Located in northern Iceland, Hvitserkur is one of the famous shaped rocks in Iceland alongside others like Elephant Rock on Vestmannaeyjabær. But what exactly is its shape? A dragon? A rhino? A camel? I will let you decide that for yourself.

Hvitserkur is a 15-metre / 49-foot basalt rock that sits off the Vatnsnes Peninsula. The ocean and its waves have eroded the softer rocks around it, leaving this structure. It is also one of the oldest silicic (meaning rich in silica) rocks in Iceland at between 12.5 and 13.1 million years old.

Hiking and Hvitserkur

Hvitserkur sits below the high tide line, meaning that sometimes it is completely out of the water and at other times, the tide rises a little up the rock face. At low tide, you can hike to the base of the rock and there is nothing to stop you from touching it if you want. Warning: because of this, make sure you know the schedule of the tide before you start your hike. While it is a relatively short one (just over 1 km/ under a mile), you could get stuck when the tide comes in. The shore is shallow, meaning the water comes in very quickly.

The hike is also over a stone beach, some of the stones of which are large. Please make sure you are using the right footwear (i.e. hiking shoes) for this trek.

Note: if you want to hike down, from the car park take the path that leads away from Hvitserkur to the beach. From there you will be able to then head down the coast to the rock. If you take the path directly there, you will come to the viewpoint on the cliff above.

Hvitserkur and Folklore

There is a story about why this (to the Icelanders) dragon-shaped rock sits here. It is said that a troll came to the area and destroyed a nearby monastery in the night. Then it went to the ocean to take a drink. Like the ogres in Lord of the Rings, it was turned to stone by the rising sun and has been there ever since.

Due to this cultural link, the stone received a concrete base in the mid-20th century to ensure that it does not topple over, meaning it stand there against the ocean for a while.

My Thoughts

I was a bit disappointed to be honest. While I knew it was 15 metres before going, the way that Hvitserkur had been presented in pictures was very much larger-than-life. I had thought that the views were from the view point (where most of these photos were taken) but in fact they must have been aerial photography (i.e. drones) that flew to halfway up the cliff and took pictures from there.

While we did arrive at low tide, we decided against going to the base of the rock due to other plans that day, such as going to Kálfshamarsvik and eventually to Akureyri. I do not feel as though I missed anything by skipping that walk.

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