Our second day in the eastern portion of the south coast was spent at the headquarters of Vatnajokull National Park, right at the head of the Skaftafell Glacier. Our first objective was the hike to Svartifoss Waterfall, which is about a mile from the parking lot, with about 450 feet of elevation gain. Just to break it up you run across a smaller waterfall first, called Hundafoss.
Finally you come into view of Svartifoss, and I’ve gotta say, it wasn’t even close to being impressive. However, the adjacent basalt columns make up for that…they are quite unique.
While the waterfall seems to barely be flowing, the basalt columns are still the most unique feature of this site. It looks like some sort of battle armor!
I tested out my cameras “slow motion” on this waterfall. Here is the result.
More of a closeup to see the detail in the basalt columns.
We took an alternative route on the way down, and Kim found some flowers to pose next to. The flowers this time of year are gorgeous, and they match the front part of her shoes!
After our hike we had a quick lunch and then walked out to Skaftafell Glacier. We could have gotten a bit closer, but it would have required dealing with a rather unmaintained trail. Getting too old for that shit.
Another successful selfie! The Samsung S-pen selfie button is a godsend! My new phone has this little pen that pulls out of the base, and has a button on it to take selfies so you don’t have to contort yourself to be able to pose AND reach the shutter button on the phone! It’s the next best thing to a “selfie stick”, which I’m not going to be caught dead with!
We drove maybe 5 minutes southwest and ventured up to Svinafellsjokull Glacier.
I saw a lake nearby, and as calm as it was, I knew it had to have an excellent reflection! I scrambled down the hill and it worked out great!
On our drive back to the hotel we passed one more glacier. I can’t tell you the name of this one….there are just so many associated with the Vatnajokull icecap!
The next morning we drove eastward, heading for Seydisfjordur, a picturesque fjord on the east side of Iceland. The landscape varied a lot, and some of it was quite beautiful.
This is the Hvalnes Lighthouse, a spot that is known for being quite windy. It wasn’t as bad as I had read though, so we must have been here on a good day.
Looking back westwards. The mountains are gorgeous!
The area to the east does look quite windswept.
We saw this cute little waterfall along the way, with a breathtaking background of a green canyon wall. Iceland is a photographers dream!
Kim waiting for me as I explore down a cliff to get a shot of the prior waterfall.
This photo was taken as we head over the pass towards Seydisfjordur. Below is the town of Eglisstadir, a spot we would get to know well over the next few days. They have laundry facilities here, which were much needed!!
Up next, the little village of Seydisfjordur (our home for 3 days), Hengifoss Waterfall, and the largest Puffin Colony in Iceland, Borgarfjardarhofn (they’ve gotta do something about these outrageously long ass impossible to pronounce names!). Thanks as always for reading!
Hi Guys… your pics have been really good! love the one with the glacier in the reflection of the pond… Oh .. yeah … go ahead and get a selfie stick… you can pull it off and also use it as a billy-club (to keep the puffins away …when needed)
The Puffins have made quite a few advances on me…Kim is quite jealous.