Icelandic Campervan Trip Post #9: Waterfall hike!

This is part of my on-going series of photo posts about my trip to Iceland in September 2025, including a my 2-week campervan tour of the Ring Road. If you haven't seen the previous posts and want to read them in order, here are the links to post #1   post #2    post #3   post #4   post #5  post #6  post #7, and post #8.

 Day 11 (Sept. 21): Skogafoss Waterfall hike.

Nothing about waking up at Skogafoss was as nice as the campground the previous morning. The bare parking lot, the dingy loos (though they were a lot closer), and the weather were none a match. But the hike! Wow. I might wish I'd done it in bright, sunny weather, but I'm not sure that light would have been as good as what I had.

Unlike most other people camped there, I was up at first light, and on the trail as early as possible (7:40 a.m., which isn't bad given we were at the autumn equinox--sunrise at 7:08, if it had been clear enough for the sun to rise).

I started with a quick look at the Skogafoss before I started up the trail, but didn't take time to do photos there--a mistake, as I could have had my pictures without other people in them.

Skogafoss. 25 meters wide and 61m high (82' by 200')

The trail starts from the end of the parking lot, and heads right up the hill, climbing the 200' to the top of the falls (and a bit beyond) on endless flights of stairs.

Down the stairs. Yes, that parking lot is the "campground."

Looking over the rim.

 
The top of the Skogafoss may be as far as many people go, but if you continue up for five miles (and it is up, though at an easy grade most of the time), you get to see... 2 dozen more falls? I totally lost count. What follows is a sampling of the waterfalls along the way. I'm including their names where I know them, for what it's worth.

Hestavathsfoss. One advantage of the overcast morning was that I was able to take long-exposure photos with the actual camera, as well as with the "long exposure" setting on my phone. I carried my 12" Gorilla Pod tripod so I could do that.

Fosstorfufoss. I may have included this photo just because I like the name :D

Steinbogafoss

Slaethufoss. If you haven't figured it out by now, "foss" means "waterfall," or a reasonable approximation thereof.

The trail climbs about 2000' from a start not much above sea level to where I turned back. After the stairs, it's mostly a steady climb with a few ups and downs and occasional reminders to turn around and look where I've been.
 

Looking back down the stream and out to sea. You can sort of tell where it all drops off.

Fremri-Fellsfoss

 The falls come thick and fast through the first mile or two.

Innri-Fellsfoss

 

A rare Icelandic Petey Possum sighting at Kaefufoss!

Not sure what this one is.

I loved the color and the setting of this one, which I believe is the Skálabrekkufoss, as the river moves into more of a canyon for the next mile.

 

Kröksfoss. This was where I started seeing ice alongside the waterfalls.

Ice at the top of Kröksfoss.

 

No-name fall, smoothed out by the miracles of the cell phone camera.

About this point the trail moved away from the canyon some, and I realized that I was, in fact, in the Highlands for all practical purposes. Those purposes include weather--the temperature, which hadn't been much above freezing when I started, was now at least down to freezing. The clouds were getting heavier, though so far there was no precipitation. I was glad to have started early, though--all indications were that people hiking later were going to get clobbered.

 

Looking at the ice sheet, not so far above me. Also keeping an eye on the clouds.

This one isn't named on my maps.

I wondered in here if I should call it good enough, as the weather was getting quite threatening, and I'd gone a ways without another waterfall. But my info said to hike to the bridge, and the map indicated it wasn't much farther, so on I went. My persistence was rewarded.

Nethstifoss might be the most beautiful waterfall I saw in Iceland. The ice helped, I'm sure.

The climb up past Nethstifoss was the only part of the trail that was really not much of a trail--steep and over loose dirt, but with no danger from falling. I pushed on the short distance to the next and last significant waterfall.

Efstifoss was seriously frosted!

Close-up of the icicles forming near the top of the falls.

Above the falls spray must blow back pretty heavily, because there was a nice coating of ice over everything.

I crossed the bridge, read the signs, and saw by the map that I had truly come to the end of the waterfalls (because the trail leaves the river and heads up over the saddle between ice sheets). Time to turn around before the rain gets real!

I think this was the bridge the hut warden my first night on the Laugavegur trail told us about--a monument to a young man swept away by the stream and over the falls at this point. Instead of building a cairn with a plaque, his family made sure no one else would die that way by paying for a bridge. 

I made a fast return to the bottom, while other hikers finally began coming up. I'd been 45 minutes on my way down (including lunch) before I met the first people going up. Pretty sure they all got some weather.

Finally took a closer look at Skogafoss from below.

 

It was 1:45 by the time I was back on the road, but I had only two things left to do that day. The first was just a short way down the road, where I stopped at the very popular Seljalandsfoss, where you can walk around behind the waterfall. I hear it's best photographed at sunset in summer, looking at the sun through the water. I was there in mid-afternoon in fall, and the rain that had threatened on my hike wasn't pouring down, but it was darkening the skies. The falls were cool anyway. 

Approaching the falls. I was definitely back on the "Golden Circle" where the tourists congregate.

It's wet around and behind the falls, so I pulled out my trusty poncho to keep myself--and above all my camera--dry, mostly. You can see in the photo above, on the left, where you really have to run through a stream of water to get back around to the trail. I came through mostly dry.

I think this was the most impressive view of the falls, not from right behind them.

I can see where this would be amazing at sunset. You can see from the clouds why I didn't bother hanging around to find out.

The neighboring Glufrabui is even cooler, as it falls behind a free-standing rock and into a narrow slot. But (despite what I saw on line) you cannot enter the slot, and there was a long line of people waiting to peer in and take their photos. I opted to avoid the line and use my telephoto. 
 

Maybe early in the morning you could beat the crowds and get a better shot? The light would be wrong, though.

After that, I had but a single thought: get to Flúthar and immerse myself in the hot waters of the Secret Lagoon. That didn't prevent me from stopping for a photo when I found some beautiful Icelandic horses in a field by the road.

Got to my hot pools with time for a decent soak before finding the campground and settling in. The Secret Lagoon is apparently Iceland's oldest thermal pool spa, and was much simpler and lower-key than the baths at Vok (see post #6), as well as less than half the cost. Not as fancy, but the pools are surrounded by thermal vents, and the water was hot! I think locals actually use this pool.

The steam rising behind is from literally boiling pools. You could find your perfect temperature by distance from one of the intake pipes.

I'm not a person who can hang out in a place like that for hours, and I don't care to drink while I'm in the hot pool, so it was okay that I had less than an hour before my stomach insisted I get myself to camp and have some dinner. This was one of many nights I was deeply grateful to my fellow Laugavegur hiker Darius, who gave me a bunch of leftover freeze-dried hiking meals. "Add boiling water, wait 10 minutes" was about the right level of cooking following a soak like that!

Next week: the end of the trip! Also watch for my year-end wrap-up on accomplishments and goals achieved--or not.

 

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 ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2025 

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