Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and an endless array of rock formations. There are two key sights: the horseshoe-shaped
Ásbyrgi
canyon in the north of the park; and
Dettifoss
, Europe's most powerful
waterfall, at the park's southern boundary. In between, the silt-laden river cuts its way
between stark grey gorge walls, all set against an unusually fertile backdrop: over half of
the country's
native plant
species are found here, and in summer the heathland above
the gorge is lush and splashed pink and white with flowers - except in a couple of
places, however, trees are rare.
With three or four days to spare, the park can be thoroughly explored on foot along
marked
hiking tracks
, the longest of which follows the west side of the gorge for
35km between Ásbyrgi and Dettifoss. Two
roads
also run south for about 60km
through the park to Dettifoss and the Ringroad east of Mývatn:
Route
862
follows
the west side of the gorge from Ásbyrgi, and is rough gravel except for the excellent
final 20km stretch between Dettifoss and the Ringroad (there's talk of surfacing this
entire road by 2014); while
Route 864
down the east side of the gorge is
gravel the whole way. Both roads are
closed through winter.
6
Húsavík
Kópasker
Jökulsárgljúfur
National Park
Visitor Centre
N
NI Roadhouse
Áshöfði
Ásbyrgi
An N1
roadhouse
marks the Route 85
Ásbyrgi junction, behind which you'll
find a golf course, the National Parks
Visitor Centre and the park's main
campsite. At this end of the park the
gorge is very broad and waterless, the
river having shifted course long ago
leaving a flat grassland between low
walls. You can get a good view of this
from
Eyjar
, a long, flat-topped island
of rock near the campsite which can
be scaled easily enough from its
northern end.
Better, though, is
Ásbyrgi
, where the
road dead-ends 5km south at a pond
fringed in birch and pine woods,
beyond which rises a vertical,
90m-high amphitheatre of dark rock
patched in orange lichens, home to a
colony of gurgling fulmars. Legend has
it that this is the hoofprint of the
Norse god Óðinn's eight-legged steed
Sleipnir
, though geologists believe that
the canyon was carved by a series of
titanic
jökulhlaups
, volcanically
induced flash-floods that exploded out
from underneath Vatnajökull. Just
avoid it in the late afternoon, when the
sun catches the cliffs: it looks most
romantic, but half of Iceland descends
to watch. The view from the top is
spectacular, too, though to get up here
you need to follow the Dettifoss trail
(see p.263).
Ásbyrgi
Golf
Course
Rauðhólar
Vígabjarg
0
2
Hafragilsfoss
kilometres
ACCOMMODATION
Ásbyrgi campsite
Dettifoss campsite
Vesturdalur campsite
1
3
2
JÖKULSÁRGLJÚFUR
NATIONAL PARK
Selfoss
Mývatn
