Iceland's Ring Road - Hvolsvöllur to Seyðisfjörður (Day 4)

Goodbye sheep, thanks for keeping us company in Hvolsvöllur!

UPDATED: 1/16/2023

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Waving goodbye to the cute cottage that was our temporary home and to the Icelandic sheep that dotted the fields and played in the roads, we prepared ourselves for a long day of driving with a number of stops along the way.

While we did not know it yet, one of the highlights of the day would be the drive itself. Cutting across such a large swath of the country took us through the most diverse landscape we traversed in one day. There were fields of Nootka lupine that from a distance evoked the image of Provençal lavender, towering mountains and volcanoes whose tops disappeared into the low, gray clouds, desolate lava fields that were reminiscent of drives we have taken in the American southwest but with rich, blackened basalt instead of desert browns, a shortcut gravel road that lead us through an area that was other-worldly, and finally the most magnificent descent into our final destination.

Our first stop, Skógafoss, was visible from the Ring Road (Rt 1). The waterfall is huge, dropping about 200 feet, landing right at your feet if you want it to since you can walk right up to the waterfall. Apparently anytime the sun is out, one or more rainbows appear, but no such luck for us. At the base of the waterfall was the dark sand and gravel that were a hint of things to come at our next stop, Reynisfjara.

Snaking along the right side of this image is the path to the top of Skógafoss.

Reynisfjara is a famous black-sand beach with black basalt stacks abutting the water. The weather was - no surprise now, right? - very overcast, gray, and foggy and the chill from the coastal wind made our stop a fairly quick one. It is a spot I would love to revisit on a clearer day. Nearby is a site famous for a downed US Navy plane that sits deteriorating against the black sand background. In spite of the weather, we enjoyed the unique beach and the columns just offshore. Local lore tells a tale of trolls trying to pull boats to shore. When the trolls lost track of time and daylight broke, they turned into stone just offshore.

Oh how I love this panorama shot of Skógafoss!

While everyone else was admiring the black sand beach at Reynisfjara, Dustin was fixated on rocks.

I can’t decide which picture of Foss á Síðu I like more.

Foss á Síðu appears to be located right in someones backyard! Make sure you don’t trespass but we had a pleasant stop here and ate while admiring the view.

Further on, we saw Foss á Síðu off the side of Ring Road. The waterfall is on private property, but there was an area where we could pull in and enjoy it from a distance. We ate lunch in the car with the pretty scenery before continuing just a bit up the road to Dverghamrar (Dwarf Rocks).

Grey overcast clouds made this remote location feel even more isolated.

Dverghamrar is an interesting formation of mounds of basalt columns. The dark basalt juxtaposed with the green grass makes the grass appear even brighter. There is a short path from the parking lot that goes down the slope between the two basalt mounds.

I think my favorite part of these were how unexpected they seem in the environment as well as the story behind why they were called Dwarf Rocks. According to the sign, the area has long been associated with elves and dwarves. As an offer of proof: in 1904 a girl was out driving the ewes, heard some singing that continued as she went home. Because it was unlikely anyone was nearby, it must have been elves.

If you’re interested in reading more about the conflicting and complex Icelandic stance on elves, The Atlantic did a piece a few years ago called ‘Why So Many Icelanders Still Believe in Invisible Elves’ that says about 55% of Icelanders believe in elves, but if you read the whole article, it turns out the truth may be more complicated.

About 75 minutes further down the road, Fjallsárlón lagoon snuck up on us. It was only a hint of a sign and a left-hand turn on a whim that delivered us to a beautiful site. There is a main entrance to the lagoon from which tours depart and is much more touristy, but we had found another, quiet way to view it down a gravel road with large segments that were full of potholes or where the road had eroded away entirely. I would not recommend this option without a 4WD vehicle. The best way to describe this entrance is that it is south of the main entrance and does have a sign from the Ring Road.

