Langidalur Volunteer

Oct 1

Iceland Weekly Report – Weeks 4, 5 and 6

Cutting forest materials for our trail repair work in August
– From a blog by one of our team.

Since the weather improved and the sun begun to shine in the beginning of week 4 of my training period, time is flying by really fast and there’s not enough time for me to write about events as they happen. In the past weeks I’ve been doing a lot of different things, it seems like I learn a new thing every day. Here is a short summary of my activities:

Week 4:

In the 4th week of my training period I’ve learned how to drive different tractors and make firewood with a splitting machine. I’ve begun to learn practical work with the chainsaw (from the thinning champion of Iceland!) and chainsaw maintenance. I’ve also been driving the pick-up truck a lot and did some brush cutting. On the weekend I’ve stayed in Thjorsardalur and helped with various tasks (collecting fares, maintenance etc.) on the Forest service’s campsite.

A video of…

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Aug 31

The last group leaves Langidalur…

The departure of seven of our wilderness management volunteers yesterday marks the end of our group work this summer. Additional last minute difficulties caused by the Krossá and Hvanná rivers meant that departure was brought forward by one day to make sure that nobody would miss their flight home.

We would like to thank the team for all their hard work over the last six weeks and hope that everyone left with some good memories of their time with us and our adventures together in Thórsmörk, Goðaland and Emstrur.

We look forward to working with you again next summer!

Aug 24

Autumn arrives…

As the first signs of Autumn appear around us in Thórsmörk our programme is coming to an end. The last group of volunteers have one more week before they head home leaving a small team to pack down the Langidalur camp in September.

Our team is now working on finishing the last major projects of the summer which include a flight of timber framed steps on the Fimmvörðuháls trail and sections of stone retainment wall, gravel drains and new timber steps on the main trail to Húsadalur. Both projects are progressing very well and if the weather is kind to us, all the work will be completed this season.

Our last big project of the season will be a trip together with all our remaining volunteers for a long-range project planned at Emstrur with Ferðafélag Íslands… it is very exciting as it our first task on the Laugavegur trail outside Thórsmörk.

Aug 24

Moving the Básar bridge…

Thórsmörk wardens preparing to reposition the Básar bridge.

Aug 11

July in Thórsmörk

Summer in Thórsmörk is passing by very quickly and today our second Wilderness Management team has set of on its hiking week. The group will arrive in Landmannalaugar today and will then be hiking back to Thórsmörk during the next week. This gives us plenty of time to organise all the exciting work projects we want to do with them in the second half of August.

The weather during the last month has been much kinder to us than earlier in the summer and we have been uploading pictures from our July adventures…

There are now 2 sets of photos of our teams on Flickr…
Our volunteers (2013)
Wilderness management Team A (2013) (pictures taken by John McIntire)