Skogar to Thorsmork Hike

Hi All
I will be in Iceland for a couple weeks in early September and am looking to do the day hike from Skogar to Thorsmork. I have rented a car and plan to drive to Skogar, but my question is how easy will it be to return to my vehicle at Skogar?

It looks like there is a bus I could catch to Selfjalandsfoss once per day (http://www.volcanohuts.com/files/volcano_huts_thorsmork_bus.pdf)
, but from there, how could I get to Skogar? The bus route 51 does not stop at Selfjalandsfoss per the schedule on www.straeto.is.

Could I rely on hitching at this time, or is there another bus or transportation option I could rely on?

Thanks for the info

Look into the bus schedule to see if you can:

Park at Hvolsvollur, jump on a bus to Skogar
Do your hike, catch the Thorsmork->Reykjavik bus, jump off at Hvolsvollur

This is what many do during the summer season, it should still be feasible in September. The fares are a bit lop-sided, with the short stretches to/from Hvolsvollur priced higher than the distance would warrant - but that's only to be expected :-)

Instead of Hvolsvollur you could leave your car at Seljalandsfoss (or the parking lot right at the intersection of the ring road and the road to Thorsmork) - but there would be an increased chance of vandalism and you might not be saving any money on fares (though you can check). I would think that flagging down an eastbound bus at the parking lot should be feasible even if it isn't an official stop (jumping off the Thorsmork bus certainly would be) - but that's another thing you might want to ask about.

BTW, since you mention the Strætó schedule - do check out www.BSI.is - they are the traditional source of info on long-distance bus schedules - Strætó is the local bus company here in the capital encroaching on their turf. A bit of competition never did any harm of course!

In fact I went and checked - Reykjavik Excursions have a bus that leaves Hvolsvöllur at 10:15 and arrives at Skógar at 11:20 (the reason for the long duration is that they stop at Seljalandsfoss!) - the fare is only IKR 2000. It is of course a bit late to be starting your hike at 11:20 - if you intend to do it in one day - the alternative would be to arrive the day before and camp at Skógar. Still, it won't be getting dark till pretty late so you should have enough time.

Hi Leifur
Thank you for the detailed information.

I did check the BSI routes and parking at Hvolsvollur does look like an option, but I think I will still have a problem getting to Skogar to start the hike, routes 20 and 21 end service by September 8th, I probably will just miss that (wouldn't be there until the week after).

Are there other bus routes or transportation options between Hvolsvollur and Skogar this late in the season?
Maybe I could rent a bicycle in Hvolsvollur...

I wrote a post about this about 3 weeks ago, perhaps you can find it.

Since the bus leaves Thorsmork Basar (where the hike ends) at 1500 at that date, and the hike takes about 10 hours even for a decently fit hiker, without any exceptions of weather that become increasingly likely at that time of year, it is impractical to do this hike without an overnight at Thorsmork at this time of year you don't have that long daylight allowing you to set off from Skogar at 0400, unless you like walking in the pitch dark.

You should be able to get back to your car at Skogar in one go up to 12 Sept. The Thorsmork bus connects at Hvollsvollur to the 51 bus to Skogar. The connection will be kept unless there is extreme disruption. The 51 operates on this timetable until 12 September. It will still run after that, but it will be a reduced service.
http://www.straeto.is/media/sumartimi/Leid-51-sumar2015.pdf

Given the date, you should also seek local advice at the time and check the weather forecast as to whether the hike is advisable on a given day. Some years the pass is already snowed in by then.

This was my earlier post. But it doesn't add anything relevant to you.
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/europe-scandinavia-the-nordics/iceland/bus-camping-and-kayak-in-southern-iceland?page=1#post_21792345

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