2018 ICELAND Ring Road 6 - Many Foss

I'd say by 10:00 we had refreshed and refueled our bodies, so we hit the road with great enthusiasm. In March, daylight is 08:30 til 19:00-ish. We planned our trip so we would not be driving after dusk. With the unfamiliar road conditions, I would highly recommend that for everyone.

This portion of the trip, our longest driving day, was five hours max if we traveled non-stop. Of course, we found many diversions along the way.

Before our departure, everyone asked why would we go to such a cold country in early March. Well, the morning temp that first day was -1C (30F). Throughout our visit it never got colder than that, at least when we could check the digital thermometer on our car display screen. The highest we saw was 3C (37F). Mike checked the Kalamazoo temp throughout our trip, too, and it was consistently about 5F degrees colder at home than here!!


Luckily, we caught mostly sunny days. A branch of the Gulf Stream (the Irminger current), flows along the southern and west coast of Iceland, greatly moderating the climate there. Weather can be unpredictable though, so layers of clothing and 4-wheel drive vehicles are recommended, especially in winter.

The first town we approached was Sellfoss on the banks of the Ölfusá River, about 30 miles (50 km) outside of Reykjavik. We crossed the river on a suspension bridge. The original bridge here was built in 1891. The current bridge was constructed in 1945 after one of the original suspension cables collapsed. It was the only two-way traffic bridge we crossed on our trip into the hinterlands of Iceland.


The river was our first glance of glacier waters. It was wide and rushing, with a huge bolder in the center...a tall evergreen growing out of it. We didn't test the waters by hand, but you could see icy chunks speedily floating by.

We pulled into a parking area. There was a vintage dinner with old-fashioned Coke signs, a 3-screen theater (showing Paddington 2, The Commuter, and Darkest Hour), and a quaint village church.

There is also a Sellfoss waterfall (foss translates to waterfall), but it is located many miles away in an inland area of northeast Iceland. If you are taking the Ring Road all the way around, I recommended a side trip to see it, although its water comes from the Vatnajokull glacier melt and flow varies depending on the season. See photo at:  https://hiticeland.com/places_and_photos_from_iceland/selfoss-waterfall

Nearby by Sellfoss (the waterfall) is Dettifoss. It is considered the most powerful foss in Europe. See photo at:  https://www.northiceland.is/en/places/nature/dettifoss-waterfall

Sellfoss (the town) was a little further down the road. Population is 6,934. It is the ninth largest city in Iceland by population, but most of the larger cities are part of Greater Reykjavik. Salmon fishing is the industry here.

If any of you are into chess, American chess player Bobby Fischer is buried here. In 1972, he defeated Boris Spassky of the USSR in the World Chess Championship held in Reykjavik. It was advertised as a cold war confrontation and brought untold amounts of interest into the chess world. Many consider Fischer to be the best chess player of all time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer

So we are continuing along down the Ring Road and what unexpectedly appears off to our left. This...

It was Seljalandsfoss. The major foss drops 197 feet (60 meters). It is part of the Seljalands River with its origin being the volcano glacier Eyjafjallajökull. So impressive!

Leading up on each side of the main foss was a stairway. They were iced over and closed this time of year, but in better weather you can climb up to a cave behind the falls. I can't imagine the view from there.

There were smaller falls trailing along the cliff for maybe a quarter mile. This was the next biggest area (far left in pix above).

At the bottom of this was a mound of ice build-up, but also two small geothermal geysers continuously spouting away.

The Seljalands River continued on from the bottom of the foss on out to sea.

This foss was a way-point on one of the Amazing Race episodes and was also in the movie CKY2K, which featured Icelandic singer Bjork. This was apparently an outrageous skateboarding daredevil video which lead to the Jackass movie series, but I never heard of it. On the other hand, its $5,000 budget tells you something.

Another foss that we did not see is nearby Gljufrabui or the Hidden Falls. From what I read, you walk into a cave of sorts and the foss cascades down a tube-like area. Apparently you get pretty wet though, as a change of clothes on hand is advised. Maybe best at this time of year that we did not venture into this one.

To see worthwhile photos, go to:  https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g3676471-d10309126-Reviews-Gljufrabui_Waterfalls-South_Region.html. On the photo, click "full view" and then click the right arrow to see a number of fab photos.