Baula

Leatherback from the driveway to the pass Brattabrekka

Leatherback surrounded by v.l.nr. Hraunsneföxl, Grábrók and Litla - leatherback

Leatherback of Südenbdep2

Leatherback [ Poey ː la ] is a mountain in the west of Iceland with a height of 934 m. The mountain is located in the northern part of the municipality of Borgarbyggð.

Location

Leatherback is located near the ring road at the boarding high school Bifrost northwest of the Grábrók crater. About 50 km to the southwest lies Borgarnes. Especially at the near Hreðavatn are numerous holiday homes. Not far from the river flows past Norðurá.

In the northeast of leatherback stands on a slightly lower Rhyolithdom darker in color, the Litla - leatherback (840 m). The smaller volcano was active before about 3.5 million years ago. Further east, there is another cone called Skildingsfell. Lie deep Taleinschnitte Between the mountains.

Geology

In the mountain with its distinctive shape it is not, as one might assume, a stratovolcano or a Palagonitkegel, but a large intrusion ( batholith ) from Rhyolithgestein that is the only reason why visible because the Ice Age glaciers over the Borgarfjorður about 1500 m have abraded rock.

Leatherback is characterized by its almost perfect cone shape. The intrusion came from contained in Dalir, meanwhile, has long been extinct central volcano Reykjadalsvulkan and is about 3.5 million years old; it was thus at the end of the Tertiary.

The mountain consists of a kind of Liparit or rhyolite. He explains the bright light coloring of the mountain. Man held the stone long for unique and called him Baulit or Baulasteinn. The term is no longer used today. Also the rock is not unique, but can be found anywhere in the vicinity of other central volcanoes in the country.

The pointed shape explains, inter alia, to the fact that the mountain probably sticking longer time than Nunatak from a Ice Age glaciers.

In contrast to the leatherback itself, was Litla leatherback before cs. 4 million years ago an active volcano.

Legends and stories about the leatherback

A popular saying called Litla leatherback - the daughter of the giant leatherback and the Skildingsfell their grandchildren.

In the 19th century, locals allowed with foreign travelers a popular joke by telling them, on top of the leatherback is located the entrance to a beautiful and rich country with dwarf residents who bred fat sheep. These were a kind of Icelandic Cockaigne history.

Another legend says that a pond is located on the mountain. There was a wishing stone, which would float to the surface only once a year and the one who could catch him, would fulfill all wishes.

Hiking on the leatherback

Leatherback can be, for example, from the west, climbed out of the valley of the Bjarnadalsá. However, the rock parts very loose, the slopes are steep. It is a rather demanding mountain hike. For this you will be rewarded when the weather with a extraordinarily beautiful views.

Be first ascended the mountain as far as known Halldór Bjarnason from Litla - Gröf in 1851.

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