Went last June/July and hiked around hornstrandir for 6 days. Started at Hesteyri and went clockwise around to Veiðileysufjörður. I took a domestic flight from Reykjavik to Ísafjörður but hitchhiked back down south. Its really easy to thumb a ride there, just make sure you're at a spot where folks can safely pull off the road to pick you up. You meet the absolute best kind of folks hitching, assholes dont stop. You'll have to charter a boat to get to Hornstrandir. I went through
westtours.is and highly recommend them. You should think about renting a PLB from them too. Hornstrandir is very remote and what trails you can see have a way of disappearing all sudden like. Real easy to wander off trail in a big way. As far as when to go, late June is when they have the most daylight(24 hours) then you get less as the months go by. Down to maybe 4 hours around Dec/Jan. The weather in iceland is pretty moderate year-round but it can also be crazy extreme. I got lucky and only had a couple brief showers while on Hornstrandir but has been known to snow/hail/sleet/rain/60 meter/s winds and anytime of the year. Plan for rain everyday and hope for sun. The artic fox is the only mammal native to iceland and is nothing to worry about. However, polar bears have been known to drift over from greenland on sea ice. By the time they make it to Hornstrandir they are very hungry. Usually its earlier in the year if that happens and the rangers shoot them on sight. The only animals you should worry about are the birds. Meanest bastard birds in the world. The arctic terns are very aggressive if you get too close to their nests. Keep an ear out for them, you'll learn what they sound like. I had an artic skua sweating me for the better part of a mile while hiking in Fljótavík. After Hornstrandir if you're not in a hurry to head south, go east. Dimmuborgir is incredible, look it up. Headed back down south go to Glymur. Do it.
