Hafragilsfoss

Hafragilsfoss is found a short distance downstream of Dettifoss in the northeast part of Iceland between Myvatn and Egilsstaðir, north of Highway 1. Take Route 864 - which branches from Highway 1 just east of the bridge over the Jökulsá á Fjöllum - north from Highway 1 for 34km, then turn left where a sign points to Hafragilsfoss (this will be about 2km past the signed turn off for Dettifoss). The final half-kilometer long road which leads to the viewpoint is steep and rough in places, so take appropriate caution. The falls are visible from the parking area at the end of the road, but better views of the canyon can be had by followin a short path out to a promontory on the edge of the canyon.Hafragilsfoss is the second largest waterfall in the Jökulsá á Fjöllum (River) after its upstream sibling Dettifoss, and are among the largest in Iceland. Situated on the third step of the Jokulsargljufur, the immense canyon which harbors the largest waterfalls along the river, the river plunges 89-feet over a 280-foot wide ledge formed in the volcanic bedrock, with good examples of columnar jointing visible in the cliffs on either side of the falls. As the river sources in several huge lobes of the massive Vatnajökull, and flows through areas of active volcanism, there is almost always a high volume of silt in the water. This causes the river to assume a color ranging from slightly gray to straight up chocolate milk during the warmest summer months. Signs at Dettifoss, which is usually accepted as the most powerful waterfall in Europe, indicate that the river's discharge averages about 14,125 cubic feet per second in the summer months, but this contradicts the river gauge measurements we've been able to find which shows the flow to vary from about 3700 cubic feet per second in the colder months to about 9,500 cubic feet per second in the warmest months of the summer, with peak flow hitting over 20,000 cfs periodically. In addition to the wildly varying volume of the river, the Jökulsá á Fjöllum has been prone to several immense Jokulhaups, or Glacial Outburst Floods, in the past. Often these floods have been instigated by volcanic activity in the Barðarbunga caldera, which lies beneath the glacier that sources the river. The canyon which harbors Dettifoss and Hafragilsfoss was likely formed by several such floods repeatedly scouring the bedrock. Some analysis suggests that in order to account for boulders which have been deposited in certain locations throughout the canyon that the volume of water involved in such floods would have had to have been greater than the volume of the Amazon River! Obviously such an event would be short lived however. This hypothesis has achieved recent attention due to the present volcanic activity at Barðarbunga - which in fact began the day we arrived in Iceland, and two days after we visited Dettifoss the roads accessing the falls were closed off in precaution (the volcano didn't begin erupting until after we had left the country). Thus far there has been no indication of an imminent flood, however should one occur as a result of the activity, there is potential for any or all of the waterfalls within the canyon to be permanently altered.