After about 3 hours of hiking gorgeous landscapes, I had finally reached the place that was my main goal for this hike, Djupavatn. It's an incredibly scenic small lake between the hills. In this third part of the series of this hike, you'll see all of the beauty of this lake I saw on my journey. If you still haven't then you can find the first part Crossing the Alien Planet-like Mountain Range here and the second part Crossing the Mossy Lava Field Valley here.
At first, when I arrived at the location, I was only able to see a small section of the lake.
I had to climb just a bit to get an overview. What I saw, blew my jaw open. That was absolutely stunning sight to see. A small lake in the middle of the wild nature between the mountains. The sunny and beautiful weather for sure contributed to the experience.
Djupavatn lake truly is a hidden gem because it's mostly unknown, especially to tourists. I found out about it just by checking out the maps in detail and I wondered if I can hike to this lake, indeed I was able to do it. There are no recommendations to see this place on the internet. In fact, there are very few pictures of this lake on google that I was able to see.
Djupavatn directly translates to the deep lake. It's interesting because the lake does not seem deep at all. I can see the bottom of this lake quite clearly through this pristine water.
Spotted some Icelandic sheep on the other side of the lake.
Upon trying to search for information about this lake, I found out that it's actually possible to rent the whole lake to go fishing. It's a small lake but it's teeming with fish. Until 1960 there was no fish but a small load of fish was brought in from another lake and now it's thriving.
I'm not entirely sure but to my knowledge, you need permission to fish even if you don't rent the lake.
Over the lake, on another side is a small fishing lodge.
I had 20 minutes of picnic, eating some food I brought with me to replenish the energy and just sitting, staring at the lake. It was such a feeling of freedom and peacefulness.
I noticed that I had lost the map again I used to watch a map where the trail goes next because the phone service was lost. I know the direction but I still want to know precisely what trail should I take. I don't want to be left in total darkness when crossing the mountain range later in the evening. In hopes of getting a bit of phone service and internet, I had to climb to the top of the mountain next to a lake, I had not planned to do it before.
I'm glad I did because I got a much better view of the lake and surrounding landscapes. Including the mossy lava field valley, I had just crossed before. Fortunately, I also got a bit of mobile service up the hill.
It was not the easiest hill to climb due to it being incredibly steep. Here is an example of what I had to climb. I basically did on all fours.
I found this interesting natural ledge, overlooking the lake. I knew I had to take a shot on a timer with me standing on the ledge. It was a hard one to get because I had to press the shutter button and I had 10 seconds to run to the ledge and it wasn't enough. The hill is steep and if I lose balance then I will fall down the ledge about 10 meters and ultimately down to the lake. I failed 4 attempts because I just didn't make it to the ledge before the photo was taken.
On the fifth attempt, I finally did it! It turned out to be one of my favorite photos I took this year. It's not just the photo by how it looks but also the personal mood and vibe behind it. I don't know how to describe really.
One more shot of the lake from higher up.
I figured that I should go to the water level too and touch the water. Let's just say that I wouldn't want to swim in there, ice cold 😰.
I would have spent more time there, maybe even climbed the mountain on the other side of the lake but time and daylight are not my friends. I still had a lot of ground to cover, more than I had hiked this far. Like I said I don't want to be left in darkness to cross the mountain range to get back to where I started.
I was on a trail moving again. Had an opportunity to see this lake from another angle.
The journey goes on. I still had about 8 or 9 kilometers of hike left. I wasn't even sure where will I go exactly but that's half of the adventure. Stay tuned!
