Kerið Crater
7 July 2019
We made our way from the coast heading north on the route 35 toward what is referred to as Iceland’s Golden Circle route. This route takes you a bit inland, though not so far as the true interior, and passes through many of the country’s more popular sights. We are only about an hour or so from Reykjavik, so for most people staying in or around the city the Golden Circle makes for an easy bus tour. Unfortunately for us that means it is heavy with tourists piling off those busses, but some of the sights are spectacular enough to make it worth dealing with that.
A bit of the way up Rt. 35 is the Kerið Crater, a very photogenic lake in the center of a giant volcanic crater. We parked the van and paid a reasonable admission that helps to maintain the trails and keep the area clean despite the amount of traffic it sees.
The sight of the crater is breathtaking to begin with. The massive crater stands above the surrounding landscape, its deep blue water contrasting strong with the greens and dark earth-tones of the soil. The surrounding land is very desert-like, dry and brown with scraggly plants which reminded us more of the Greek Dodecanese islands than what you would find in the subarctic. Of course, that is the result of the volcanic activity on the island. The trail split to either follow around the top of the crater or walk down to the lake. We started with the upper trail.
Circling the top of the crater is a surreal experience, as we are literally walking along the precipice of a volcano, one which had previously blown its top in what you could imagine would have been a violent eruption. Maybe when you get down to the water you can feel like it is a normal lake in a gorge, but from the top it is unmistakably a volcano. Sure, Kerið has been dormant for quite some time, but you always feel a bit of the butterflies when you think too hard about where you are standing. The edge of the trail is like a cliffside plummeting along the steep slope down to the water. The top of the crater is much higher at the “back” of the volcano, the furthest point at the start of the trail. As we were hiking up to the highest point, we stopped to pick up some of the rocks. You typically have a rough idea of how much a rock of a certain size would weigh, but these were volcanic rocks and were incredibly light for their size… or maybe we are just Hercules strong! We climbed the rest of the way to the top, stood on the highest point over the crater, and looked out over the volcano to the green countryside beyond.
We descended the top ring back to the start of the trail, and then made our way down the steep pathway to the base of the crater. The water is an absolute gorgeous shade of blue, like the kind of blue water you expect to find in the Caribbean. I really have no idea how deep it is- it could be only a few feet to the bottom, or it could be so much deeper. When you crouch down by the edge of the water, you can see the rocks fading into the color, and then you can see nothing but the deep blue.
It is almost hypnotizing.
The water is just drawing you in for a swim, but whether that is for good or ill I’m not really sure. Maybe it’s a touch of heaven that will soothe and refresh your soul. Maybe it’s like a siren of myth that will call you in before swallowing you to your doom. Maybe it’s just not worth risking either way... but it is so incredibly beautiful!
