Sunday, 9 August 2026 - We left the Highlands heading toward Mývatn. After a long drive through increasingly stormy weather, we stopped at Hafragilsfoss in Vatnajökull National Park, then continued upstream to the immense Dettifoss, photographing both the waterfalls and dramatic canyon.
Today we would leave the Highlands and drive to the west coast of Iceland. Due to the long drive we
would only visit two waterfalls which were very close.
On our way to the waterfalls we stopped for a quick picture of the lava field and the grass
in the rare sunlight. It was becoming increasingly clear that we were in danger of a cloudy
forecast day of the eclipse.
The road leads into a storm. Soon it would begin to mist.
After another long and bumpy ride we are at Hafragilsfoss in Vatnajökull National Park.
Hafragilsfoss with slow water making the water look silky.
The waterfall flows within the depths of the Jökulságljúfur canyon. This waterfall is on
the glacial river Jökulsá á Fjöllum, making it a powerful waterfall.
Jökulsá á Fjöllum is the second-longest glacier river in Iceland.
Interesting basalt cliffs of the canyon.
Hafragilsfoss drops almost 90 feet.
A short drive upstream to Dettifoss, the most powerful waterfall in Europe.
In Icelandic, Dettifoss derives from detta ("fall" or "collapse") and foss ("waterfall").
A long exposure of the falls.
Fed by the nearby Vatnajökull glacier, which gives the rushing water its signature
gray-white glacial color. I converted most of these to black and white due to the lack
of color in the water/sky/gorge.
The power of the falls was overwhelming - very loud.
Fun to slow the shutter and make the water silky - which do you think is better? I like
fast shutters for big waterfalls and slow on the smaller ones. But this is pretty cool.
A faster shutter shows the power of the falls.
Once again it was not much of a sunset in the misty rain. Walking around the falls was
still a fun stop. It was 2200 hrs (10:00 pm) when we headed back to the hotel - 1.5 hours
away.
