Skogafoss and Seljalandsfoss

Waterfalls are a great attraction in Iceland, and we saw some of the best.  Along the drive down to the south coast we saw both Skogafoss and Seljalandsfoss, walking up to each to get a close look.  These and other waterfalls are fed by the melting glaciers of the highlands, particularly in these two cases by the melting ice from the Eyjafjallajokull and Myrdalsjokull glaciers, the southernmost glaciers in Iceland.  We stopped to inspect the edge of a glacier first, the source of the water for these falls.

This is the toe of the glacier, slipping down the valley to where it is more accessible.

We crossed the wide gravel area and then got right onto the ice at the front of this glacier.  As you can see it's very dirty from all the sediment that accumulates on the surface as it melts.

The immediate edge of the glacier was carved into fascinating shapes.

And to our left was the beginning of the meltwater running off the ice and forming the beginning of the river.

And BONUS! you get a picture of Mr. and Mrs. Furry Gnome together!  Can you believe this is one of only 2 or 3 pictures of us together from all our travels?  Says a lot about me as a photographer.  As you can see it wasn't very warm, with a cool breeze flowing off the ice.

And here is the first waterfall.  As you approach the walk to Skogafoss, the larger of the two waterfalls, it's partly hidden behind the hill, but it certainly looks like a powerful waterfalls at this point.

The canyon it's cut in the cliff is filled with mist, and the approach is filled with people, giving you an indication of how popular these sites are - and remember, this is a cold day in late April.

Eventually I manage to get a view without people, but we're not going closer for the risk of getting drenched!

Driving on to the next we get a great view of a waterfall blowing uphill!  The wind was pretty strong to create that effect.

Seljalandsfoss is a smaller but still beautiful waterfalls, flowing over the edge of the same line of cliffs.

This falls has a large cave in behind the curtain of water, but we didn't choose to get drenched here either!  Many of the views of this waterfalls that you can find online are looking out of that cave at the falls from behind.

There are a couple of nearby smaller waterfalls, but we didn't get names for those.  Very pretty waterfalls in their own right, but over-shadowed by the two larger ones.

You can see our distant bus when we turned around to head back.  A great afternoon of checking out waterfalls!