As I get going on the Ring Road this morning only one thought is going through my head.
“Today I will see the most powerful waterfall in all of Europe, Dettifoss.”
The way to this waterfall is an experience in and of itself though. First I traveled for hours along the coast, going further North. Clouds from the ocean on one side of me, fog from the mountains on the other. My only companions are the sheep that seemingly own the road.
I leave the coast and head inland, and the terrain turns into a lunar landscape. I think on more than one occasion that I must be going the wrong way, since there surely can’t be any water to be found out here in this barren environment, let alone a powerful waterfall….but I follow the signage regardless.
I get to the parking lot, and as I start hiking I still feel like I’m not in the right place. Yet my body is feeling the electric energy of something special just around the bend. I probably hiked close to half a mile when I start to hear the roar…
Dettifoss in Icelandic language means “collapsing waterfall”. I realize later that this is also the waterfall from the opening scene in the movie “Prometheus”. A light rain is falling from above, but the spray from the collapsing water as it rushes over the rocky edge is what really gets me soaked. I’ve feel intensely alive and in the moment standing on the edge of such a magnificent natural wonder.
Selfoss is just a little further upstream, amazing in it’s own right. From here I can see a person walking on the other side of the river, although I would imagine it would take a few hours to drive around to get to that trail.
Quickly I am realizing that Iceland is just too epic to see everything all in this one trip, and I just need to be grateful for what I am able to accomplish with my time here.
The most powerful waterfall in Europe does not disappoint. I’m buzzing with energy as I carry onward, wondering what the rest of this day may have in store for me.
