With our 7:30am start, we started out by going directly to Goðafoss (the God's waterfall). But on the way just before the turnoff to the desired waterfall, we saw a sign indicating the Sprengisandur Road (F26) and the way to Aldeyarfoss some 41km away. Since this was also one of the falls we intended to bag, we figured we mind as well do this one now.

So we headed down the relatively smooth gravel road before getting to turnoff and a fence that I had to get out of the car and open and then close after pulling the car through (just like at McLean Falls in New Zealand). Anyways, that signalled the start of the actual F26 section where we were greeted by a scary sign showing a car going into water with 4x4 text next to it. Needless to say, we had no intentions of crossing any rivers in our rental SUV especially with the size of the Skálfandafljót River paralleling the unpaved road we were on.

After a few minutes of bumpy driving, we ultimately made it to a car park amongst the barren black expanse at 8:45am. It was very cold the moment we got out of the car, but in this 5 degrees Celsius and drizzling weather, we walked for a few minutes downhill towards a precarious overlook of the thundering Aldeyarfoss waterfall. The falls was probably about some 20m or so tall but the basalt columns surrounding it made it rather interesting.

We didn't linger too long here due to the cold, and also because we knew it was getting late in the morning (it was 9:15am by now) and there were many more falls to bag today. Just as we were about to pull out, a big caravan of Suzuki SUVs were also pulling into the car park. Seemingly inconsiderately, they parked in a way that trapped us in and we couldn't get out. Julie took the initiative and honked the horn and finally someone moved his SUV.

Within another hour, we finally made it to Goðafoss. There were numerous people on the other side of the Skálfandafljót River and we knew that was the tour bus crowd. We were on the east side of the river and decided to walk down a path that ultimately yielded us full views of the horseshoe-shaped falls from both the top and the bottom.

From looking at the way the gorge was carved out, we doubted the tour bus crowd got as good a view as we had.

Then, we drove past the scenic Mývatn Lake but didn't make any stops considering the poor colors thanks to the dreary cloudy day. A few minutes more of driving east of Reykjalið and then we turned onto a mountain road that would ultimately take us to the west side of Dettifoss in the Jökulsá á Fjöllum River in Jökulsárgljúfur National Park.

This was a 4wd-only road (really more of a high-clearance road, but we saw a few 2wd vehicles along the way) mostly due to big stray rocks conspiring to pop tires along with a few potholes. The washboardy road made sure we couldn't go faster than 40km/h unless we wished to get the jarring of our lives on this road.

Eventually we'd get to the car park for the west end of Dettifoss at 12:45pm. Out here the weather was miserable. The cloudiness seemed to have descended upon the area and really fogged things up. I was hoping the canyon was below the clouds so we could see Europe's most powerful waterfall, but after braving the near-freezing weather (2 degrees C with horizontal rain and arctic winds), we were faced with fog even at the overlooks of Dettifoss. To make matters worse, the mist from the waterfall made things even colder as we couldn't tell if it was from the waterfall or the rain.

There were many photographers there trying to make the most of the situation, but it was a pretty crummy day to be photographing Dettifoss. Trying to salvage something from this stop, we also walked a little further to Selfoss, which could only be seen from a distance on this side of the gorge.

Next, we decided to skip the Hafragilsfoss car park and head right for Hólmatungur. By this time, it was 2pm and Julie was already sick of the cold dreary weather so she decided not to do the hike. With that, I headed off into the cold and did the 3.5km loop hike.

On this hike, I saw a series of waterfalls at an area called Katlar meaning the cooking pots. Even with the crummy weather, it seemed I descended below the fog and the gorge with its waterfalls were easily visible. There was a gusher in the main river as well as several smaller cascades and waterfalls flanking the walls of the turbulent gorge.

The path looked to be its own loop but that wasn't apparent until I was on my way back up to the main trail passing by an impressively large cascade on one of the side streams going into Jökulsá á Fjöllum. The cascade tumbling amongst green vegetation and seemed to be big compared to the smaller ones haphazardly feeding the main river.

Once I rejoined the main trail, I followed it along the rim of the canyon to the south. Eventually, I'd start to hear and see a cascade further downstream though not on the Jökulsá á Fjöllum watercourse. At first, I took an apparent spur path down to the north end of the impressive tumbling falls. But I figured it wasn't an official path as it ultimately descended a steep slope towards its base.

Back on the main trail, I saw a signpost with a map right at a trail junction. That sign made it clear that I was at Hólmarfossar (you see I had originally thought this waterfall was Urriðafoss). So I guess that waterfall I saw on the way out of Katlar was the Urriðafoss. The view of the falls from the official trail was less contextual but there were wildflowers in the thick vegetation surrounding the falls.

It was getting late in the day as I started back along a path cutting right back to car park area. This trail drenched my pants as I would consistent brush against wet foliage protruding onto the trail.

