Photos: Post #6 Iceland Campervan trip

Here are the links to post #1   post #2    post #3   post #4   and  post #5  of the 2-week trip, for those who want to read it in order.  This was a 2-week campervan tour of Iceland's Ring Road, in September 2025.

I was going to post this sooner, but if I had there wouldn't have been any weekend post this weekend. I have to get home from my Thanksgiving travels and get some more photos edited!  

 Day 7 (Sept. 17): Stuthlagil Gorge, Hegnifoss, and more

I started my day with a drive that took me up and over a high point of some 1400' on the way back to the Ring Road (which I left some 2 days earlier to head into the far north). That was enough to bring some flakes of snow, instead of rain, on my windshield. I pulled over to photograph the snow, with only the faintest foreboding that this might be a sign of winter (but continued gratitude that the van had a good heater, both when in motion and when parked).

Winter is coming!

My first real stop for the day was at Stuthlagil Gorge. I'd seen amazing photos of the clear blue water flowing past stunning basalt columns, as on this placard at the trailhead (I chose the side where you get closer, but have to walk farther, of course).

The sign, with the Stuthlafoss, a side stream, just visible behind. You can see there are columns there, too.

 

 

I did know before I got to this point that the water wasn't going to be calm and blue, as I'd crossed the river on a bridge a mile downstream and seen it running with glacial silt and mud.

The bridge, the murky river, and a rainbow. 

 I was less clear about the location of the trail, which does not (at least at high water) run down inside the gorge as I'd been led to believe.

 
The basalt columns, unlike the trail and the river, were as advertised. 

 

Finishing my hike just as it started to rain, I returned to the Ring Road and continued a short way to the turn off to drive down almost the whole length of Lagarfljót, a 35-km lake in a glacial river. Way down the NW side, you find the Hengifoss, a waterfall tumbling over striped cliffs from the highlands.

The falls are approached by a trail about 1.5 miles in length and climbing 800'.

The largest of the several falls before you reach the Hengifoss (which can just be seen at the top of the hill).

Me, at the falls.

This time, the weather cooperated beautifully, and I got the sunshine on the cliffs that brings out the red stripes.

I noticed the rocks on the way up, sit ting on the trail. I thought I was joking when I concluded they'd been left there to remind us all that the cliffs are constantly shedding. On the way down I saw the sign, which reads, "These stones fell in the spring of 2021 from the edge of the canyon. They remind us that the nature is ever changing."

Leaving the falls, I continued down the lake to the visitor's center (the area is part of the very large Vatnajokull National Park), then took a road up to the highlands above the lake. There was a hike I kind of wanted to do there, but the weather forecast was a bit dire and I decided not to drive that far. 

The bottom end of the lake.

Instead of a third hike for the day, I drove back to Egilsstathir and the Vök baths, where I soaked in hot water until I really had to go get some dinner.

There were three pools of increasing warmth, with the hottest out at the end.

The baths are actually floating on the lake, and when you get too hot in the hot bath, you can dunk in the lake (about 40 degrees, I think). I did it. Once.

My feet in the coolest bath.

Following my marvelous at Vök, I had meant to stay close by at the campground in Egilsstathir, but it was crowded and right by the road and full of young people whom I guessed would not be going to bed at 9. Instead, I drove 20 minutes or so back down the lake (SE side) to a national park campground, which was quiet and uncrowded. It was a bit wet and windy of course, but I was able to nab a site right next to the amenities block, so it wasn't bad.

Day 8 (Sept. 18): Morning on the lake. Winter is here!

Waking up in the campground by the lake also meant I got to walk out along the shore a bit as the sun was thinking of rising. I noticed a bit of snow on the tops of the hills across the lake, but again didn't give it much thought.

Uplake view.

 
My plan for the day started with a drive to Seythisfjorthur, which not only has the terminal for the weekly ferry to Denmark, but was justly mentioned in my guidebooks as being one of the prettiest of the east coast towns (the ferry goes via the Faroe Islands; a 3-4 day trip I wouldn't really want to undertake--no, rephrase: I really wouldn't want to do it).

What I hadn't paid attention to was the contours on the map. I expected just to drive down a valley to the ocean--follow the river to the sea. What I hadn't noticed was that first I had to drive up over a pass, because Seythisfjorthur isn't the fjord the river/lake drains into.

The road was well sanded. What I didn't realize until I'd stopped was that the turn-outs were not. I did manage to get back on the road and continue on.

The fjord.

I eventually dropped back down out of the snow and ice, and stopped to admire yet another waterfall, Gugufoss.

Guthafoss, just below snowline.

The village comes into sight, with the massive ferry dominating.

 
I drove around the town once before stopping, first at the grocery store, then in a more legit parking place. Then I walked all over, because it was a gorgeous morning in a lovely place.

The ferry. It looks like a brick and I'm sure would be very safe, but I get seasick just thinking about crossing those seas!

Seythisfjorthur is clearly tourist-adapted (unlike most of the small towns around the north and east), due to the ferry. It wasn't overrun with tourist shops, and most of the vendors were not in residence in the handcraft market, but the town is neat, clean, and has a lot of cool murals.

Far from the only rainbow-flag street in Iceland, a very LGBTQ+ country.

Murals.

 By the time I drove back up and over the pass out of town, the road was completely clear and mostly dry. But the snow wasn't all gone.

I stopped to check out a monument I'd noticed on the way down. Bílastaethi, according to signage, is a monument to the first person to pioneer the route over the mountains, but also to those who had the nerve to follow him.

I read the tall one as the really crazy guy who went first, and the others are smaller but still bold to follow in his footsteps.

The rest of the day was mostly a matter of driving along the Ring Road, poking into the little fishing villages where I felt like it. I kept thinking I'd stop for a coffee and a pastry, but never really got inspired. I just took photos where things caught my eye.

I'll double that drive up with the next day's drive and hikes, as soon as I've gotten the photos edited. Meanwhile, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, if you live where that was a thing this week.

 

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 ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2025 

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