Date: 17th July 2022
Travelled: 122 kms from Ásbyrgi to Húsavik via Dettifoss
Visited: Jökulsárgljúfur National Park
Stayed: Camping Húsavik, Isk4200, N66.05150, W17.34480
Budget: 53 days @ €96 per day
A little rain overnight, but the weather has changed once again. A heavy mist has descended over campsite in Ásbyrgi, the forecast is rain and 8° tops as it’s already 8°, we’ve already peaked.
Ásbyrgi is the main entrance to the Jökulsárgljúfur National Park. We have four walks planned in the park today, the first two are within the Ásbyrgi Canyon. So we have breakfast and don the Gortex to firstly walk the top of the canyon walls.
The canyon walk starts at its lowest point around 20m high where there’s a track to the top, by the time we walk the 3.5 kms trail the canyon wall is 80m high. Shame about the misty conditions from a photo perspective..
We return to the Hymer a bit damp having enjoyed the walk and views as best we can. After a second coffee we ready the Hymer for the road once again. The next walk is a 2.5 km loop around the far end of this horseshoe shaped canyon to a small lake called Botnstjörn. We drive the Hymer to the carpark (no point walking in the drizzle), don the Gortex once again.
The Ásbyrgi walks done, we drive back out of the canyon turning onto route 862 driving deeper into the national park. 12 kms later we turn for Hljóðaklettar and our third walk of the day.
Our guide book recommends the 3 km loop trail that takes in the best basalt formations at Hljóðaklettar. By pure chance we arrive in time to join a guided tour by a park ranger.
Hljóðaklettar translates to echo rock in english. The crystallised basalt formation create some amazing sound effects, echoing the sound of rushing water from the nearby river. The guided tour was excellent, lots of local folklore, geology regarding the basalt formations and local flora.
Our tour of Hljóðaklettar complete we return to the Hymer probably more cold than wet. Cannot get a phone signal to check the temperature, but it’s cold with a wild chill of bloody cold.
We point the Hymer out of Hljóðaklettar up the steep access road (17° is steep in the Hymer) and back onto the 862 continuing south to Dettifoss. It’s another 14kms on to Dettifoss at the southern end of the national park. The road climbs most of the way and the mist is now very heavy, so it’s a slow drive.
Finding a spot in the carpark we can hear the falls thundering from a km away. The mist is like a heavy fog anyway but the mist rising from the falls is like a cloud rising into sky. The wind is strong driving the rain almost horizontal. So we Gortex up for hopefully the last time today and go forward to battle the elements.
Dettifoss is only 45m high but 100m wide, by volume of water it’s Iceland and europe’s greatest set of falls. Despite the shit weather we wouldn’t have missed the experience.
The picture and video above are the best I can do. The phone is so wet it won’t recognise my face or even my finger swipe, which may be a good thing. The rain and spray have done there job and we retreat to the Hymer.
We turn the Hymer north out of the national park and back to route 85, it’s a slow drive for 20+ kms but the mist disappears as we approach the coast. Once on the 85 we continue west for another 40 minutes to Húsavik and our overnight campsite. Big day done.
Michael + Pam
2 thoughts on “Jökulsárgljúfur, Iceland 🇮🇸 2022”
Great 👍 report again enjoying the ride with you guys
Thank heavens it’s SUMMER!!!! 🙂 Absolutely stunning scenery, fabulous experience.