![]() Julie and Tahia checking out the swollen Selfoss from its east side during our August 2021 visit Throughout the hike on the east side, it seemed like the Jökulsá á Fjöllum River was very turbulent for pretty much the entire stretch between Dettifoss and Selfoss. ![]() However, on our August 2021 visit, it seemed like there were more trail markers and rope barricades to make it easier to keep us on track. Yet the saving grace if we did momentarily lose the trail was that we knew we just had to keep going upstream to reach the falls. We definitely had to pay close attention to the trail markings and rock cairns on our 2007 visit given that it was real easy to lose the trail in such terrain. ![]() Julie navigating through the boulder field trying to follow the trail markers Of that distance, the first 600m involved hiking the benign Dettifoss Trail before reaching a signposted junction branching off to the left to continue to Selfoss.įrom there, the trail then continued another 1.4km upstream along the east bank of the river passing through a combination of basalt surfaces, black sands, and slow-going large boulders. In order to see the falls from this side, we had to start from the Dettifoss car park at its east bank, and then we had to do a fairly rocky hike for about 2km (or 4km round-trip). In my mind, the east bank of Selfoss was the better side because we got to witness pretty much its entire length directly. Experiencing Selfoss from the East Bank Selfoss showing its length as seen from the East Bank during our first visit in late June 2007 In fact, in order to even visit Selfoss, we had to start from either of the Dettifoss car parks (see directions below or the Dettifoss page). Like with Dettifoss, we managed to experience this waterfall from both sides each yielding very different experiences, which we’ll get into below. Indeed, in successive order, the other waterfalls were Dettifoss, Hafragilsfoss, and Réttarfoss before the river semented and fell over smaller waterfalls within the fractures at Katlar. This was Julie standing near the brink of Selfoss when we came back in August 2021, but as you can see here, the flow was so great that we couldn’t get up to the same spot that we did beforeĪnyways, of the four major waterfalls we’ve encountered on the Jökulsá á Fjöllum, Selfoss was the first or the one that was furthest upstream. I suspect that this was a consequence of our runaway greenhouse effect due to the Global Warming from our unsustainable wealth-building machinations, so time will tell whether Selfoss becomes even wider and more turbulent over time. In this case, the river’s waters ultimately shaped the falls into the curved horseshoe shape while also deepening the gorge further downstream.Įven though this falls may only be a modest 11m tall, it was very long in a way that was reminiscent of the Hraunfossar Waterfalls except with more powerful flow.Īnd speaking of its power, Julie and I have been to this waterfall twice, but it really seemed like the waterfall’s flow greatly increased in 2021 versus our 2007 visit. Julie at the brink of Selfoss as seen during our first visit in late June 2007 Selfoss was another horseshoe-shaped waterfall on the powerful glacier river Jökulsá á Fjöllum just upstream from the mighty Dettifoss.īeing that it was within the boundaries of the vast (and recently created) Vatnajökull National Park (formerly Jökulsárgljúfur National Park), the glacier river was allowed to flow freely and let nature run its course.
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