Stigafoss

Stigafoss is one of the least recognized of Iceland's tallest waterfalls, despite being located within sight of the Ring Road. The falls are found on the southern tip of the Öraefajökull Volcano, about halfway between Skaftafell and Jökulsarlón, two of the most popular tourist destinations on the south side of the island. There do not appear to be any major roads which get closer to the falls, nor trails to provide easy access on foot, both factors which certainly contribute to the falls' obscurity. The stream which produces the falls is fed by a portion of the Stigárjökull, a distributary glacier of the larger icecap on Öraefajökull itself. The main melt stream from Stigárjökull occurs one drainage to the west and appears to harbor at least one major waterfall of its own, but the volume of water in the stream which produces Stigafoss is still significant enough to be noteworthy and highly visible from the highway over three kilometers away. The falls are said to drop around 450 feet, consisting of two distinct drops - the upper of which is significantly taller than the lower. Perhaps 75-percent of the falls can be seen from the Ring Road, but due to the distant view it's hard to tell how much more may be found hidden in the canyon below the obscuring ridges. We have seen pictures taken from near the base of the falls which suggest that access on foot is indeed possible, but how difficult the trek may be we cannot say. While we were able to locate and identify the waterfall when we visited Iceland in August of 2014, we were not able to obtain any sort of survey data due to the distances involved, so we cannot provide firm data as to the exact dimensions and significance of the falls.