---
title: "On foot across Iceland: preparations – part 2."
description: "To make a similar adventure easier for others, we wrote up our preparations for the 400 km crossing of the Icelandic interior. In the second part, about food, weather and gear."
canonical_url: "https://gramino.com/blog/on-foot-across-iceland-preparations-part-2"
last_updated: "2017-12-06"
---

# On foot across Iceland: preparations – part 2.

Authors: David Czempka

Date: 2017-12-06

To make a similar adventure easier for others, we wrote up our preparations for the 400 km crossing of the Icelandic interior. In the second part, about food, weather and gear.

[In the first part](/blog/on-foot-across-iceland-preparations-part-1) I covered route planning, navigation, and resupply. Now I'll round out our overall preparations with three more important topics – local conditions, the menu, and gear selection. Setting off to cross Iceland's interior without solid preparation is simply a bad idea.

## Conditions in the central highlands

Iceland is an island of crazy weather. Besides regular rainfall and strong winds that will simply turn a low-quality tent into a kite, there's also the risk of sand or snowstorms.

Unfortunately, Iceland already has a history of tragic cases caused by people being unprepared for sudden weather changes, and we definitely didn't want to become another one. When we asked about the condition of certain routes at the Landmannalaugar campsite, the local mountain rescue service ([Search and Rescue](http://www.icesar.com/)) told us [the story of Ido](https://grapevine.is/mag/articles/2014/07/14/searching-for-ido/), a young traveler from Iran who set out on the Laugavegur trail despite the warnings. Even though his destination was only 12 kilometers away, a brutal freezing storm took his life. It happened on June 24th. A great motivational note to hear when we still had 320 km of the route ahead of us.

The risk of "sandstorms" was fairly new to us, though it makes sense logically. A large part of the interior is covered in volcanic dust and sand (especially around the dusty F26 road), so once it stops raining for a while and the ground dries out enough, wind picks the dust and sand up into the air. That's why it's worth packing some kind of face and eye protection.

As for wildlife, apart from thousands of sheep, you won't encounter much else in the interior. Although insects don't do especially well in Iceland because of the strong wind, we were warned about small, non-biting [midges](http://icelandmag.visir.is/article/are-there-midges-iceland) that attack mainly in overwhelming numbers, in the thousands. They swarm around you and fly into every uncovered opening on your body. Getting a mouthful of food without a protein boost of midges then becomes quite a challenge. We packed a head net to fight them off. (Luckily we never had to use it – the main season for these insects is spring and early summer, and we made our trip at the end of August into September. Based on videos, it also looks like the worst-affected area is around Lake Mývatn.)

Everyone told us not to expect any signal in the central highlands, so for a long time we considered renting a satellite messenger. After weighing the pros and cons, and given how little time we had left to actually rent one, we decided to go without it. We were counting on everything going according to plan. And if things had gone wrong, we had a few tips up our sleeve on where to look for signal, like on top of a hill or near the F35 road.

(In the end, reality turned out to be completely different. The information we'd received was at least five years old. Mobile network coverage has improved unbelievably in recent years. With an iPhone on T-Mobile, we picked up signal for about 75% of our route. An unexpected luxury we hadn't even dreamed of was data signal, which we had for roughly 40% of the route. That gave us real peace of mind, since we could check the weather and know roughly what to expect. Three cheers for the end of roaming charges.)

Most of Iceland's glaciers lie in the central highlands. Over the course of the year they melt and create a dense network of rivers, so you need to be ready to ford icy rivers several times a day. The general advice is to ford them in the morning, when the current isn't as strong yet. Fording barefoot is needlessly risky – a foot cut open on a sharp rock is the last thing you want on a long crossing. We carried a pair of ultralight sandals (110 g) made for us by a friend back home. They also came in handy at camp, letting us give our feet a break after a full day of walking.

It's great that Icelanders themselves actively contribute to traveler safety. On [safetravel.is](http://safetravel.is/), for example, you can track the island's current risk areas (strong winds, storms, etc.), and you can also leave your travel plan there by filling out a short online form. We downloaded their 112 Iceland app for this and checked in regularly (it sends your GPS coordinates via SMS).

