About us

The Thórsmörk trail volunteer programme (Trailteam.is) was established in 2012 and is coordinated by Land and Forest Iceland (Land og Skógur). It’s main role is to assist with the maintenance of the hiking trails in Thórsmörk and Goðaland though our teams are involved in a variety of practical nature conservation tasks in the area.

We arrived in Thórsmörk with over 15 years experience of maintaining hiking trails in protected areas throughout Iceland. Our aim was to create a small independent and locally coordinated programme that could focus on developing skills and new practical techniques in hiking trail maintenance and erosion control. Volunteers work alongside staff and trainers from Land and Forest Iceland (Land og Skógur).

Our volunteer teams are active during the summer months and based at Langidalur (Thórsmörk) and Básar (Goðaland). On remote worksites, temporary wilderness camps may be established. From the beginning, the programme was organized in close cooperation with local partners in Thórsmörk and Goðaland; The Icelandic Touring Association, (Ferðafélag Íslands) (Langidalur), Útivist (Básar), Volcano Huts (Húsadalur) and Hostelling International Iceland (Slyppugil). Reykjavik Excursions (Kynnisferðir) who operate scheduled bus services in the area, have assisted with transport for our volunteers and logistical support since our arrival in 2012. We very much enjoy working with our partners and greatly appreciated their assistance and support.

We work closely with Ferðafélag Íslands on long-range trail repair projects along the Laugavegurinn hiking trail (based at Hvanngil) and are especially grateful to them for hosting our volunteer base-camp at Langidalur. We currently host about 40 international volunteers each season and together we complete approximately 150 weeks of practical work. Volunteers are selected directly from applications and no not pay a participation fee. We are committed to “free volunteering”.

Details of our volunteer vacancies can be found on the volunteer opportunities page.