Dryholaey, Skogafoss, Seljalandsfoss, Gljufrabui, &  journey to Ljótipollur & Landmannalauger.

 

After packing up and leaving the Vik campsite, we made it to the Dryholaey lookout point for around 10am. And yes, it was still raining. I was quite surprised when we got to Dryholaey, that you need a 4×4 to drive up too it. Throughout my research I somehow managed to skip by that information. It didn’t cause issues for us, but keep that in mind; if you want to go here, you may need to hike up a steep hill with a few switchbacks. The drive up the hill wasn’t long, but it was a narrow path complete with a whole collection of potholes. It was so narrow that I wondered what would happen if 2 vehicles crossed paths… or maybe I should say attempted to cross paths. The lookout point provided a breathtaking view of the coast and we finally saw a puffin up close, but otherwise, there wasn’t much up there to warrant a horrendous trek. There are dozens upon dozens of gorgeous coastal views all across Iceland…. if you don’t have a 4×4 vehicle and aren’t keen to hike up, don’t feel guilty about missing it. We spent about 30 min here and then continued on to our next location: Skogafoss.

 

 

 

 

If you are traveling along the south side of the ring road you will see Skogafoss, even if you don’t plan too; it’s that close to the road. This, paired with the close proximity to Reykjavik, makes it the ultimate hot spot for tour buses, and stop overs alike. When we first got here, there must have been about 20 HUGE tour buses, plus an assortment of campers not unlike ours, and then a slew of normal vehicles. My goodness, it was definitely the busiest location we have been too. We hadn’t eaten yet so we thought that we could make some food,… maybe wait for the crowd to thin out a bit, and then go check out this impressively, wide waterfall. As we were making our food though, more buses came… but none left! We eventually realized that it was never going to get any better and just went for it.

 

 

 

 

First of all I will say that this was absolutely inspiring to see regardless of the amount of tourists. Definitely worth it to come here, although I would suggest to at least try and plan it during the midnight sun. We walked around the base for awhile and I attempted some long exposure shots that ended up failing miserably. Long exposures set to make people invisible only work if they move! I tried an 8 min exposure and it still wasn’t long enough, so I scrapped it. Then, right at that moment, something magical happened… and people cleared. For only a brief second, but it gave me opportunity to create one clear shot! I tend to gravitate towards trying to avoid people in my shots, but including people is a nice way to show scale so I make sure to get a few of both options;

If you’re like me, fight the urge and make sure you capture some images with fellow tourists! You may surprise yourself in preferring an image like that.

For both myself and my husband, the highlight of Skogafoss, oddly enough, wasn’t even Skogafoss. There is a daunting set of stairs going up the hill next to the waterfall; you may look at it and think “oh yea right”, but it is 100% worth the sweat you will surely suffer. This happens to be one entrance to the hiking trail Fimmvörðuháls, and is typically labeled as the start. The “end” is located at Thorsmork, OR you can continue on and take the Laugavegur trail to Landmannalaugar. I won’t go into too much detail with the full hikes because we unfortunately didn’t have time to complete them (Fimmvörðuháls to Thorsmork is about 1 day and continuing to Landmannalaugar brings you to 5 days) but you can read more in depth about those here. What we did do was take the staircase from hell, up to the top and then followed the hiking trail for about 3 waterfalls (that’s how you can describe distance to people in Iceland. Kidding, but kind of not, there really are oodles of them in this magical land).

We spent 2 hours up there, but I stopped a few times to take long exposure photos and to take in the epic scenery. Since this trail doesn’t loop, at some point, if you don’t have time to go the distance, you will have to make the call to turn back around. This hike was a highlight of our whole trip and something you don’t want to miss. Surprisingly, walking back down the stairs was not any easier, at least for the nerves. Cardio wise it was a walk in the park, but if you’re off put by heights it may bother you. There’s only a nice solid railing on one side. The other side has this flimsy rope that droops down too far to actually hold. Which side has the hard railing changes every couple feet so you will eventually get some extra stability, but just as you get comfortable, you are stuck with that silly rope again.

Again….. Totally worth it!!

I promise.

 

 

 

 

We left the Skogafoss parking lot feeling exhilarated and refreshed, for the next waterfall on our list. Seljalandsfoss is only about 30 min away and as far as I am aware, this is the only one you can walk behind in Iceland. There’s also a second waterfall, Gljufrabui, further down the path that is only accessible if you walk through a stream, into a crevice in the side of the mountain. Both of these locations added to our experience, but I would suggest if you are concerned about camera gear to keep them stowed away in your vehicle. You will get quite wet walking behind the falls (I took 10 min to wipe down my gear because this’ll be the…… I’ve lost count how much it’s rained, but I was concerned) and likely in the crevice too. My husband and I weren’t even able to go into the crevice. It was busy when we were there, and you have to go into the opening single file.

