So after yet another subpar brekkie at the Hotel Geirland, we checked out just after 8am and headed off to see if Systrafoss was indeed revived by last night's rain. It turned out that it started to trickle but the water didn't make it down the cliff as the strong winds blew its piddly stream back up into the sky. Another guy must've had the same thought because he too left right before us and headed back the other way just as we were approaching Systrafoss.

Anyways, we continued onwards towards Skógar arriving at 9:45am. There, we found out that we could use the Wi-Fi internet and check out emails and credit card statements. Not long after that, we headed back to Seljalandsfoss to see the so-called spooky waterfall Gljúfurárfoss and arrived just before 11am.

I got pretty good shots of the falls disappearing into the narrow slot alcove when viewed from afar. I was determined to try to see the falls past the short narrow slot canyon with boulders wedged above. So I took off my socks, wore my chacos, and started wading.

Well, the water was ice cold. I didn't even make it half way through the slot before the cold river hurt my feet. In no time, I beat a hasty retreat back to the open grassy area. Julie was busy taunting me that a real man would've stayed there for five minutes. Ha!

It was just past 11:30am and the day was still young. So we next did some miscellaneous waterfall touring with the extra time we had before we could check in to the Hotel Edda Skógar.

First off, we headed north towards the waterfall Gluggafoss. This one was interesting with its inverted fork-like shape. There were also another neighboring waterfall to its left. The herd of sheep (some of them were black) sitting before these falls provided nice scale.

As we took our time getting closer to the waterfall, we looked towards the east where it appeared where the glacial valley Þórsmörk lay. We wouldn't go in that direction on our trip, but I did see postcards of it and perhaps we could do it on a return trip to Iceland.

When we were at Gluggafoss, we were soon joined by a handful of photographers. I was quite surprised that there were this many people at the falls. I had always thought this was an obscure waterfall. I guess I was wrong.

As we left Gluggafoss, we headed down the road towards Hvolsvöllur. Along the way, we noticed another interesting waterfall. It was near a turnoff signposted for some place called Hliðarendi. There was also another sign indicating Njál's Saga. I guess we somehow stumbled upon part of the Saga Trail. In any case, we photographed the waterfall and continued onwards to Hvolsvöllur.

We paid a visitor center there a visit where I picked up some literature and some maps. Apparently the visitor center here was all about Sagas. These stories that portrayed morals and lessons while depicting the hard life of early Iceland seemed quite prevalent in this part of Southern Iceland. So after 1pm, we left town and headed over to the township of Hella just up the Ring Road.

After a quick stop of hot dogs, we checked out Ægissufoss. With the partly cloudy skies and strong winds, I was able to photograph this interesting waterfall with Mt Hekla visible in the background. The skies looked threatening with some patches of dark clouds, but they did little else.

Next, we checked out Arbæjarfoss. Unfortunately, this waterfall was more difficult to see since it was unsigned and it appeared to require some degree of trespassing in order to get a decent view of the falls. I just settled for a rather unsatisfactory view of the falls. There was one part of the road that looked awfully worrisome as it was littered with jagged rocks.

By now, it was 3pm and the afternoon was nearly over. So we headed back to Skógar to check in to the hotel. The weather remained mostly cloudy which seemed typical of Southern Iceland it seems. After taking care of business back at the hotel, we tried looking around the small hamlet for dinner. Unfortunately, we either had to settle for pizza and hamburgers at a Skógar Cafe or ultra expensive food at the Hotel Skógar. The overpriced dinner buffet at the Hotel Edda was already out of the question.

So we decided to drive for about half an hour east into the rain and towards Vík í Myrdal, and return to Halldórskaffi. I had a craving for the juicy Halldór's Burger again and Julie was determined to have fish no matter what the price was. And so I got my $20USD burger and Julie got her $50USD fish. We figured it beat anything we would've had in Skógar.

Finally, we returned to the Hotel Edda where Julie continued to take advantage of internetting. Meanwhile, I wanted to do a quick hike to a waterfall in the next drainage east of Skógafoss, which we noticed from the road on the way to our dinner run in Vík í Myrdal. It seemed like a foss that was easy to get to, but upon doing the hike, it actually turned out to be around 30-45 minutes with a pair of tricky scree sections. Still, the falls were nice and I probably would've lingered longer were it not for the annoying midges that were still around. That waterfall, by the way, was called Kvernufoss. I learned this only after the hike when I looked at the map.

