Distance: approx. 10 kilometres. Route: Kleifar Rauðskarðsdalur Rauðskörð Víkurdalur Vík.
Maximum elevation: 570 metres. Hiking time: 5-6 hours.
The hike begins at Kleifar north of Ólafsfjörður and you walk from a marker by the road. The walk is easy for the first short distance you hike along a well-marked path into the valley under the steep summit of the Syðriárhyrna mountain. When you arrive at the river confluence where the river divides into Syðriá river and Rauðskarðsá river, you cross the river and follow the markings. In the summer of 2004, an excellent pedestrian overpass over the river was swept away by a great landslide. People must now therefore ford the river for the time being while there is no bridge. After you have crossed the river, there is a visitors' guest book where you can register your name. Behind the Rauðskarðshnjúkur peak are the Rauðskörð passes, which are called so because of the red coloured rock they consist of. Now you hike in a steep scree. You have to hike behind the cliffs that are below the pass. The cliff face has been painted with yellow paint and you have to enter the scree in front of the canyon there and hike up along the Rauðskarðsá river. On your left now is Þverfjall mountain. On the opposite of the river confluence, there is a large basin in the mountain called the Hrafnaskál basin. In front are the Jókuhjallar, and at the time when ski jumping was practised in Ólafsfjörður, there was an excellent natural ski-jump that was 55 m long.
In front of the Rauðskarðshnjúkur peak (see photo), one can see the Loftskörð passes that form two passes in the mountain range. They are frequently assumed to be the Rauðskörð passes and even though they are passable people should not take that route. Behind the Rauðskarðshnjúkur peak are the Rauðskörð passes named after the red coloured rock in them. Now you hike in a steep scree. You have to hike behind the cliffs that are below the pass. The cliff face has been painted with yellow paint and you have to enter the scree in front of the canyon there and a very discernible path in the scree. When you get further up in the scree, you walk towards the east past the canyon and up to a grassy terrace. From there, you follow a path up into the pass there are fractions of a cairn in the pass. Out from the pass, you have a view of the mountains that surround the valley and in the direction of Ólafsfjarðarmúli promontory and the Kerahnjúk peak behind the Brimnesdalur valley and into the Rauðskarðsdalur valley in the direction of Afglapaskarð pass and out from the Syðriárdalur valley in the direction towards the Fossabrekkuleið trail. The trail down to Héðinsfjörður fjord is clear and from the pass it is frequently possible to walk on snow. From the pass, you hike down to a small basin or a small dell and there in the middle is a large stone where people usually take a rest. A small brook flows along the basin and it is advisable to follow the brook rather than the marked trail as that trail lies at a sideways angle. The route has marker posts all the way down to Vík.