Thank you so much for posting this video. It is so helpful for someone like me who is preparing a trip to Laugavegur Trail be able to get an idea what to expect along the way! Especially the river crossing. I am planning on going mid June next year. Never really done multiday hiking alone. So I am a lil nervous but also excited at the same time. Thx for sharing!!
Thank you! Happy to hear it is helpful! 😀 I am sure you will not be alone, I met many other hikers on the way. So you can meet and talk to people, or you can stay by yourself, whatever you feel like every day. Enjoy it! It is a great hike!
Thank you! This is EXACTLY what I was looking for. It answered all my questions - except for one. You didn't appear to have cold feet after crossing. Was it so cold it made your feet numb?
So if it's flooding or too dangerous, do you turn back and go home? Is it a season type of a flooding or camping a night or two would settle the river for a safe crossing? Also I've never trekked/camping before, and I'd like to do some solo trekking around the world next year, I'll be glad to hear some suggestions 😊 I'm thinking choquequirao trail is a good one to start with, maybe follow it up with this laugavegur trail as a second challenge!
hi! well, if it is really too dangerous too cross and the hut warden from a nearby hut also says "no", i would not risk my life. i would trust the hut wardens or rangers that they have a suggestion where to cross safely or what alternative hiking route to take. as much as i know most of the rives can be much deeper in the beginning of the hiking season (june) because there is still a lot of snow which melts. also after heavy rainfalls you probably can expect more water. rainfall is temporary, so you should be good to go when weather improves. the seasonal melting water is not so temporary, so i would avoid going when there still is a lot of snow. melting water from snow and glaciers should be less in the morning and more in the afternoon (because the sun melts it during the day). the choquequirao trek sounds great, havent done that. i can recommend the w-trek or o-trek in patagonia, or in europe the tour du mont blanc in france/italy/switzerland and the kungsleden in sweden. also things like the annapurna circuit in nepal can be done solo without guide/porter. there are also plenty of multidayhikes in the alpes.
Usually the crossings are a bit of a "traffic jam" because they slow down everyone. I didn't have a single crossing without some other hikers around, trying to cross too. So we shared our ideas and passed on the best way to cross to the next people. Or I arrived and just watched other people crossing. That is probably the "safest" if you feel unsafe: wait for other people. It's good to read some websites about "how to cross rivers" in order to understand the basics. Calm water very often is deep, while fast flowing water is not so deep. Of course you want to avoid fast flowing deep water... It is good to cross a bit diagonally and against the flow of the water, it feels more "stable" while walking with the sticks. Very often the rivers have some shallow "islands" in the middle, so you just cross from the shore to that island and then from the island to the other shore. It makes the river less wide...
oh PS: in order to have the camera on the other side and film myself, I usually crossed without my backpack 2 times and only in the end WITH backpack. that was actually a pretty good way to figure out a safe route. maybe go without your bag and figure out the conditions, before you go with the heavy bag, which makes you feel more unstable.
