Sprengisandur () is a highland

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

, defined roughly as the area between the

Hofsjökull __NOTOC__ Hofsjökull ( Icelandic: "temple glacier", ) is the third largest ice cap in Iceland after Vatnajökull and Langjökull and the largest active volcano in the country. It is situated in the west of the Highlands of Iceland and north o ...

and

Vatnajökull Vatnajökull ( Icelandic pronunciation: , literally "Glacier of Lakes"; sometimes translated as Vatna Glacier in English) is the largest and most voluminous ice cap in Iceland, and the second largest in area in Europe after the Severny Island ice ...

glaciers A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

History and etymology

Kjölur Kjölur () is a plateau in the highlands of Iceland, roughly defined as the area between the Langjökull and Hofsjökull glaciers. It lies at an elevation of about 600–700 metres. Geography At the northern end of the Kjölur road, near the ...

and Kaldidalur, Sprengisandur is an ancient pass - during the time of the

Icelandic Free State The Icelandic Commonwealth, also known as the Icelandic Free State, was the political unit existing in Iceland between the establishment of the Althing in 930 and the pledge of fealty to the Norwegian king with the Old Covenant in 1262. With t ...

(ca. 930–1265) it was one of the several important north–south routes that connected remote regions of the island to the Plains of the Parliament,

Þingvellir Þingvellir (, anglicised as ThingvellirThe spelling ''Pingvellir'' is sometimes seen, although the letter "p" is unrelated to the letter "þ" (thorn), which is pronounced as "th".) was the site of the Alþing, the annual parliament of Iceland f ...

, where the yearly parliament,

Alþingi The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ("thing fields" or "assembly ...

, was held each year at midsummer. In the

sagas of Icelanders The sagas of Icelanders ( is, Íslendingasögur, ), also known as family sagas, are one genre of Icelandic sagas. They are prose narratives mostly based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and early el ...

it is often called simply ''Sandr'' "Sand" or ''Sandleið'', "Sand trail". At its southern end, it was joined with another such route, Fjallabaksvegur nyrðri, running west from

Landmannalaugar Landmannalaugar () is a location in Iceland's Fjallabak Nature Reserve in the Highlands. It is at the edge of the Laugahraun lava field, formed in an eruption in approximately 1477. It is known for its natural geothermal hot springs and ...

mountain hot springs area. Sprengisandur is only accessible during summer - like other parts of the inner desert, it is impassable in winter because of the snow, and in spring because of floods. While being the shortest way to the Alþingi for some

Icelanders Icelanders ( is, Íslendingar) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nation who are native to the island country of Iceland and speak Icelandic. Icelanders established the country of Iceland in mid 930 AD when the Althing (Parliament) met for ...

, for example, those living around lake Ljósavatn that is very close to the northern end of the route, and for inhabitants of

Vopnafjörður Vopnafjörður () is a village and municipality in Northeast Iceland, standing on a peninsula in the middle of a mountainous bay by the same name. The main industries of Vopnafjörður are fish processing, agriculture and tourism and other servic ...

, it had the downside of having by far the longest stretch through the forbidding inner desert regions among the other possible routes. For hundreds of kilometers, there was no fodder for horses to be had, and no human habitation to take shelter in. This feature gave the area its name: it is derived from Icelandic noun ''sandur'' "sand", which denotes the volcanic ash deserts of the center of the island, and the verb ''sprengja'' that means "to ride a horse to death; to be on the point of bursting after running for too long". One needed to ride as fast as possible, nearly driving the horses to death, to cross the mountain desert and reach the inhabited regions of the island again before one ran out of victuals. Hence, Sprengisandur was, if at all possible, avoided by medieval Icelanders, even if it meant taking the longer route. One example is in ch. 8 of the

Hrafnkels saga ''Hrafnkels saga'' (; ) or ''Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða'' (O.N.: ; Ice.: ) is one of the Icelanders' sagas. It tells of struggles between chieftains and farmers in the east of Iceland in the 10th century. The eponymous main character, Hrafnkell, s ...

: the chieftain Hrafnkell, who lived in the East Fjords and rather close to the northern end of Sprengisandur, prefers to travel to the Alþingi by going south along the shore of the island - his route is much longer and slower, but it goes through inhabited regions for the entire route. His enemies, living in the same neighbourhood but needing speed, decide to take the shorter yet more exhausting Sprengisandur route, so as to arrive at the Alþingi much earlier and have enough time to drum up some support for their case. Another example is in

Ölkofra þáttr ''Ölkofra þáttr'' (also known as ''Ölkofra saga''), the "Tale of Ölkofri" or the "Tale of Ale-Hood", is a þáttr, a minor Old Norse prose genre related to the sagas of Icelanders. Preserved in the 14th-century manuscript known as ''Möðruvall ...

, where the chieftain Broddi, who lives in

, returns home from Alþingi by taking the

route north and then going east along the northern shore of the island - a much longer road home than one through Sprengisandur, yet one going largely through inhabited regions. As usual with uninhabited places in Iceland, Sprengisandur route was considered to be haunted by ghosts. Both themes, the difficulty of passage and the presence of ghosts, are referred to in the famous Icelandic song ''Á Sprengisandi'', written by

Grímur Thomsen Grímur Thomsen (May 15, 1820 – November 27, 1896), Icelandic poet and editor, was born in Bessastaðir in 1820. He was the son of Þorgrímur Tómasson, a goldsmith. In 1837, he went to the University of Copenhagen, where he studied law and ...

(1820–1896).

Developments

After the loss of independence in 1265, the route gradually fell out of use and was lost until the 19th century. The modern gravel road goes more or less parallel and a bit southeast of the ancient horse trail. A tourist bus runs over the Sprengisandur every other day from

Mývatn () is a shallow lake situated in an area of active volcanism in the north of Iceland, not far from Krafla volcano. It has a high amount of biological activity. The lake and the surrounding wetlands provides a habitat for a number of waterbirds, e ...

and back in July and August. If the weather is good, the route offers views of both glaciers and volcanoes

Askja Askja () is an active volcano situated in a remote part of the Highlands of Iceland, central highlands of Iceland. The name Askja refers to a complex of nested calderas within the surrounding Dyngjufjöll mountains, which rise to , ''askja'' ...

and

Herðubreið Herðubreið (, ''broad-shouldered'') is a tuya in northern part of Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland. It is situated in the Highlands of Iceland at the east side of the Ódáðahraun desert and close to Askja volcano. The desert is a larg ...

. In the middle of the track there is a hut of the Icelandic Hiking Club, ''Nýidalur''.

Transport

A gravel road called Sprengisandsleið runs through the area and connects Southern Region and Northeastern Region parts of the country. The road, and shorter tracks leading from the main road, are only open in the summer months. A very remote airfield with two runways named Sprengisandur is located in the area (ICAO: BISP). {{Coord, 64, 52, N, 18, 07, W, region:IS_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Highlands of Iceland Plateaus of Iceland it:Sprengisandur (strada)