Southern Iceland Waterfalls and Last Bits

In the same area as the glacier lagoons are yet more famous waterfalls and of course hiking paths through mountains and glaciers. It’s Skaftafell, which used to be a separate national park but was incorporated into the Vatnajökull National Park.

Very close to the glacier lagoons, we stopped to hike over to the Svartifoss — black waterfall.

Yes it was snowing. The black basalt columns behind the waterfall makes it more unusual though there is basalt all
over the island (makes my trip to Staffa, Scotland and the Giant’s Causeway feel a bit less special)
The walk to Svartifoss was about 1 mile each way and mostly uphill going there. There’s even another smaller waterfall on the way out — it was fairly well paved and rated as a moderate hike but definitely not easy
Once you finally get near the waterfall you can walk over rocks to see it. Of course being around freezing, it got pretty icy and slick
On the walk back from Svartifoss. It was pretty chilly and snowy
And getting cloudier!

Afterward we drove toward Vik, the southern point of Iceland, to see black sand beaches, and where the weather was warmer.

Reynisdrangar are the basalt columns coming out of the water — from afar
From Reynisfjara, the black sand beach
There’s also a cool cave on Reynisfjara
Close up of basalt columns; there were a lot of birds nesting in the crevices but I couldn’t get them with this phone camera

There’s a small (non-drivable) strip of land between Reynisfjara and a promontory, Dyrhólaey. But one has to drive around (15-20 min — and pay for more parking at Dyrhólaey). I liked Dyrhólaey better — there’s a lighthouse, more land, better views, and more interesting formations.

Dyrhólaey from afar
Black sand beaches and rivulets
Famous arches
This looked like Mordor to me
I see neither Luca nor I took photos of the lighthouse or the birds that were flying around/nesting (meantime I think I had a puffin sighting but I was driving — one brief time—I was more focused on not killing the black and white with orange bird that was on the side of the road)

After our last dinner in Iceland (at a nice hotel restaurant in Vik) we headed to Skogafoss.

We started with a “duck brulee” which was interesting but then I ordered my usual fish dish (arctic char this time) and Luca got lamb. I don’t like lamb in general but his was very good. Their beef and lamb are quite expensive but the meat everywhere we went is organic, fresh, and locally raised
Skogafoss — name of town and waterfall. We stayed down the street so walked here after dropping stuff and car at our airbnb (and saved a parking fee!)
There’s a lot of stairs and a path to take you to the top of the waterfall. This day, after all the glaciers and waterfalls that were not right off the parking, I clocked over 26K steps and 97 flights of stairs
From the top of the stairs the view of the waterfall wasn’t that great. But there were paths that continued on into the mountains which we did not take further
Back down at the bottom
It’s a very tall waterfall!
I was getting sprayed
Meantime I didn’t realize my son was taking a series of photos of me crossing the wet rocks — probably hoping to catch me slipping, which thankfully I did I not!
Seriously this was a lot of steps and uphill paths for a mediocre view from the top — you can barely even see the platform from the bottom

The next day we did one more major waterfall Seljalandsfoss. It’s also tall but unusual because there are paths to walk behind the falls. Because it was morning and still quite icy and wet, it was tricky to walk, but I managed it with some trepidation.

Seljalandsfoss — not the best time to photograph it because the sun was just emerging from behind the mountain
To the right you can see some people lined up to walk behind the falls. What isn’t clear is that it’s slightly uphill, rocky, and icy. There were frozen rope “railings” which I used since I’m convinced I’ll be falling — my glove, socks, coat, and pants were all wet though not soaked at the end
The line of people got longer as we made our way behind the falls
Proof we were back there though our hair and water was everywhere
On the other side
There were several smaller waterfalls on the same area but not worth to walk to and we were wet

After the last waterfall, we drove and dried during the car ride and went out for lunch in Selfoss (not to be confused with the waterfall near Dettifoss). We’d been eating sandwiches on the road for lunch everyday but going out for nice dinners. It was our last day — I needed to get to the airport around 2:15 and we’d finished our groceries so decided to have a relaxed lunch then leave.

We ate at a cute food court — unusual there but popular and relatively new. It took forever but we wanted to try the weird fermented shark (Hákarl) thankfully served with a shot of Brennivin as an appetizer. It’s very ammonia tasting but we both expected worse

Meantime I neglected to mention that I bought two cask strength bottles of whisky on Islay — one 750 ml but one quite mini. Anyway after our long cold touring days we had a few drams of scotch every night. and finished them both! All very good.

Also forgot to mention that we think we saw a reindeer in the wild (we had no idea what it was until we learned Iceland reindeer are mostly white). So only missed spotting an arctic fox …, oh we also skipped the most famous Golden Circle (not to be confused with our Ring Road) which is a very popular destination because it’s an easy 1-day trip from Reykjavik. But we ran out of time and saw so much of the rest of Iceland with very few crowds or traffic.

That’s it! I’m not editing as I’m still adjusting to being back!

Leave a comment