After parking and climbing over the rocky terrain and down to the water, we found ourselves eye-to-eye with a glacier lagoon with icebergs from the Vatnajökull glacier. There was only one other couple there with us, and we were able to take in the scenery before heading down the road to the other main iceberg lagoon at Jökulsárlón. In both spots we saw some of the famous blue-colored icebergs, which are that color due to their age and compression of the ice over time.

Fjallsárlón glacial lagoon was almost completely deserted.

Hiking around Fjallsárlón might be preferable for those who wish to avoid the tourist hot spot of Jökulsárlón.

This seal we found at Jökulsárlón didn’t seem bothered at all by our presence.

At Jökulsárlón, we parked in the crowded lot of tour buses but then headed off to hike along the lagoon itself. There were a few paths running along the water’s edge as well as on the top of the hill above it. A fun sighting was a seal napping on a rock. The icebergs from this lagoon, which are remnants of the last ice age, head straight out to the ocean where they meet their salty doom. As we got back on Ring Road we continued passing icebergs sitting in and along the ocean, quite an interesting sight! Sometime around this point in the day, the sun emerged to our surprise and joy!

“You can’t take a good photo from a moving vehicle,” she said. Oh yeah? Watch me.

Steep drops and windy roads made for beautiful views along this section of the trip.

Because we had made so many stops on the drive, the day was getting later. A little while after the town of Djúpivogur, we decided to skip the weaving in and out of the fjord fingers that were on the Ring Road and instead took a shortcut on Rt. 939, which we later learned is called Öxi Pass. We stopped to eat a snack at Folaldafoss waterfall before continuing along the pass. Since taking the route, I have learned that it is considered to be quite dangerous and not recommended outside of summer or even in summer if the weather is poor. Most other Ring Roaders recommend you avoid it, so I will describe the experience so you can make the best choice for yourself (assuming it is summer and the weather is decent).

The road up to Oxi Pass was much steeper than it looks.

A pullout near the top provides a great vantage point to observe Folaldafoss.

As the fog rolled in Oxi pass began to possess an otherworldly aura.

The ascent was probably the most extreme part of the road. At places the grade is 17%, which is very steep, and the road is narrow - wide enough to pass another car but just barely, and probably with a your face contorted in a slight wince waiting for the mirrors to smack each other. As we got to the base of the main uphill haul, an 18-wheeler, clearly used to driving this road, was ahead of us. The road was so steep and the image in my head of the 18-wheeler slipping backwards and landing on top of us was so realistic, that we pulled over and watched it make it to the top (rear wheels nearly slipping off the road several times) before we continued onward.

After that, we did wonder a little bit about what we had gotten ourselves into. At the higher elevation (about 1700 feet above sea level), the narrow road flattened out with rockscaping littering both sides of the road, and a fog settled in with the quiet, ethereal sense that it can bring with it, dulling the sun into a haunting, dispersed globe of light. The temperature had dropped drastically, and we felt like we were utterly alone in the world. While the route is only 37 miles it was slow going.

We eventually came to the down-hill portion, which was much slower and gentler down to a point where it met up with Route 95, which then carried us back to the Ring Road where they merged in the town of Egilsstaðir. So, what would I recommend? If steep drop-offs, and narrow, gravel roads turn you into a nervous and unsettled driver, and if you are afraid of heights, I would recommend you avoid this road altogether. On the other hand, if you are comfortable driving carefully and safely in that sort of environment, I think the route offered a different vista than other parts of the trip; for all the driving that we did, that small section has stuck with me because of the experience.

As we rounded the switchback and looked back the scene was absolutely breathtaking!

The town of Egilsstaðir sits nestled in the valley along side the Lagarfljót river.

After meeting back up with the Ring Road at the town of Egilsstaðir, we continued on the last leg of the drive to Seyðisfjörður, about a 30 minute drive, which was utterly and unexpectedly gorgeous. First, we climbed up a tall mountain past a lake and reached the summit. Below us, we could see the road falling away straight down into the valley where Seyðisfjörður sat surrounded on three sides by tall peaks that were lush and green and endless waterfalls tumbled down the hillsides.

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