Iceland - Part 3

Waterfalls!

Falling water is very common in Iceland. We saw a lot of waterfalls! Waterfall fatigue was imminent near trip's end!

The first waterfall we visited was Gullfoss, or Golden Falls. (Foss means falls in Icelandic.) As you can see in the pictures below, Gullfoss is a two-step waterfall dropping a huge volume of roaring water. The total height from top to bottom is 32 meters, not as high as Niagara's 51 meters, but still very impressive! It was cold, rainy, and misty on the day of our visit. The camera lens and my eyeglasses were fogged and spotted with water drops. 

The next day, as we traveled through a rugged highland wilderness on the way to the Landmannalaugar Volcanic Zone, we saw this lovely blue waterfall.

The following day we stopped at a beautiful double waterfall called Hjalparfoss.

Interesting basalt columns were visible in varying orientations to the left and right of the falls.

After visiting Hjalparfoss we stopped at a restored 12-century Viking farmhouse which happened to have this unnamed waterfall in its back yard.

Shortly after touring the restored farm house, our guide took us to one of her favorite spots: a small waterfall passing over green, moss-covered rocks. In contrast to the harsh, cold, dim, rainy weather we had experienced earlier on the trip, the weather at these green falls was mild and sunny. There was no wind. The sunlight glinting on the green moss made it glisten like emeralds. It would have been easy to lie in the warm grass and fall asleep to the sound of the gurgling water.

Another day, another waterfall. Adjacent to the folk museum in the village of Skogar we saw Skogafoss, a giant 55-meter high drop higher than Niagara Falls. We were lucky to have about 25 minutes of sunlight with the Sun low enough to make a nice rainbow in the mist. Sadly, the magical rainbow disappeared after some pesty persistent clouds covered the Sun.

We had not yet exhausted the number of available waterfalls. On the following day we visited Gluggafoss, or the "Window" Falls. In the picture below you can see the falls emerging near the top from a window-like opening in the rock.

The final waterfall was Seljalandsfoss, a 65 meter-high monster. It was possible to walk behind this thundering curtain, and C was up to the challenge. She got soaked, but captured two views from behind the falls.

More pictures from surprising Iceland in my next post.