At 60 meter tall and 25 meter wide waterfall, it is one of the biggest and most beautiful in the country. According to legend, the first viking to settle in Skógar, Þrasi hid a chest of gold behind the falls. A young man tried to get the treasure, but was only able to pull a ring off the chest before it disappeared. The ring was affixed to the wall of the church in Skógar and is now in the museum. They say that when the sun is shining, you can see the gold shimmering in the spray. But it was a cloudy day when we visited so no such luck.
But we did walk as close as possible and stared straight up to really get a feeling for the power of this mighty waterfall.
We also walked up the cliffs to see the falls from different angles.
This trail continues up along the Skóká River with many more waterfalls, but unfortunately, we didn't have the time. So we took a few more pictures and then headed back to the bus. Our next stop was Sólheimajökull glacier, an outlet on the southwest side of the larger Mýrdalsjökull glacier.
Past Sólheimajökull, it becomes liquid water and flows to the sea through Jökulsá á Sólheimasandi River.
It was a little cold and windy as we made our way through a lava field to the glacier, towards the river where several icebergs were floating just past the end of the glacier. Javier explained that we were walking through a moraine, a valley that has been cut by the movement of the glacier.
Surprisingly, the glacier was black!
Most of Sólheimajökull was covered in black tephra from an eruption of Katla Volcano, under the icecap of Mýrdalsjökull.
This made for a very interesting coloring of the ice, mostly black and gray with patches of white here and there.
As we approached the glacier itself, there was a weather station.
Being a tourist spot, it didn't seem the best choice of location.
We walked a little bit on to the glacier and found various hole and crevices in the ice and a few spots of blue ice.
It was starting to rain now, so we headed back and bought some hot chocolate at the little restaurant at the entrance to the glacier area. Next we headed to the beautiful little village of Vík, right on the south coast and one of the southern-most points in Iceland. We had lunch at a gas station restaurant and spent a little time in the town. Javier washed the bus while we were looking around; Sandy went to Vík Wool and bought an Icelandic wool fleece and I walked around and took some pictures. Reynisdrangar, the basalt columns sticking up out of the sea were visible just off the coast, where Reynisfjall mountain ends.
According to legend, trolls were bringing a ship to shore when the sun came out and turned them to stone. These sea stacks were really cool, but unfortunately I didn't have enough time to head down the trails and get a closer look. I also had a good view of the Vikurhamrar cliffs that were just north of the village.
When everyone was done with lunch and shopping, we headed back to the bus and drove a short distance to Reynisfjara beach, just on the other side of Reynisfjall. Of all the places we visited in Iceland, I think this was my favorite.
A beautiful black sand beach with Reynisfjall and its basalt columns along the edge of the beach and the mysterious sea stacks of Reynisdrangar and Dyrhólaey out to sea.
And of course a colony of puffins!
Walking down the beach, we could see these delightful birds flying from the nests on the cliffs to the sea to catch some fish and back. I climbed up a section of the columns to get a closer view of the puffins.
These basalt columns formed several vaulted caverns in the cliff face, the largest being Hálsanefshellir.
Sandy and I both went in briefly for a quick picture, but didn't stay long as Javier had warned us not to linger as there was a risk of falling rocks. We walked all the way down the beach, close to Reynisdrangar.
It was very interesting how different these sea stacks looked from here than from Vík. Then slowly we made our way back down the beach and back to the bus for our next stop.
I would have liked to have stayed longer, but we did manage to come at the perfect time. The tide was out so it was possible to walk all the way down the beach.
When the tide is in, the beach is quite dangerous due to powerful and unpredictable waves combined with a strong rip current. Our next stop was just a short distance away at Dyrhólaey, a 120-m high promontory sticking out into the ocean. It's the southern-most point in Iceland. We stopped here for about 30 minutes to walk around on the cliffs and see the beautiful sights. Looking south, there were several sea stacks out in the ocean.
And we got another view of Reynisdrangar to the east.
Between Dyrhólaey and Reynisfjara was a thin stretch of beach with another stack shooting out - Arnardrangur.
These stacks are so amazing, seemingly shooting out from nothing.
To the west, we could see the Dyrhólaey promontory. The word Dyrhólaey means door-hole island, although it's a peninsula, not an island.
Tóin, or the door hole is a huge arch-shaped hole in the promontory. In the right conditions, 30-ton boats can sail through! There was also a really cool rock arch near where we stopped that was almost heart-shaped.
Besides beautiful rock formations, the area is also home to a number of birds and we got the chance to see a few more puffins, as well as gulls and eider ducks.
Dyrhólaey is actually a nature preserve and has been protected since 1978.
In early summer when the birds are nesting, public access is prohibited to protect them.
When we were finished here, we headed to our last stop of the day - 1 more waterfall! And along the way, we saw a dozen or more smaller waterfalls easily visible from the side of the road. Some day, I'd love to come back to Iceland and drive around the Ring Road stopping at all these waterfalls. It's probably not possible to hit them all since there are so many, but I'd give it my best. Seljalandsfoss is a really neat waterfall.
It's about 60 m high, similar to Skógafoss, but not nearly as powerful.
However, it is somewhat unique in that you can walk behind it. We left the bus and made the short walk around the falls, getting shots of it from all angles.
After going all the way around, we crossed a short footbridge and followed a trail north with a few smaller waterfalls.
The first two are unnamed (as far as I can tell), and although they're not that impressive compared to Seljalandsfoss, on their own they are quite beautiful.
I only made it as far as the second waterfall and then headed back, but further down the trail is another waterfall - Gljúfurárfoss.
In between the two unnamed waterfalls, there was a steep trail leading up the mountain.
I followed Sandy up there and we found a small cave, but there wasn't anything in it. So we headed back down the trail and back to the bus, making our way back to Mosfellsbær. We had a quick dinner and while Sandy took a bath, I went for another hike in Mosfellsbær. This time I headed towards Reykvavik, going across a footbridge over Route 1 and then through a neighborhood and around Lágafell Mountain. After passing a church the trail went down and ran along Route 1 until I got towards Úlfarsfell mountain. At the base of the mountain, I saw something I hadn't seen in a while - trees. Hamrahlíð is a forested area on the base of Úlfarsfell where Iceland is conducting an afforestation project. There were clear trails while I was in the forested area, but I think I got off the trail a bit past the trees trying to hike up Úlfarsfell. I got to a part that had no semblance of a trail and was quite steep with loose rocks. But there was a park bench up here! So I sat at the park bench and enjoyed the view over Reykjavík before heading back. It was getting late, after 10, and though it wasn't getting dark, I decided to head back. It would be our last day Iceland tomorrow. :(
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