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Barnafoss

Barnafoss




Barnafoss is really more of a series of rapids as the Hvítá River (not to be confused with the river by the same name responsible for
Gullfoss) is forced through a narrow rocky chute that once had a natural bridge spanning across it. The meaning of this waterfall translates into "children falls", but the signs here indicated that two children who fell and lost their lives over that natural bridge while the parents were in town at church for Christmas Mass. The saga indicated that the mother of those kids had the bridge destroyed (via some spell) once she realized what had happened. Now in reality, natural bridges collapse under themselves given the powerful erosive forces from the rapidly moving river that undercut whatever was supporting the bridge.

We did a little bit of a walk to reach this rapids flanked by lava walls and rocks. Even though the obvious natural bridge had collapsed, it looked like there was still another one near the level of the river, which I'm not sure was the same bridge or a different one. The walk probably takes around 20-30 minutes round trip.

Directions: This waterfall is in the same area as Hraunfossar. See that page for driving directions.

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Is that another natural bridge down there?Is that another natural bridge down there?

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Looking at the turbulent river squeeze between the lava rocks. It looks like there might be a natural bridge down there, too!


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TRIP REPORTS
For more information about our experiences with this waterfall, check out the following travel stories.

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