We woke up the next day feeling much better (and frankly quite glad to be alive) and completely surprised by the cutsie little fjord-side town of Seyðisfjörður. We didn’t have much planned for the day, as it was ultimately a stop-over campground to set us up better for the rest of the trip, so we asked the campsite manager if there were any short hikes nearby. He directed us to a little parking lot about 10 minutes down the road with the start of a “short little waterfall hike” across the street (look for a sign that says Vestdalsfossar).
His “short little waterfall hike” ended up being about 7.5 miles round trip, and for the most part was relatively flat. It essentially followed a river from where it entered the fjord to where it first fell from the mountaintops, and passed several other waterfalls along the way. One of my favorite pictures form the entire trip came from the end of that hike – you can see the height and the distance that we had traveled, follow the river as it wound through where we had hiked, and see the fjord meet the ocean in between snow-capped mountains. At the end of the trail, there’s the option to scramble up the rocks to get even higher, if you want to. We kept thinking that the next waterfall would be the last one, and the next, so it was actually kind of fun to surprise ourselves along the way. If ever you can’t quite tell where the path is heading, just find the yellow poles, and they’ll set you right! It was a relaxing hike, with very few other people on it (although we did share the mountain with several sheep), and although it was unplanned became one of our favorite hikes in Iceland.
The first waterfall along what we refer to as the Waterfall Hike
The view from the end of the Waterfall Hike – snowmelt to ocean
If you’re a more avid hiker than we are, or have more time in Seyðisfjörður, it may be worth checking out the Seven Peaks challenge. The challenge is just that – summit seven different mountains around the city, at the top of which you can add a special hole-punch to a card you pick up at the city center. If you’re REALLY good, it can apparently all be done in one day!
We then drove about an hour to the start of the trail to Hengifoss. The trail starts at a gate leading to a flight of stairs, which is followed by a fairly steep, winding trail. About halfway up, you can see Litlanesfoss – another waterfall surrounded by basalt columns, along with some very vibrant colors that the river has worn into the rock. Shortly after crossing a little river, hopping from rock to rock and managing to stay dry if you’re lucky, you’ll come to an area that is very clearly marked as the end of the trail. It’s not terribly close to the waterfall, considering how close you can get to so many of the others in Iceland, but you can still get some really good pictures of the waterfall and churning river that it feeds. The hike to and from Hengifoss ended up being just over 3 miles round trip.
Litlanesfoss – nestled amongst more towering basalt columns
One of our first views of Hengifoss – really shows how high it is!
Hengifoss means Hanging Falls, and is the second highest waterfall in Iceland
In retrospect, I’m not sure that we would have done both hikes in the same day, if we knew what we were getting ourselves into. Out of curiosity, I went back into the archives of my Fitbit – 25,000 steps, 10 miles, and 172 floors! We were quite sore the next day, but it was very worth it.
Halfway between Hengifoss and the start of our next day’s adventure, high up in the middle of nowhere in the mountains, was a camping card site called Mö∂rudalur-Fjalladyr∂ (which we ended up referring to as Mordor). It seemed like it was under construction when we were there, or a fairly new campsite, and we actually had to walk down the street to a guesthouse for the bathroom, but it was along the way and offered us a spot to stay for the night, so it worked out fine.
