As the name Krafla lava fields say, it's a solidified lava field that in geological terms is not old at all. The last eruption there happened in September 1986. Even though many years have passed since this eruption, the ground is still warm and in places even hot.
This wooden trail that leads you to the lava field is incredibly slippery, it was probably the hardest part lol.
Hot Silicate lake.
From there, the man-made trail ended and we had to start walking on a rough volcanic landscape. The circle around the area is not very long, it's about 1.7 kilometers if I remember correctly.
Here you can see exactly the line where lava reached.
Most of the new lava landscape is just black, with some red hills in between that is the old landscape.
In many places, the hardened lava is still warm when putting your hand against it or you feel it in the air.
In the photo below you can see vents still steaming..
Here you can see one of many craters in the area. You can see how the last lava flow is hardened when coming out of the crater.
At this point where I was standing, it was about 25C of warmth. It just pushed out of the ground and small cracks.
The more we hiked and higher we got, it got more apparent how huge these lava flows have been. The black fields reached as far as I could see.
Everywhere we looked, we could see some amazing natural formations, the fact that this landscape is so young, is astonishing.
More very apparent liquid lava flow marks.
This is actually really colorful
The silicate lake from another angle, from the top of the mountain. Insanely unique landscape.
Crystalized sulfur. Makes one heck of a colorful landscape.
As you can see this whole area is geologically very active. Volcanic activity, sulfur gases being boiled to the ground and also in some areas ground is sinking, here it is very visible.
This area is in the middle of the halving point of North American and Eurasian continental plates, so this is the main reason why it's so active.
For a second we were granted a ray of sunshine so I took this photo quickly. Hot Mars-like mountainside and a pile of recent lava in front. Quite a nice shot.
When you travel in northern Iceland, I definitely advise you to go check this place out if you are up for a little hike and don't mind a rough terrain.
