We started off Day Two with a couple of beautiful waterfalls: Seljalandsfoss and Gljúfrafoss. Seljalandsfoss is a 65 meter tall waterfall with a path that allows you to walk behind the waterfall. It is breathtakingly beautiful and is visible even as you approach on the ring-road.
While you can spot Seljalandsfoss from the ring-road, its twin Gljúfrafoss is hidden in a crevice in the rocks and requires some exploration to get to. I would recommend wearing rain boots, or preparing to get your feet wet in order to fully experience the falls. Personally, I soaked both feet while hopping from rock to rock through the gorge– but the views of the falls from inside the cave were well worth it!
When we left the waterfalls, we quickly came across two hitchhikers walking along the ring-road with their 65L(?) packs. We didn’t have a lot of space in the car, but we figured we could make it work if they sat with their bags on their laps. Turned out the boys were from France and spoke limited English, which gave Lauren and I the chance to brush up on our French. Our next stop was Seljavallaug, which was an outdoor geothermal swimming pool built in the early 1900s. Its a bit hard to find, as you have to drive on a very bumpy road and then hike a little ways to get there, but we managed to find our way! The pool is not as warm as other geothermal pools in Iceland, but it was still toasty enough for a swim. If you’re worried about all the algae in the pool or are not in the mood for swimming, the surrounding mountains offer beautiful areas to explore!
Next along the Ring Road was Skagafoss, another waterfall with a viewing platform at the top! They’ve recently installed a 527 step staircase to the top of the falls, which is well worth the climb.
Another highlight of Day Two was the DC-3 Plane crash which lies in a field of black sand. The plane crash landed here in 1973, with no deaths of the pilot or crew. Basically everything of any value has been removed from the wreck, so today it is just a metal husk and a great photo opportunity! Even Justin Bieber thought so when he used it in his 2015 music video for the song “I’ll Show You”. Fair warning, from the parking lot, it doesn’t look like that far of a hike but it does take about 45 minutes each way.
Our last stop of the day was definitely the highlight. We arrived at Dyrhólaey Penninsula around dinner time and enjoyed some peanut butter sandwiches. While we were sitting watching the sea, we got chatting with a guy with a camera that was about 3 feet long. Knowing a birder when we saw one, we went and asked him if he had seen any puffins, and he had! He pointed out a whole flock of them out on the water and told us that they would be flying back into the cliffs for the night. We waited for about half an hour and they started flying in. It was amazing. They were only a few meters away from us and I took a million photos!
We ended the day at Mount Hjörleifshöfði, where we set up camp for the night. The mountain is known as ‘the Haunted Mountain’ in English, supposedly haunted by the early Viking settlers of Iceland who are buried there. We were the only people camping at the mountain that night and the idea of Viking ghosts definitely added to the atmosphere of the place. It was definitely my favourite free camping spot of the trip.
