and wet in my life. We laid in our wet sleeping bag and just looked at each other, defeated. We went back and forth about it a little bit, but both sadly came to the conclusion that although we had prepared for this exciting trip, the safe thing to do would be to hitch a ride back with the hikers back to Isafjordur.

I felt a lot of emotions that day and night that i never felt/haven’t felt in a really long time. I felt physically and emotionally defeated. We were freezing and i was literally holding onto hope via tiny hand warmers that I would rub on different parts of my body to get feeling again. I felt emotionally defeated – i’m a confident and capable person, and I pride myself with being prepared and fearless. But in this situation i wasn’t feeling any of these things. I felt small against the threats of Hornstrandir. I could imagine us traversing the snow covered mountains, not being able to find the trail, lost, no compass, no GPS, and worse- already wet. Would the cold take us? Would we get hypothermia like the hiker that was being sent back by his group? Was attempting it to prove something to ourselves worth the risk? We’re both fighters. But the biggest learning i can take from this experience is learning which battles are worth fighting and which aren’t. In a spiral of emotions and cold i cried myself to sleep, with john holding me – both to console me and to keep warm at the same time.

Chapter 4: We Made It Into the Icelandic News

After shivering all night, the next morning we woke – colder than we were the night before. Our tent was leaking; it had not stopped raining. Our sleeping bag was soaked. We quietly packed up our things and waited with the university students for the boat to come. It was supposed to come at 9am. The rain started to turn sleet and then snow. With no shelter, our feet were becoming numb and started to lose feeling. Around noontime we succumbed to huddling in the emergency shelter. The emergency shelter was just slightly better than outside. The emergency shelter radio battery went dead because it’s solar powered and we couldn’t get in touch with the coast guard. With no boat at 9am, we started to wonder if a boat was even coming to get us at all. The next ferry to Hornvik wouldn’t arrive until Tuesday – 3 full days.

The rest of the university hikers left and we remained with the 3 other hikers in the emergency shelter – the one with hypothermia, the one with a sprained ankle, and one of the group leaders. We shared our food and told stories. I started to feel like if we were stranded in this emergency shelter for 3 days at least we’d have good company and together we’d have enough food. Hours passed. I tried not to think about what would happen and just focused on living in the moment. Another lesson, when you live in the moment, there’s a lot less to worry about and a lot more to be thankful for. For example, in the moment, i wasn’t thinking about the cold or being stranded. I was listening to one of the university students talk about his passion for wildlife photography. I was taking joy in sharing cookies and peanut butter. In a weird way, I think we were all having fun.

And I think between telling stories and the cold, we all fell asleep.

Finally, there was a knock on the emergency shelter.

“Hallo?”

The coast guard had arrived! What a feeling. It was strange, it wasn’t even joy – it was just relief. The Icelandic coast guard looked very official in their rescue gear and i realized how serious the situation was. We were being rescued. They were nice and took our bags, and we took 3 separate trips on the dingy out to the boat.

Once onboard, they offered us hot soup and coffee. “5-star service!” One of them joked. We nervously laughed along.

They handed us all plastic bags to puke in explaining that the seas were exceptionally rough today. No kidding. I took my industrial strength motion sickness medicine and it didn’t matter, about 30 minutes in and i felt the nausea creep in. The boat dipped and dove and swung side to side, cutting through the waves in a big s. With every dip, my stomach felt it. And as i clutched the plastic bag i put my head down and passed out/fell asleep.

I woke up with john shaking me awake. “We’re almost there, and um, we have no place to stay.”

Oh, that’s right. Because we planned on camping the next few days we had no accommodations booked back in Isafjordur. “Lets check Airbnb”

Luckily we were able to reserve an Airbnb.

When we landed in Isafjordur, there were police and an ambulance waiting. Since we weren’t the ones who called the coast guard, we didn’t get questioned. We walked over to the only thing that was open – a convenience store with a café in it – and we looked rough. We received confirmation that our airbnb request was accepted (thank god) and that her husband would meet us at the convenience store to give us the key. We had a hot coffee and then fell asleep on each other’s shoulders, exhausted from the last two days.

“you look like two tired tourists.”

We woke up to our Airbnb host standing over us at the café. He had the biggest look of pity on his face. He was apologetic about there being no wifi but that literally meant nothing to us. We were so happy to have a cute little apartment with hot water and a (dry) comfortable bed for the night.

Reflecting on the failed trip, it was a great experience for us to have together as newlyweds. We learned a lot about each other, about being there for each other, about each other’s strengths and limitations. We learned that even if you did all the planning and preparation you could, things can still go wrong- and you have to be okay with that.

The most hilarious (and embarrassing, however you want to look at it) is that the next morning we were at the west tours office and because we’re overly ambitious people, we decided to book another trip to Hornstrandir (lol) – as if last time wasn’t bad enough. This time, we’re taking a tour – with a tour guide – and it’s a day trip, no camping involved. While we were booking, the girl at the desk gave us a cockeyed look, “were you the ones on the boat back from Hornstrandir yesterday?”

We looked at each other “…. yes…?”

“Oh yeah, i read about you guys on the news.”

At least we can say that our honeymoon has been memorable so far! More adventures await us…hopefully none that involve any sort of rescue.

Here’s the local news article: http://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/news/2017/06/19/sar_fetched_exhausted_hikers_in_iceland_s_hornstran/

and this one: http://www.bb.is/2017/06/sotti-gongumenn-til-hornvikur/