Three Lakes on the Moor

This was a bit scary

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Last winter I promised myself that I would take the time in the summer to walk to Lake Djúpavatn and fish in the three lakes that are on the moor Holtavörðuheiði. The lakes are at the junction of the municipals of Borgarbyggð and Húnaþings vestra. Lakes Krókavatn and Tangavatn belong to Borgarbyggð but Lake Djúpavatn belongs to Húnaþing vestra. I am not sure which of the lakes is Tangavatn and which is Krókavatn. My late father-in-law called the first lake Krókavatn and the next one Tangavatn. I think I will stick to that. I have heard two other names for lake number two, Hólmavatn and Reipavatn. It would be interesting to get some locals to set this straight. Sadly I can no longer ask my father-in-law.

Lake Tangavatn is east of Lake Krókavatn and Lake Djúpavatn is northeast of Tangavatn. The lakes are only a short distance away from each other and it's fairly easy to walk between them. You only have to walk up and down low hills and ridges. I walked to the northeast from where I parked the car. I thought that direction would bring me straight to Lake Djúpavatn. I was right because, after about half an hour's walk, I was at the lake. The weather was nice and calm except that when I started fishing in Lake Djúpavatn it started to rain in the calm weather and that rain was really heavy. My wader jacket didn't hold this flood of water at all, so I got wet, right at the start of the fishing trip. It didn't matter much because it was warm outside. The lake seemed to me to be likely to keep fish. By the lake, I had the company of the Great northern diver. That bird is always a sign that there is fish in the water. There was also a pair of Swans on the lake. I had not much luck in Lake Djúpavatn except that one trout caught the fly but it was a small one.

Lake Krókavatn is the lake on the left in the picture. Lake Tangavatn is next to the right and Lake Djúpavatn is on top to the right. You can see the river Norðurá and the highway at the bottom to the left.

This is where I stopped before I started fishing in Lake Djúpavatn.

I guess the clock was approaching six when I decided to stop fishing in Lake Djúpavatn and walked back over to Lake Tangavatn. I didn't fish for long in Lake Djúpavatn because the plan was to explore Lake Tangavatn as well and finish the fishing in Krókavatn. I first came at the north bank of Lake Tangavatn. I saw a lot of foam on the waterfront. I have heard that this was a sign of fish in a lake. It´s not necessarily so. The foam is a sign of organic matter in the lake. The waves and the wind stir the lake and the organic matter and create the foam. This spot looked promising so I cast the fly few times from the north bank. Then I walked along the west bank and cast the fly here and there. About midway I see that it's only a short distance over to Lake Krókavatn and I even see the car parked up on the ridge where I left it. It calmed me to see how short the lakes were apart. It would be easy to navigate between them if visibility changed and became worse. Lake Tangavatn is shallow and I wonder if it bottoms freezes in winter. I don't know, but of course it's possible that there are some spots that don´t freeze, in the winter.

I decided to walk south, hoping there would be promising spots there. I didn't find any fish, but on the biggest point by the lake, a plant caught my attention. There were a lot of Rhodiola rosea plants on the point. As I walked along the point I see unusually dense expanses of reindeer moss. I regret not taking pictures of the reindeer moss but I was tired and did not have the energy to take my backpack off to get my photo equipment.

Now the clock is almost half past eight and suddenly the fog comes from the north. I can no longer see the landscape so it gets difficult to navigate. I decided to walk the short distance over to Lake Krókavatn because from there I knew it would be easy to find the way to the car. I decided to follow a trail that I thought led from Lake Tangavatn to Lake Krókavatn. The walk was longer than I expected and I became a bit worried. Then I saw a pool I thought was a part of Lake Krókavatn. It turned out it wasn´t. I walked further but after a while I stopped and an unpleasant thought struck me. I´m in trouble. I decided to check if Google Maps could help. It couldn´t. The program just warned me that it was difficult to locate me and that the compass might be inaccurate. Now it was raining hard again. I decided to follow the trail back. The worst-case scenario would be that I had to stay on the moor all-night long or until the fog cleared. One thing I decided I would not do. That was to leave the trail. After a short walk, I found a side trail I decided to try, hoping it would lead to Lake Krókavatn. That trail was a dead end so I headed back. Finally, I found the right trail and as I was walking along it the fog cleared and Lake Krókavatn appeared in front of me. Oh, my, how relieved I was. I tried to fish in the lake for a while before I walked the short distance back to the car. While walking back the fog came again. I think I will get myself an old-fashioned compass before my next walk to these lakes. You can´t trust this battery-powered equipment and a satellite to navigate you safely home.