Given the wild nature of the falls (it's unregulated and protected by being part of the Jökulsárgljúfur National Park or þjóðgarður), its rate of erosion (and therefore its propensity to move further upstream) is very high. You definitely don't want to get too close to the edge and fall into the raging and frigidly cold river!

We managed to experience this waterfall in a variety of ways. On the west bank, we got some dramatic close-up views of the falls while photographing it dwarfing people on either side of the river! The photo you see above is from the west bank. This part is reachable via a rough and rugged 4wd route 862 (though we've seen some 2wd risk damage to their rental car to get here) about 23km from the Ring Road and 17km east of Reykjalið. We managed to get lucky with rainbows when viewing the falls from here in the late afternoon.

The east bank is the more touristy side though it too requires driving on a bumpy unsealed 2wd road (though the route 864 is not nearly as rough as 862; even tour bases take it). We noticed there's definitely more ways to view the falls from this side and is the more popular of the two. You can even see the bottom of the falls from this side as well as get precariously up to the brink of it.