An Abundance of Waterfalls

From all the blogs I read prior to us leaving on our trip, everyone suggested driving the famous Ring Road counterclockwise. The number of waterfalls is way too large to count and we visited MANY so instead of blogging about every single one, we will focus on our favorites. Many of the spectacular waterfalls are located in the Golden Circle or on the East Coast but there are definitely some to be viewed in the north and on the West Fjords.

After visiting the waterfall at Thingvellir National Park on our first day, the next stop was Gullfoss Falls located on the Golden Circle. This waterfall is also known as the Golden Falls. We were already getting a glimpse into the cold weather in Iceland, as it was drizzling and about 45° at Gullfoss. The trail from the parking lot to the waterfall was about half a mile. The great thing about Iceland is that there is rarely an entrance fee to get into any national park however, there is a nominal fee for parking which ranges between five and $10; definitely worth it for all the beauty to be seen. 

Gullfoss Waterfall

A chilly morning at Gullfoss Waterfall

Our next planned stop was a Skógafoss. However, we got a glimpse of a waterfall from the road and saw many cars parked there and decided to give it a look, and we were not disappointed as this might have been the favorite waterfall of the trip. This waterfall was unique. It was called Seljalandsfoss, and it was special because you could actually walk behind the waterfall.  If you have ever visited Disney and ridden on Big Thunder Mountain and felt that splash from the water sitting in the first car, then you can imagine what walking behind this waterfall was like and how wet we got. Thankfully the weather had improved from the morning and now was closer to 60 degrees and sunny.

 

Seljalandsfoss Waterfall

Behind Seljalandsfoss Waterfall

Behind Seljalandsfoss Waterfall

We were all energized after this refreshing visit and a bit of lunch in the car (we wisely brought peanut butter from home and made sandwiches) and headed to our next stop - Skógafoss. The base of the waterfall was pretty close to the parking lot, but the real spectacular part of the waterfall is climbing the stairs to the top.  The stairs were pretty narrow and wobbly and you had to navigate people coming down and only a railing on one side. M and O raced up ahead of us while we opted to take our time up the 300+ stairs.

The trek up to Skógafoss

View from the top of Skógafoss

 

The next day we continued our trek on the Ring Road and headed to Vatnajökull National Park, the largest national park in Iceland, which covers about 14% of the country. It was a very nice day and close to 60° when we arrived at the park. At the visitor center we saw the options for the different trails and how to get to the famous waterfall. The route we opted for was considered the easiest of all the trails and family friendly (although it was a 5.2 km route). Easy is definitely not the word I would have used to describe getting to the Svartifoss Waterfall but for sure it was beautiful and worth the climb. 

 

Svartifoss Waterfall - worth the climb!

 

After we left this part of Vatnajökull National Park, we headed further east to Iceland's largest glacier, Vatnajökull, specifically, Jökulsárlón a glacier lagoon. Here the temperature dropped a good twenty degrees and the topography would have suggested you were in a totally other country.

 

Jökulsárlón

 

Two other honorable mentions of waterfalls were Dettifoss and Goðafoss (Waterfall of the Gods) in the north. We visited Dettifoss in a mini sleet storm in early July! Thankfully we all were prepared with coats and hats but we didn’t bring gloves because who would have thought it would be 32 degrees in July ! 

Freezing at Dettifoss

Beautiful Goðafoss

Goðafoss Waterfall

 

Goðafoss is right outside Iceland’s second largest town, Akureyri and thankfully the hike to snap a good picture was short since the temperatures were still frigid. Many visitors to Iceland are most intrigued by this waterfall and while it is beautiful, we were most impressed by those further south.