## Food

At first we were afraid we'd end up paying through the nose for food. Then we found out our airline (Germania) included 20 kg of checked baggage in the price of a basic ticket. Great, we thought, and immediately started planning to each bring at least 15 kg of carefully packed food. Our joy didn't last long, though…

You're allowed to bring in a maximum of 3 kg of food worth up to 25,000 ISK into Iceland; importing meat and meat products (except fully cooked ones), unpasteurized milk, and raw eggs is prohibited. We found this out from the official customs regulations for travelers to Iceland.

So much for my plan to bring home-dried meat as my main source of protein on the trail. Because of the weight limit, we tried to buy at home the things that would cost us the most in Iceland. Between us, we brought 30 large protein bars, 10 dark chocolate bars, a kilo of nuts, half a liter of olive oil, 10 [expedition meals from Summit To Eat](/b/summit-to-eat), classic instant meals, 0.3 liters of “medicine” (plum brandy), and a few more muesli bars.

After weighing all the food we'd bought, it came to 4.5 kg per person – we'd clearly misjudged the amount and the weight. But we hated to leave it at home, so we tried our luck slightly over the limit. In the end, everything went surprisingly smoothly. We actually regretted dropping our original plan a little, since in Iceland we ran into people who'd brought as much as 15 kg of food… so checks are probably random and rare.

Once there, we bought the rest at the popular Bónus supermarket, which has several branches in Reykjavik. It's one of the cheapest supermarkets, and prices for some groceries are almost comparable to back home. Only a few categories tend to be noticeably pricier, such as dairy, bakery items, or instant meals. We even found that canned Heinz Tomato Beans were about twice as cheap there as at home! On top of what we brought with us, we bought around 17 kg of food for 16,000 ISK and put together a 16-day menu.

We did our final shopping while passing through the Landmannalaugar campsite. It's one of the few campsites where you can buy food and some gear (like gas canisters). You'll pay a bit more here though – prices run about four times higher than at a supermarket. A pack of pasta or a chocolate bar for 500 ISK.

**Our most common menu**

- **Breakfast:** porridge with nuts, dark chocolate, a seed mix, and dried fruit
- **Snacks:** protein bars, cookies, wafer bars, tortillas with jam or peanut butter, Snickers, Oreos, salted peanuts, chocolate, dried fruit
- **Lunch and dinner:** instant meals and soups, couscous / quick-cook rice / quinoa / pasta with tomato sauce, spices, and a bit of olive oil, bread and cheese, expedition meals from [Summit To Eat](/b/summit-to-eat)

## Choosing gear

On a long crossing, every extra little thing really adds up. If you realize you're carrying too much of something and not actually using it, you'll usually be stuck hauling it all the way to the finish. We needed to cover almost 30 km a day, so keeping our pack weight low was one of our top priorities. Everything just goes easier with a light pack.

Most of our clothing was from the English brand [Montane](/b/montane), which focuses on fine detail and low weight in its gear.

We chose merino wool for our base layers, mainly for its excellent weight-to-warmth ratio, its natural antibacterial properties, and the fact that it keeps you warm even when wet. Merino can be worn much longer than pure synthetics, which means you don't have to wash it as often – something nobody wants to deal with on the trail.

Given the strong winds, we didn't fancy a tarp or a tarptent. Instead, we equipped ourselves with the somewhat heavier but tougher three-season MSR Hubba Hubba NX 2-person tent (1.7 kg), which we further reinforced against the wind using our [Fizan Compact](/p/fizan-compact) trekking poles.

We spent a long time deciding what to cook on – liquid alcohol fuel or gas canisters. After weighing the pros and cons, gas clearly won out. It's more convenient to cook with, boils faster, and on multi-day trips the weight-to-boiled-water ratio is much better. In Iceland, both bayonet and screw-top canisters are easy to find. We usually cooked three times a day, using an [MSR PocketRocket 2](/p/msr-pocketrocket-2) stove with a homemade windscreen. For the first four days we carried a single 110 g canister, and for the remaining twelve days one large 430 g canister. We cooked everything in a lightweight 1,300 ml titanium [Toaks](/b/toaks) pot.