As I was back at the car park area, I decided to go up the hill on a separate path in search of Réttarfoss. I wasn't sure if this was another cascading waterfall or if it was on the main glacial river. Julie was impatiently wondering why I didn't head straight for the car park and going up the hill instead. But when I got to the top of the hill with the fog and drizzle conspiring to ruin the situation once again, I managed to see and photograph what I could of the impressive horseshoe-shaped Réttarfoss on the Jökulsá á Fjöllum. Boy was I glad I did the extra detour.

Finally after 5:30pm, I returned to the car and we headed back south on the 4wd road to the Ring Road. At 6:45pm, we arrived Kverir or Námaskarð, which included numerous boiling mud pots and hissing steam vents along with some colorful hills. It was still bitterly cold and the steam from the mud pools and steam vents did little to relieve us from the cold.

We would eventually get back to Akureyri by around 9pm. We had dinner at a popular local dive called Bautinn, where I finally tried some Icelandic Lamb while Julie had her Guilemot.

After I paid the bill and handed over the merchant copy, I told the young dark-haired waitress "Takk fyrir mig."

Her eyes widened in shock and she said, "Oh my God! That sounds so Icelandic."

"No way," I said.

"Yes! That was really Icelandic." The surprised waitress walked off and tended to her business before I could process the situation and engage further in the conversation. In any case, I knew we had to pack up and leave Akureyri tomorrow with lots to do.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate tomorrow, but given our luck, I'm not so sure the famed good weather in Akureyri that Icelanders have been talking about will show up as long as we're here...

So Julie and I got right to it and wasted no time getting out of Akureyri at 6:15am and headed right back to Goðafoss. It was barely an hour later that we got to see the falls from the west side of the river. It was also clear why tour buses come to this side of the falls - because the car park is much closer to the falls. But even with that said, the views were not quite on par with those we earned from the other side yesterday.

We then continued on eastwards around the southern and eastern banks of Mývatn and then up the wider unpaved road on the east side of Jökulsá á Fjöllum. In one stretch of road at Mývatn, we heard things hitting the windshield as if there was a gravel rain or something. It turned out that we had driven through a cloud of midges! Good thing we weren't standing outside under such a swarm! However, we did snap a few pictures with the encouraging change of weather at the lake.

Anyways, on the road to Dettifoss, I had expected a smoother road and faster driving, but this road remained washboarded and bumpy. The only difference is that it was wide enough to accommodate two cars side by side easily whereas the other road on the west bank was more single lane with bigger rocks and pebbles.

By the time we made it Dettifoss' eastern car park, the skies had cleared considerably and it was actually 12 degrees Celsius already. What a difference a day makes! After all, we were experiencing 2 degrees C yesterday under miserably drizzling conditions, fog, and arctic wind chills from the north. However, with the good comes the bad, and that was the presence of swarms of midges that wouldn't leave us alone. Still, I'd take midges over fog blanketing the canyon anyday. Anyways, Julie and I took photos of Dettifoss from a more comprehensive perspective though getting it with a rainbow was difficult as it was too far downstream.

We continued over to Selfoss, which was a considerably longer walk than from the other side, but at least we got to get right up to the brink of the horseshoe-shaped falls, which also produced a rainbow this morning.

After returning to the car, we quickly drove over to the Hafragilsfoss car park, walked up towards a hill and looked down at the gushing 27m waterfall. On the other side of the hill, we got beautiful views of the canyon carved out by the glacial river that was the Jokulsa a Fjollum.

The next few hours were spent driving and visiting Asbyrgi, which was a tiny hamlet housing a gas station and a newly renovated visitor information center.

Eventually by late afternoon (3pm), we returned to Hólmatungur where Julie and I briefly walked the short out-and-back circuit to Katlar. I also did a quick jaunt uphill to see Réttarfoss in the improved weather and got to a see a rainbow in its mist.

Finally at 4:30pm, we arrived at the car park for the west side of Dettifoss. Here, we hastily made our way back down to the overlook and we saw the mighty Dettifoss producing a rainbow under the warm cloudless sky. By now, it was 16 degrees C and I was sweating. No need for gloves or jackets under these conditions. So we spent quite a while trying to seize the moment and capture as many photographs of the gargantuan waterfall as possible under the blue skies.

We lingered here for at least an hour. Something alluring about rainbows and photographing them by awesome subjects like the waterfall Dettifoss.

I guess in hindsight, we should've gone back to Akureyri after seeing Goðafoss yesterday. It was the original plan. I felt like we shortchanged Akureyri and really didn't get to explore the town. Perhaps my insecurity about seeing the Grand Canyon of the North that day to free up today more was a bit misguided. Oh well, can't cry over spilled milk.

On our walk back to the car park, we couldn't help but notice the rocky barren landscape that the trail cut through. It was very moon-like and if it wasn't for the blue skies and the orangish light the sun painted the landscape with, you'd swear you were on the moon!