June 22nd, 2026
Way back when I was figuring out what to do with my two free days in Iceland, I had seen a few advertisements about the tour of an empty volcanic magma chamber. My inner geologist said “Go for it”. And since I have been doing tourist cave tours for the past year or so, this seemed like a good adventure. I’m getting used to being underground. There was even some easy hiking involved with the tour. Perfect. Well, other than being crippled afterwards from the easy hike, this turned out to be one of those incredible experiences that you remember for a long time. Yes, I did have a good time today.
The tour begins at a ski area, located about a 30 minute drive from Reykjavik, in a high volcanic ridge named the Blue Mountains. These are nothing like the Sierra or Rocky Mountains – just a high, steep plateau. And they are not blue. The volcanic rocks are covered in green moss – very pretty. Maybe Iceland should be named Greenland, and vice-versa. Just saying.
Once the 10:30AM group was checked in, we met with the guides, who described the tour – a two mile hike across the lava fields to a base camp, where we would be outfitted for the descent to the magma chamber. He described the hike as moderate, and we would do it at a casual pace. I’d hate to be on a hike at his fast pace. I used to have a 5 speed transmission for hiking. I’m down to just 1st and 2nd gear. I’m slow but steady. I think the best term for my speed is “plodding”. He did stop once on the hike to talk a bit of geology on how this particular feature was created, since it is the only known empty magma chamber in the world. I won’t bore you with the details, but it is interesting to some people.
The trail heads out from the ski lodge across the extensive lava fields – the trail is mostly gravel and with a few hard lava sections, with a lot of ups and downs, plus a few small bridges crossing collapsed lava tubes. The photos above are from the start of the trail – the little lumps in the distance are the destination.
You definitely do not want to wander off trail. The view of the surrounding volcano cones is impressive – not quite as bleak as the younger lava fields in Hawaii. The trail runs for about 2 miles to the “base camp”, a rustic building at the base of the volcanic cone and entry point, where you can rest for a bit, and then get fitted with a helmet and harness. There was also an outhouse – no peeing allowed in the chamber. We also got to see their pet arctic fox. Really cute, but still a wild animal.
I was a bit tired by the time we reached the base camp, but doing OK. There was still a very steep trail to climb to get to the chamber entrance at the top of the cinder cone. I was nervous about that last climb, but it turned out to be relatively easy, with a heavy rope posted along the edge – it helps to have something to haul yourself along with, sort of like the Half-Dome cable route.
Here is where the River Styx reference comes from. You get in (and out) of the chamber on a highly modified window washer lift, which drops over 400 feet to the chamber floor. Not a good ride for anyone afraid of heights. The bottom where the lift ends is called the iPhone Landing – some folks just have to lean over to take a picture I guess. It’s a pretty amazing engineering feat to have built this contraption on top of a volcano. They disassemble it every winter, and ship the components to a firm in Germany for repairs. A good thing for sure. At any rate, the lift is located over a relatively small hole, and you have to cross a short catwalk over this gap to board the lift. You are clipped to a safety cable to get across, and the operator then clips your harness on to the lift. Thankfully, they are very safety focused.
As I crossed the catwalk, for some strange reason, I was reminded of Greek mythology, and how souls crossed to the underworld, paying a skeletal ferryman, Charon, to cross the River Styx. The guy running the lift was our ferryman, lowering us down to the underworld. He was much nicer though, did not require payment with special coins, and told a lot of jokes on the way down.
The lift drops down over 400 feet, most of it sort of free fall since it is not attached to the sides – this is not something you want to do if you are afraid of heights. The ride is a bit bumpy at first, as the opening is very narrow, then suddenly expands outward – the chamber is shaped like a wine bottle.
It’s hard describing the ride down to the bottom, and what it’s like once you get there and wander around for a while. The images I’ve posted do not come close to doing justice to the experience. The chamber is just so enormous, with bands and patches of colored volcanic rock along the walls. There are a few points as you descend where you can see what was the surface of the volcano, which was then covered by further eruptions. Very interesting if you are into geology. There are flood lights throughout the chamber, so you are not descending into a black hole – there is a lot to look at on the way down.
Once you hit bottom (maybe not the right term, more like gently stop), you are unclipped, and told to be careful as you follow the marked trails. And told not to wander off the trail. The bottom is very rocky, and the trails are difficult to traverse if you have balance issues. The helmets they give you have headlamps, which do help on the trails. I made it down to one of the viewing stations, then found a good rock to lean on, with a good view of the chamber, for the remainder of our time on the bottom. After a while, I stopped taking pictures, and just gazed around until it was time to pay Charon once more to get back to the surface. Here’s a bunch of photo’s:
You can get a sense for how enormous the chamber is, when you see the little figures with orange/white helmets further away (expand the photo’s). I did not have the urge to explore too much – too risky walking around, and I was just absolutely enjoying just looking around from my comfortable rock.
I had wondered why the Web site makes reference to “lamb soup” provided after the magma chamber exploration – what’s the big deal? After 2+ miles of hiking, and an hour wandering around underground, just about anything resembling food you put in front of me would taste good. The soup was excellent though. And it was fun sitting with the group and some of the staff. But unfortunately, the rest period ended, and we all had to hit the trail back to the ski lodge, and the bus waiting to take me back to Reykjavik. Somehow, the two mile hike seemed a lot longer, and the group was split into the 4th, 2nd and 1st gear walkers. I was the only 2nd gear, so I got to hike the entire way by myself. Sniff. By the time I made it back to the lodge, the first group was already gone – I was surprised that no one on the staff was counting heads to make sure everyone returned – what if someone fell into a lava tube? Too bad for them I guess.
I was pretty exhausted after the hike back, and my goal was to drop my stuff at the hotel, and then consume large quantities of gelato at the shop I discovered the night before. I figured I deserved it…but then that’s my excuse every time I have gelato.
I was quite successful on the gelato phase of my adventure. Two scoops eased much of the pain.
The rest of the National Geographic tour group shows up on Tuesday, so I’m not planning on doing much until our group meeting. A day off sounds good – it seems like I’ve been here for a week. I’m glad that we have the Blue Lagoon scheduled – I really need a good soak in a giant hot tub. Not too sure about the mud facial though – I’ll pass on that.
Peace
The Traveling Widower 