With a lighter pack, you can also get away with lighter footwear – we went with classic trail running shoes (Inov8 Rocklite 295 and New Balance ...). It really doesn't matter if the shoe simply gets soaked through. A light, breathable shoe dries out easily and warms up from your body heat, while heavy leather or Gore-Tex hiking boots won't dry out so easily. In heavy rain or wet terrain, just put on a pair of [DexShell](/b/dexshell) waterproof socks and you're dry. Light shoes also breathe much better, drastically cutting the risk of blisters, which often come from feet that have been sweating inside a shoe all day. Heavy boots also tire you out far more over long distances.

For the rain, we had membrane jackets (Minimus Jacket) and pants (Atomic Pants). To protect our gear from rain and moisture in the air as well, we lined our backpacks with a heavy-duty garbage bag as a waterproof liner. The most critical items (sleeping bag and sleep clothes) went into an 8-liter [waterproof dry bag from Sea To Summit](/p/sea-to-summit-ultra-sil-dry-bag) as well.

A good night's sleep was thanks to a down sleeping bag and a quilt from Cumulus – specifically the [Lite Line 400](/p/cumulus-lite-line-400) and the [Quilt 450](/p/cumulus-quilt-450). Both have a comfort rating around zero, which is ideal for Iceland. We slept on comfortable [Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite](/p/therm-a-rest-neoair-xlite-nxt) inflatable sleeping pads.

For the trip we brought [Fizan Compact](/p/fizan-compact) trekking poles, which we still can't praise enough. Besides helping us keep our pace, they came in handy when fording rivers – thanks to them, we crossed several with dry feet by hopping across rocks. In strong winds they helped brace the tent structure, and on top of all that, they doubled as a telescopic selfie stick for mounting our GoPro 5.

We documented everything with a Sony A7 camera, a GoPro 5, and an iPhone 7, charging them with a 20,000 mAh power bank. We last charged it at the Hrauneyar Highland Center hostel, and it lasted us another nine days all the way to the finish.

We opted for smaller-volume backpacks (40 and 50 l), which forced us to skip anything truly unnecessary, since at one point we also had to load in twelve days' worth of food and some water. A great feature of both packs is the large back pocket, which still surprises us with how much it can hold. It's also perfect for stashing wet gear.

## What else is worth bringing to Iceland?

**On top of the classic gear you'd probably bring on most trips into the wild, we also carried:**

- Lightweight sandals for fording rivers
- A head net – (not essential, depending on season and location)
- A buff and sunglasses against blowing dust
- A water filter ([Sawyer Squeeze](/p/sawyer-squeeze-sp129))

Sheep roam completely freely in Iceland and do their business wherever they please – often, unfortunately, right into a water source – so a water filter is definitely worth having. It also let us carry less water, though we had to refill more often as a result.

#### **Next time we'd bring:**

- Headphones – the landscape practically begs for a good movie soundtrack, maybe something from The Lord of the Rings
- [DexShell waterproof socks](/b/dexshell) – we cut them right before departure, thinking we had too much stuff – a mistake
- A small sponge for washing dishes
- A small tube of sunscreen – we actually got sunburned on the Laugavegur trail
- A phone pouch for the shoulder strap
- A better-stocked sewing kit – at least 2–3 needles; while repairing our shoes I broke the only needle we had

## A few final words

Crossing Iceland is an adventure that's absolutely worth it, but it doesn't work without solid preparation. As we found out ourselves, tracking down the right information isn't easy at all and takes a fair amount of time. So that it wouldn't all just fade into forgetting, this two-part series came about. I hope it helps you in some way as you plan your own adventure, whether you're setting out to cross Iceland yourself or you'd rather enjoy it in a more traditional way. If you have any questions or something wasn't clear, don't hesitate to write to us in the comments or anywhere else.

This post is also available as [HTML](/blog/on-foot-across-iceland-preparations-part-2).

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