Looking into the crevice you can see the mist swirling around. It looked thick in there. We didn’t want to risk our camera bags on the ground outside with the amount of people coming and going, and we didn’t want to bring them into a wind tunnel spewing mist. We had discussed going back to van to drop our bags off and then coming back but ultimately we voted for “SOL” and moved onto the next stop on our list. Perhaps had we not of already spent the morning soaking up the rain, we may have been more open to having our bags endure the heavy hitting mist, but as it was we were well percolated.

 

 

 

 

We left for Landmannalaugar at 6:30pm and were slated to arrive for 9pm. That of course didn’t happen!! About 8:30pm, driving along F26, we came across this glorious enigmatic landscape, begging to be photographed. We found a road to turn off on and made our way down to the stream. One of my favourite things about the F-roads is the complete aloneness you feel. It’s such a powerful moment, just you and this massive place, and then it clicks…. it’s not even the end of it. There’s so much more. More wide open spaces, more cities, more oceans and more countries. It’s the most humbling, eye opening, beautiful experience and of the places I have traveled to so far, I have not truly felt “it” until traveling through Iceland’s F-roads.

This particular hidden gem, had so many features going on we spent 1.5 hrs here!! On a random roadside stop. This is why, if you are a photographer or like to explore, it’s a good idea to keep your schedule as loose as possible. By all means plan things to a “T”, but be aware that things may need to be bumped, or removed all together if you come across surprise areas such as this. And this spot was another favourite of ours. Everything was working here, the stream, the waterfalls, the black slate rocks, and on top of that, it FINALLY stopped raining. We we’re in our element.

 

 

 

 

From this pleasant addition to our adventure, we continued on to Ljótipollur crater using F208 which shockingly enough, is partially paved! It doesn’t stay that way for long though. We arrived at the parking spot for the hike along the crater at 11:30pm and the weather was still amazing! How lucky?! While it wasn’t sunny, the sky had some wonderful colours to enjoy. (We found out the next day, after arriving at Landmannalauger, that the Ljótipollur hiking trail is a loop that you can start at the campsite and it takes about 4 hours to complete). Parking at the small lot before Landmannalaugar must be the quickest way to the top of crater though, which is what our goal was anyway. What a hike this was! It was generally easy except for some spots that were a little awkward and it was filled with incredible views. Reaching the top and then returning back to our van took 1.5 hours.

I would LOVE to go back to Iceland some day and give these hiking trails the full attention they deserve, but even still with the shortened trek, seeing Ljótipollur and the gorgeous vista all around is an absolute must! Words and photos can’t completely describe it, if you are around this area, PLEASE DO THIS. You will very likely tear up, as you soak up the sights and realize where you are; in the middle of the earths work of art, made roughly 11 thousand years ago. Wow

 

 

 

 

I wish I could say that our planned hike at Landmannalauger itself was as successful, unfortunately, we really messed it up.

After returning to our vehicle from yet another show stopper, and dare I say it again : One of our favourites, we continued heading toward the campsite and hiking hub of Landmannalaugar.

 

 

 

 

The drive there continued being amazing, filled with mountains, lava formations, moss, red rocks and streams. But then we couldn’t go forward anymore! The glacier was melting ten fold, across the main road that leads to the campsite. Not a big deal as there is a large area, presumably used for parking and camping, on the side of the river where we were stuck at. We parked our camper, and moseyed along enjoying the geothermal scenery every step of the way. Now this is where things start to go south for us.

Me, planner extraordinaire, somehow failed to make note that there are actually a handful of completely separate hikes within the area. I thought it was one, with break offs that loop around to make it shorter to complete. Nope.

 

 

 

 

We get there at 1am, and there’s not a soul in sight to ask where we should go. Even though it’s light enough to walk around, we couldn’t see any trail markers. So my husband, problem solver that he is, asks “We’ll what was it that you wanted to see here?” “I guess specifically red rolling mountains”. So he turned around, looked at all the mountains that were surrounding us, and there just so happened to be red, black, and green ones. We began our trek towards the red mountains, except it’s not a simple walk. The ground is made up of stones, and scattered with streams. We had to navigate around all of them, and battle the awkwardness of the stones. At this point in our day we’ve already completed several hikes so my feet were screaming at me to stop. Exhaustion aside, it was otherworldly and absolutely beautiful. The vibrant colours were something to marvel at. We pushed on, then finally the streams stopped!

Joyous! And! We saw a marker indicating that we were, infact, on a trail. Very good news.

We walked a little bit further, following the path, only to be stopped again by more streams. These ones being much larger and deeper than the others. We managed to get through half of them and then, I’m disappointed to say, I called it. We had been at this hike for over an hour and we hadn’t even reached the beginning of an ascent yet, it was 3:10 am AND we still had to go back through the never ended valley of stones and streams again.

 

We threw in our hats and headed back to our camper to sleep.

 

 

 

 

Now the next morning I did some much needed digging into the different trails, and what do I come across? The last one listed describes the most advanced and difficult trail where you have to cross dozens of unbridged rivers across a field of stones…… Yep. Of course we picked that one. There are some trails that take 2 hours to complete!! We took that long and didn’t even technically make it to the beginning of this trail. Oh well. If everything always worked out perfectly things would be a little boring wouldn’t they?