Icelandic Highlands
Packraft Expedition

Markarfljót river

Words and photography by Rowan B, guide for Glacier and Volcano Expeditions

A trip report of a packraft expedition that took place in July 2022.

Röggi and I burned up into the Icelandic highlands in his Suzuki 4x4.

We arrived to a wonderful day in Landmannalaugar to meet the other characters of the story, Shane and Judith. They were on holiday in Iceland from New Zealand.

The hike to the put in began on the Laugavegur trail. The destination was Húsadalur, Þórsmörk.

The Laugavegur trail has a reputation for good reason.

Ethereal scenes.

Judith slogging up the hill. She's probably thinking about when the river will be responsible for carrying her and her luggage. I know I was!

We looked like gypsy caravans as we had way too many items on board in comparison to the average hiker on the trail. It always leaves me wondering ‘why does it always seem so doable before the trip begins and then so ridiculous during the mission?’

During the hike I felt like I was part of a strange dress up party where everyone needed to look as out of place as they possibly can in the weirdest place imaginable.

It was a relief to reach the headwaters of the Markarfljót river and overall the hike from the trail head at Landmannalaugar to the put in didn’t end up being too long. The put in was just over there somewhere.

Steam rose from the earth and boiling hot mud bubbled away which threw a peculiar contrast to the cold, isolated and barren abyss that surrounded us. We camped near the steam which was nice because we were also near the put in and we were all excited for the next day on the river!

We were on the water at last! What a great feeling! It is so nice to finally have the river carrying us along.. Until the river got shallow in a few places and we had to get out and drag to boats for a little bit. That happened a few times but overall it was all good!

The bizarre terrain continued and the landscape changed appearance around every bend.

The beginning of the paddle was quite shallow and a mellow Grade 1 / 2 water.

Despite the fact that we were there in July there was still a fair amount of snow around the highlands. This was probably a good thing for us as perhaps during years where there is less snow the river would have been too low to paddle it. There had not been any significant rainfall for quite some time before our trip and the river height was marginal.

As the river began to drop slightly in gradient we entered some small canyons.

The crew! Shane and myself were in self-bailing boats whilst Judith and Röggi were both in their spraydeck boats. Everyone apart from myself had a zip on their boat so they could all stash their gear inside their boat. I had my backpack tied to the bow.

Röggi lining up a nice little rapid section in his fancy new Alpaca boat.

Maybe we should have brought the skis for a few carves?

Shane cruising through a fun rapid section in the first little canyon that we paddled through. The river was more fun than I anticipated as there was many great sections with rapids that were challenging enough but not too rowdy for pack rafters.

If there was just a little bit more water flow in this river I think it would have been ideal. We were not complaining though!

Good times! This feature was one of many highlights on our first day of paddling.

Water on Mars?

A very large drop in the river appeared up ahead. We decided not to run this waterfall and this was fine as it was lunch time anyway.

Immediately downstream of the large waterfall the river was quite steep with a lot of large boulders.

Interesting landscapes and surprises around every corner!

Loose rocks, clear water, glowing moss.

Continuous Grade 3 rapids were enjoyed for several kilometres after a short portage. I had so much fun that I left the camera packed deep inside the backpack to keep it dry and safe. This section of the river was definitely a highlight and I think it was actually my favourite part of the trip.

The water in the upper Markarfljót was crystal clear. It is also very cold and I was wearing a full polyester fleece onesie as well as a down jacket under my drysuit. I had my 6mm neoprene surfing booties to keep my feet warm and I still got a bit nippy at times! We didn’t see a lot of sunshine overall and the air temperature hovered around 5 degrees Celsius for most of the trip.

We scouted this feature and I decided to run it without my backpack strapped to the front of my boat.

At the end of the first day of paddling there were three drops about 100m apart. I scouted them in the evening for the following day.

After the drop the the river continues through a very deep canyon. I checked it out a little bit and decided that it was time for bed and we can have a better look in the morning. It was a cosy night sleeping beside the river.

After breakfast the following day we scouted the canyon to ensure that we would not encounter any nasty surprises. There was nothing in the canyon that we would not be able to manage as the river looked quite easy going down there.

Back on the river on Day 2! Röggi making a splash on the first feature of the day.

The next feature downstream was this waterfall. It is probably fine to run but we decided to portage it to be on the safe side. I think if I do this trip again I will definitely / maybe run it next time!

After putting in at the waterfall there was only one way out and no turning back! This was the beginning of the deep canyon section.

I got water on my camera lens at this waterfall. I still managed to snap some nice shots in the canyon after this but after the canyon I decided that I had enough photos so I put the camera away.

Although it would be nearly impossible to climb out of the canyon if you needed to in an emergency, the river was actually pretty easy going down in there so we didn’t hesitate to run it once we knew that it was good to go.

A scenic highlight for sure, this canyon was epic!

After the canyon section we paddled through a huge variety of epic terrain and down some really fun rapids! Most of the river after the canyon was Grade 2 and 3 with one dodgy waterfall slot canyon feature that we portaged. There were a few more canyons with some really fun features that we ran until we finally made it down to Markarfljótsgljúfur.

We took the boats out just above Markarfljótsgljúfur, just near Mosi skáli. We began to walk back towards the Laugarvegur trail in the direction of Emstrur as we intended to put back in on the Fremri-Emstruá river which would have taken us into Markarfljótsgljúfur. However when we arrived at the foot bridge of Fremri-Emstruá, the river was raging in full flood complete with the sound of boulders crashing downstream through the thick black glacier water. There was a strong smell of sulphur in the air and we did wonder if there was volcanic activity on Katla that had caused the river to be in flood. We decided to camp and check it out in the morning. When we woke up the river was still raging so we decided to carry on walking on the Laugarvegur trail until we could find a put in somewhere a bit more manageable.

After a couple of hours we finally ended up finding our way down to the river and we were able to put in again and paddle down to Húsadalur, Þórsmörk. We took the boats out and walked over to the camp site where we drank cold beers and ate roast lamb.

All up we paddled approximately 60km and walked approximately 26km. The trip took us 4 days from Landmannalaugar to Þórsmörk.

This was an outstanding trip! Thanks to Shane, Judith and Röggi for making this trip happen and for the good times on and off the river!