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Gear I Packed for Asbyrgi Horseshoe Canyon Walk in North Iceland
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items Planning to hike Asbyrgi Canyon and not sure what to bring, wear, or where to stop along the way? I showed up my first time in cotton jeans and learned fast that North Iceland does not care about your outfit plans. This is everything I actually used,...
Sections
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Layering Clothes That Survived Asbyrgi Weather
Footwear and Traction for the Canyon Trail
Day Pack Setup for the Asbyrgi Loop Trail
Camera and Photography Gear for Canyon Shots
Stops and Experiences Around Asbyrgi Worth Your Time
Layering Clothes That Survived Asbyrgi Weather
The canyon sits in a microclimate that shifts from dead calm to sideways rain in twenty minutes. I changed layers four times on a single walk and was glad I had every one of these.
Wear this as your base layer and forget about that clammy feeling. I hiked five hours straight and it never got that gross wet-shirt situation cotton always gives me.
Men's Merino 260 Tech Long Sleeve Half Zip Thermal Top
Stuff this into your pack for when the wind picks up near the canyon walls. Weighs almost nothing but saved me when temps dropped ten degrees out of nowhere.
Men's Treeline Green Nano Puff® Jacket
Pull this on the second you see clouds rolling over the cliffs. I watched two hikers sprint for tree cover while I just kept walking dry and smug.
Men's BETA FAMILY | Arc'teryx United States
Swap out your regular socks for these before any Icelandic trail. My feet stayed warm even after stepping in a shallow stream crossing like a clumsy tourist.
Hike Classic Edition Crew Socks Navy
Keep one around your neck and slide it up when the wind cuts across the canyon floor. Saved my ears and face on the exposed stretch near Eyjan island.
Buff Original Multifunctional Headwear
Ditch the jeans. Seriously. These dry in about fifteen minutes if you get splashed, and they stretch enough for scrambling over the rocky bits near Botnstjorn pond.
Outdoor Research Ferrosi: Pants Review
Footwear and Traction for the Canyon Trail
The path through Asbyrgi looks easy until you hit wet roots and loose basalt gravel. I nearly ate it twice before I figured out what actually grips this terrain.
Lace these up for the main canyon loop and your ankles will thank you on the uneven sections. Waterproof saved me when the trail turned into a shallow creek after rain.
Salomon X Ultra 4 Mid GTX Review | WORTH IT in 2026?
Slip these into your hiking boots a week before the trip to break them in. My arch pain disappeared after swapping out the factory insoles that came with my Salomons.
Superfeet All-Purpose High Arch Support Insoles
Toss these in your pack if you're visiting in early spring or late fall. Black ice hides on the shaded canyon floor and I watched someone go down hard without traction.
NANOspikes® Footwear Traction
Try these on longer canyon days when you're doing the full loop plus the Eyjan side trail. Zero blisters after eight miles, which is honestly a first for me.
Men's Hiker Boot Full Cushion Midweight Hiking Socks
Use this on your boots before you fly out. Icelandic mud and volcanic grit ate through my last pair's waterproofing because I was too lazy to treat them.
Revivex Leather Boot Care Kit
Pack your muddy boots in this so the rest of your luggage survives the trip home. I ruined a sweater once by just tossing dirty boots into my duffel like a fool.
Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Dry Bag - Set of 3
Day Pack Setup for the Asbyrgi Loop Trail
You don't need a massive backpack for this hike, but you do need the right small stuff organized. I forgot sunscreen once and my nose peeled for a week after.
Grab this size for the canyon walk. Big enough for layers, water, and snacks but light enough that you won't feel like a pack mule on the flat stretches.
Talon 22 - Men's Ventilated
Bring two of these filled. There's no water refill point on the Asbyrgi trail and the dry canyon air sneaks up on you faster than you'd expect.
Stow™ 1L
Slather this on even when it looks cloudy. Iceland's UV at 66 degrees north reflected off the pale canyon walls and fried my face on what I thought was an overcast day.
Original SPF 50 Sunscreen Spray
Carry this if you're hiking solo or going off the main path toward the cliffs. Cell service drops completely inside the canyon and nobody wants to be that rescue story.
inReach® Mini 2
Keep one charged in your pack because cold weather drains phone batteries absurdly fast. Mine died at 40% just from the temperature, right when I wanted a photo.
Anker Power Bank, 10000mAh Portable Charger
Use this for all your wrappers and food waste on the trail. Asbyrgi is pristine and the rangers take leave-no-trace seriously. Don't be that person.
Sea to Summit Trash Dry Bag | REI Co-op
Camera and Photography Gear for Canyon Shots
The vertical basalt walls and birch forest inside Asbyrgi photograph like nothing else in Iceland. I fumbled with wrong lenses my first visit and missed the best light entirely.
Bring a full-frame body if you have one. The dynamic range inside the shadowy canyon with bright sky above will crush a phone sensor, and you'll want those details.
Sony a7C II review: small camera, little compromise
Switch to a wide angle before you enter the canyon mouth. The horseshoe walls tower above you and a 50mm just cannot capture the scale of what you're standing inside.
Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM II Full-frame Standard Zoom G
Sling this across your chest for quick lens swaps on the trail. I missed a white-tailed eagle shot once because my camera was buried in my backpack.
Everyday Sling
Pop a polarizer on when shooting the Botnstjorn pond at the canyon's end. Cuts the glare and lets you see the turquoise color of the water that makes everyone gasp.
HOYA CIR-PL HD Mk II 72mm
Set this up for the low-light shots under the birch canopy. Handheld at ISO 6400 looks grainy and you'll regret not having stable long exposures of that forest.
Element Traveller Tripod Small with Ball Head, Black
Keep one in your jacket pocket because Icelandic mist coats your front element constantly. I wiped my lens on my shirt once and scratched the coating. Never again.
LensPen NLP-1 Camera Lens Cleaning Pen, Black
Stops and Experiences Around Asbyrgi Worth Your Time
The canyon walk itself takes maybe three hours, so fill the rest of your day with these. Some of the best moments from my North Iceland trip happened outside the trail.
Start here before you hit the trail. The geology displays explain why the canyon is shaped like a horseshoe and the rangers give honest trail condition updates.
Ásbyrgi Visitor Centre, Ásbyrgi
Drive 30 minutes south after your hike and stand at Europe's most powerful waterfall. The ground literally vibrates under your feet and the spray soaks you from 50 meters away.
Dettifoss Waterfall Travel Guide
Book a morning tour before your canyon day. We saw three humpbacks breach within an hour and I still think about it randomly at my desk on bad work days.
North Sailing
Grab the lamb soup here after a cold canyon hike. It's thick, peppery, and served with homemade bread that I would genuinely fly back to Iceland just to eat again.
Gamli Baukur
Drive twenty minutes south of Asbyrgi and hike to these twisted basalt formations. Clap your hands between the columns and the echo bounces around like something out of a movie.
The extraordinary Hljóðaklettar
Soak in this tiny community hot pot after a full day of hiking. It's free, barely anyone knows about it, and watching the Arctic sky from 41 degree water hits different.
KPOT Korean BBQ & Hot Pot has quickly become a hot spot