And with that, I rejoined Julie at our substandard accommodation (by Edda standards). So far it seems that everything about South Iceland was either more expensive, the people more distant, the food more expensive, the accommodations and brekkies more substandard, and the weather more foul than in North Iceland. Oh well, three more days in Iceland to go. Julie was already homesick. I was already getting tired of spending oodles of money on this trip and figured it's about time to go home. Still, we've got to finish our waterfalling, and tomorrow, I anticipate hiking the latter part of the Þórsmörk-Skógar trail to see the waterfalls along the Skógá River. We'll see how that turns out as literature about doing that excursion as a day hike is minimal at best...

The day was still overcast (it's been this way for the last 4 or 5 days in South Iceland) and I also had to walk nearly an additional mile to go around the farm and ultimately to the base of Skógafoss. It took a little over 20 minutes for this bit of road walking. Then came the arduous climb up to the top of Skógafoss. There were already a handful of photographers with tripods up and about taking photos of the beautiful rectangular-shaped waterfall. Still, I was huffing and puffing my way up to the top not concerned about getting repeat photos of the waterfall under the same cloudy conditions as before.

Once at the top, I climbed over the sheep paddock ladder and headed onto the trail, which skirted the Skógá River. It didn't take long before I saw the first waterfall on the river. Shortly thereafter, I saw another one. The going was getting good already. With this development I started marking on my GPS the location of each waterfall sighting. So these first two waterfalls were referred to as Foss1 and Foss2.

As I continued hiking along the river while the trail gradually went uphill, I saw more and more big waterfalls. They varied from the wide river types to the taller thunderous plunging types. There were even a few tributary waterfalls that were noticeable and graceful. I took my time at each of these waterfalls as I carried my tripod with me.

I arrived at what I called Foss #7 at around 9am. I actually followed a spur that eventually dead-ended at some impassable drop-offs. Some of the footing was precarious, but the view of the falls was impressive. It was loud and it was misting. I couldn't believe how huge it was. I don't even think this one was named.

When I got past Foss #7 (not counting Skógafoss), I was finally caught by another day hiker who intended to go all the way to the mountain pass near the hut shelter at Fimmvörðuháls. I wasn't sure I'd make it that far. In any case, we both photographed Foss #8 together.

And onwards I hiked. One waterfall after another kept showing up. It was almost like a game in which I'd keep hiking just to see which waterfall would come up next.

Eventually, the trail would skirt alongside a deep and narrow gorge. There were still loud waterfalls hidden beneath but alas it was difficult to get a few of some of them except from the top down. Nonetheless, I saw up ahead there were still other waterfalls to check out.

By Foss 13, I was surpassed by a group of Icelandic teenagers who were picknicking near one of the tributary waterfalls.

Onwards I went, still amazed at each waterfall I saw. Eventually the Skógá River split up and the trail followed the eastern fork. When I got to Foss 25, I was amazed at yet another 30m tall double waterfall with a tiny natural arch on the cliff above it. Quite cool.

The trail then ascended sharply again to get past this waterfall and then I saw Foss 26. It was a thunderous but shorter version of Skógafoss. Shortly after this waterfall, the trail flattened out and I was surprised to see a group of people picknicking past a bridge as well as a 4wd vehicle! Obviously, a 4wd track must intersect with this trail at some point.

When I got to the bridge, I was an amusing sign saying "Many Beautiful Waterfalls In The River."

No kidding!

The sign also indicated that I had gone 8km beyond Skógafoss. By now, it was 1pm and it was time to get back down. Some Belgian backpackers I met at the top answered my inquiry about how much further the shelter was.

"4km," they said.

Obviously, I wasn't going to make it all the way to the Fimmvörðuháls shelter (12km from Skógafoss). Still, I was pretty happy with my waterfalling. But now the weather started to drizzle. I had better make my way down now.

At 2pm, the drizzle turned into rain. Still, I was hot and sweaty from all the activity and I actually welcomed the wet relief. The only bad thing was that the rocks and shale started to become slippery.

Finally at 3:30pm, I made it back to the busy base of Skógafoss. By now, my right knee was inflamed and it was a bit painful to go down the stairs by the falls, but I managed. Now, I had to walk the last 20 minutes or so back to the Hotel Edda. By 4pm, I was back at the Edda. I was finally glad to change out of the smelly hiking boots and take a nice hot shower before the crowds would arrive at the shared facilities later in the evening.

Dinner beckoned after the refreshing shower. We were intent on going cheap today and that meant having pizza at the Fossbuð (pronounced foss booth though Julie kept saying "foss bud").

During our meal of subpar pizza, I realized that this could very well be the least expensive day we've had in Iceland. I didn't buy any brekkie nor lunch. One of our nights in the Edda Hotel was also free thanks to some Hotel Edda Promotion. Julie did buy a shrimp sandwich and gummi bears, but other than that, no petrol was used... I'd say all in all, it was quite a satisfying and triumphant day in South Iceland...