Day 6 p.2 - A grand canyon (Fjaðrárgljúfur)

August 20, 2021  •  Leave a Comment

After lunch (probably hot dogs at a gas station), we headed to the beautiful, ancient, massive, Fjaðrárgljúfur river canyon, near the small town of Kirkjubæjarklaustur. The canyon is up to 100 m deep and 2 km long , with the river Fjaðrá running through it. The hike along the rim of the canyon was amazing, with each view changing as you turned a corner of the canyons ridges. 

Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, South-IcelandFjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, South-Iceland Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, South-IcelandFjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, South-Iceland Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, South-IcelandFjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, South-Iceland

But the unique topography is best appreciated from above--no wide angle lens can really capture its scope from the ground. A drone does a pretty good job. 

DCIM\100MEDIA\DJI_0013.JPG
 

Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, South-IcelandFjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, South-IcelandDCIM\100MEDIA\DJI_0009.JPG Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, South-IcelandFjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, South-IcelandDCIM\100MEDIA\DJI_0019.JPG Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, South-IcelandFjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, South-IcelandDCIM\100MEDIA\DJI_0027.JPG Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, South-IcelandFjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, South-IcelandDCIM\100MEDIA\DJI_0031.JPG DCIM\100MEDIA\DJI_0033.JPG Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, South-IcelandFjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, South-IcelandDCIM\100MEDIA\DJI_0037.JPG Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, South-IcelandFjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, South-IcelandDCIM\100MEDIA\DJI_0043.JPG

Some drone video footage:

Fjadrargligur Canyon We then made our way East to Skaftafell, a small part of the HUGE Vantajökulsþjóðgarður (Vatajokull National Park).

The Vatnajokull glacier tops a large volcano and makes up most of the park, covering approximately 8% of Iceland's landmass (the largest glacier in Europe). It has about 37 glacial "fingers" several of which we could see from the road, descending from the mountain.

At Skaftafell, we did a nice moderate 1 mile hike to a the waterfall Svartifoss, which falls about a rim of basalt columns. We of course saw about a dozen waterfalls on the way.

It was at times difficult to get Ada's face out of her book (which she would hike with), to look at the scenery.

We then drove out to Guesthouse Gerdi, a nice place near the town of Reynivellir.


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