Iceland in Pictures

Skógafoss waterfall in Iceland.

(via fortheloveoficeland)

Fagrifoss means Beautiful Waterfall

Fagrifoss is a beautiful waterfall in the mossy region around the Laki volcanic fissure that erupted in 1783 killing people around the world.

Thanks for the submission Otije.

(Source: Flickr / otije)

Awesome pic of the Glymur waterfall in the fjord of Hvalfjörður. Glymur (198m) was considered Iceland’s highest waterfall until a couple of years ago when a new waterfall emerged from behind a receding part of the great Vatnajökull glacier close to Skaftafell.

In a previous post you can see a different angle and read the tales of how Glymur got its name.

(via srce)

Matthias Giraud calls himself the Super Frenchie. Here he is standing in front of the Háifoss waterfall in Iceland. Matthias has base jumped all over the world, but his favorite is Iceland of course. Check out his facebook page for lots of base jumping pictures from Iceland.

Háifoss is actually a very beautiful waterfall which is seldom visited. You can get there by any 4x4.

Seljalandsfoss. There are countless magnificent waterfalls in Iceland, but this is one of the most popular. The reason is, it is so easy to walk behind it.

salonisaraf:

yeah i didnt take the picture because thats me in the picture

but its still so cool

Iceland really is a symphony of colour.

neiture:

Symphony of Colours | image by Karsten Wrobel

(Source: rorschachx)

Glymur formerly Iceland’s highest waterfall

You know how Iceland is always changing. Well most textbooks will say that Glymur at 198 meters (650ft) is the highest waterfall in Iceland. A new (still unnamed) waterfall in the Morsárdalur valley in Skaftafell appeared last year. The waterfall had been hidden by the Vatnajökull glacier, but was exposed as the glacier retreated.

Still, Glymur is an awesome waterfall situated in this amazing canyon. The waterfall, directly underneath the photographer in this picture, crashes down into the narrow 200 meter deep canyon with a thunderous noise. This thunderous noise is actually the reason why it is called Glymur. Glymur is a word for a “thundering echo”.

There are also other explanations for the name. According to local tales, there once was a local farmer’s son who had a fling with an elf lady. However, he betrayed her. This enraged her so much that she turned him into an angry red whale called “Rauðhöfði”. Rauðhöfði means red head, as he had been red headed. He was quite unhappy with this new role, so in his rage he attacked fishing boats on Hvalfjörður. Hvalfjörður means Whale Fjord, named after this whale. One day Rauðhöfði drowned the son of the priest at Saurbær. The old blind priest asked his young daughter to lead him down to the sea. There he tapped his cane in the water until the whale swam toward shore. He then walked along the beach tapping his cane to the end of the fjord. There he continued up the river and up into the Glymsgil canyon on the picture above. The whale continued swimming up the narrow canyon with a thunderous roar, thus giving the waterfall its name Glymur. The whale then fought its way up the 198 meter high waterfall and into the lake, Hvalvatn (Whale Lake) just above the waterfall. There it exploded from exhaustion.

Due to the bend in the canyon, it is impossible to get a view of the whole waterfall without standing directly underneath it. I tried this once a couple of years back. To get there you have to swim, wade and climb up the canyon. Standing there directly underneath the waterfall is amazing. It’s also difficult because there is a very strong wind at the bottom caused by the waterfall thrusting air down into the narrow canyon. Even though being there was amazing, I would not recommend this trip to anybody. Check out my photos instead. The risk of rock fall is extreme and has caused serious accidents in recent years. I had a rock smash into the water only a couple of meters from me. I would not be writing this blog post if it had hit me.

You can however hike up alongside the canyon and get some great views. Just be careful and don’t blindly follow any path. Some of the paths go dangerously close to the crumbling edge.

(Source: overdosage, via musevault)

Night Time Rainbow at Skógafoss

I’ve often pointed out the eternal rainbow by Skógafoss in countless other pictures. However, this is the first time I see a night time rainbow by it. You can see that this image is taken at night, because it also sports a aurora borealis in the starry sky. I once camped right in front of the waterfall and tried to capture some night photos, but came nothing close to this. Stéphane Vetter however had great success when he traveled to Iceland this October and took many excellent photos such as this one.

He captured the photo with a very long exposure, thus catching the otherwise invisible spectrum of faint aurora and moon light in the waterfall’s spray. One of his other amazing photos is that of the aurora over Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon in Iceland. That photo was actually featured on the Daily Mail.

Fimmvörðuháls waterfalls

This is one of many small waterfalls just above the famous Skógafoss waterfall. A loosely unmarked trail which starts by Skógafoss winds its way up along the river, up onto the Fimmvörðuháls col and down into the Þórsmörk valley.

Photo by Pas le Matin.

(via biarda)

This waterfall is not a standard tourist destination. Since it is not clearly visible from the highway most pass by without noticing. I’d driven by hundreds of times till I finally stopped there last year. Once you’ve checked out neighboring Seljalandsfoss (lots of people), drive another 5-10 minutes east along road 1. Take a left turn towards Núpur on road 246 and you are there. Since you’ve already taken that exit you might as well go for a horse ride at Skálakot a couple of minutes further along the same road. I haven’t been on their trips, but I know they have some awesome landscape to explore.

pulmonaire:

Iceland Foss (by D’ArcyG)

Iceland has an amazing variety of waterfalls.

gnf3:

blue by hkvam on Flickr.

(via mylifeisonechangingpicture-deac)

Beautiful. Love the contrast.

lifeisnotaboutme:

(by XM09)

Iceland. 

(via metastasise)

Awesome shot of Dettifoss.

(Source: photographyserved.com, via unnecessaryname)

Great timing on this picture. This is the Öxarárfoss (E. Axe River Fall) in the Þingvellir National Park. Legend has it and I don’t know if it has been confirmed or if it is plausible, that the river was directed into the fissure. This would have brought lots of fresh water to the ancient parliament fields where Iceland’s parliament was formed in the year 930. If it is true, then that made those ancient guys very good landscape artists.

missjijy:

Contre Jour - Þingvellir National Park, Iceland (by skarpi)