Weekend Photos: Iceland Campervan #8

I'm making myself a little crazy trying to finish drafting Painted Over, but finally made myself take time to put together a blog post for the weekend. For those who want to read  about my 2-week campervan tour of Iceland's Ring Road in September 2025 in order, here are the links to post #1   post #2    post #3   post #4   post #5  post #6  and post #7.

Day 10 (Sept. 20): Skaftafell and other scenic highlights 

I had the pleasure of waking up in possibly my most scenic campsite of the trip, and seeing that the weather was good. Breezy, yes, but sunny and clear. I was up at first light, and ready to roll by 7:45.

Sunrise over the campervans.

A couple of Icelandic sheep in the overgrown parts of the campground were up to watch me go.

The trail climbed steadily, but at an easy grade, so that I was soon up above the glacial lagoon and getting impressive views.

Skaftafellsjökull glacier and glacier lagoon (that's a little redundant, as I'm pretty sure "jökull" means "glacier").

I reached my high point in a little under an hour (not sure why it even took that long, but I was probably taking photos or something :D). The views were amazing, but up there, the wind had nothing between it, the glacier, and my face except a few layers of cloth.

Okay, a lot of layers of cloth between me and the glacial winds!

I rather quickly turned away to continue a loop to visit a couple of waterfalls (of course. If you don't like waterfalls, you might want to stay away from Iceland). 

Alpine scenery! Looking at some of the highest bits of Iceland.

Another mile or less brought me to Svartifoss, which tumbles over a glorious cliff of basalt columns.

 

 

I like the overhanging columns. When the falls undercut a cliff made out of columns, they fall in columns.

I'd had the trails to myself up to this point, but met the crowds here. I was bothered by how many people climbed right over the signs saying don't go beyond this point. The signs said it in Icelandic, in English, and in clear pictures. Grr!

When I left Svartifoss I took the long way down, to check out a couple more falls along the Stórilaekur stream.

Just a little lower down the slopes and we don't seem to have columns in the same degree.

 Just a little way away, at the bottom of the hill, it felt like a different place and a different stream.

 

I made my way back to the van at about 10:20, ready for the next bit of fun, which again involved scenic driving in high winds.

Notice the barns/storage structures built into the ground for insulation.

Just a random roadside waterfall with a rainbow. Someone's backyard creek!

I stopped for my usual picnic lunch in the town of Kirkjubaerjarklaustur (which has a name rather larger than the town), and was lured into climbing a trail up alongside their pet waterfall, the Systrafoss.

A stiff little quarter-mile climb brought me to the top of the falls, with view over the coastal plain and up into the lower highlands.

 
In the forest at the base of the hill I stumbled on the tallest tree in Iceland, a Sitka spruce planted in 1949 and now 30.15 meters tall (99 feet). The native trees of Iceland are mostly birch and willow, and never grow very tall. 

Icelandic horses enjoying a siesta.

A little further on I detoured off the main road a few miles to check out Fjarthrárgljüfur, a 1-km gorge cut deeply into the bedrock some 9000 years ago. The rock here is palagonite, which forms from water interacting with volcanic glass and appears to be a kind of tuff, which might explain the rounded figures, unlike the angular rocks seen in basalt areas (disclaimer: I'm no geologist, I just like to read this stuff). All of which is to say: the canyon looked different from others I saw.

No entry is allowed into the floor of the canyon, to protect the fish runs.

 

Looking back down the canyon.

By this time, I was gaining on my target for the night, but had a couple of stops to make at Vik, for gas, groceries, and the black sand beaches.

Classic Icelandic church at Vik.

Black Sand Beach--a place to beware of the waves. I was staying well away from the water, as tourists get swept away here.

Wave-polished stones.

The other side of the headland with the distinctive rocks is Dyrholaey, with a lighthouse, a cool sea arch, and sweeping views back to the Myrdalsjökull ice sheet as well as along the coast.

Vik is on the other side of that headland.

To the mountains.

West along the coast.

The arch. Not yet a sea stack, as it's still connected to the land. With two passages underneath, it's just a matter of time (look closely on the left for the second arch). (I suppose they are actually sea bridges--I believe that water-carved features are bridges, while wind-carved ones are arches.

Finally, with the sun dropping low, I headed for "camp." I wanted to be in position for an early start hiking from Skogafoss, so I put up with the least camp-like campsite I'd encountered: this one really was a parking lot, and day-use hikers and parkers used it alongside of us (also used the bathrooms alongside of us, annoyingly). It's not a place to enjoy your afternoon, but I got there late enough the day folks were soon gone, and I wasn't there for the camping.

Late afternoon sun on Skogafoss. I was pretty tired, so I foolishly didn't walk over there for a better photo--this was the last of the sun.

There was one last aurora for me! I like the green sprites.

 

By the time I put all my hikes and walks together, I'd done about 8.5 miles, 1600 or 1700' of climbing. Not a killer day, with it broken up into smaller bits, but a workout!

Whew! That was a big scenic day. Next week we'll do the second-largest hike I did in Iceland, after the multi-day Laugavegur Trail. In fact, the Skogafoss waterfall trail is part of a popular extension of that trail, though one that shouldn't be undertaken lightly--it's over 18 miles from Thörsmork and climbs up over a 3300' gap between the ice sheets. As I was settling in for the night, about two minutes before dark, a pair of young women came off the trail with their packs, high-fived each other, climbed in the car next to me, and drove off, no doubt in search of food and showers. We'll see the waterfall portion of the hike next week!

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 To read about the whole trip, follow the links here:  post #1   post #2    post #3   post #4   post #5  post #6  post #7  post #8  post #9 and post #10 

My hike through Iceland's Highlands on the Laugavegur trail can be found here, here, and here.

 

 

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 ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2025 

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