About Slaedufoss
Slaedufoss (Slæðufoss) was kind of an unexpected waterfall surprise that we encountered when we thought we were already waterfall-fatigued by the Faxi hike.
Like most of the waterfalls on the other hike, this waterfall also fell on the Laugará Stream dropping a modest 15m or so but framed by round Laugarfell Mountain.
Oddly enough, we only noticed this waterfall when we started to leave Laugarfell as we drove back up the Laugarfellsvegur Road.
However, there didn’t seem to be any sanctioned trails leading to a good view of it other than some already existing trails of use.
According to my Gaia GPS surveyed map, there appeared to be a 4wd road going some 500m from the Laugarfellsvegur, then crossing the Laugará before ending at another trail.
That trail supposedly went about another 500m to the opposite cliff rim with a more direct look at Slæðufoss.
I can’t comment more on this particular trail since I didn’t do it this way, but it’s definitely something to look out for given the rather unsanctioned nature of the manner in which I wound up experiencing the falls.
Indeed, once I found a suitable pullout by the Laugarfellsvegur (see directions below), I then had to scramble towards the cliff edge for a top down profile view of Slæðufoss.
Scrambling along the rim a little further downstream, I got slightly better views of the falls though the whole time I wondered if any of this was sanctioned or not given the lack of an obvious trail to follow.
I only needed about 15 minutes to get my fill of the falls before going back into the car to continue the drive back to Egilsstaðir and Seyðisfjörður.
But this just goes to show you how the Laugarfell area seems to find ways to keep you here even if you have somewhere else to go…
Authorities
Slaedufoss (Slæðufoss) resides in the Highlands of the East Region between the Káhranjúkar Dam and Egilsstaðir, Iceland. It is administered by the municipality of Fljótsdalshreppur. For information or inquiries about the general area as well as current conditions, you may want to try visiting their website.
It makes sense to describe the driving directions from Egilsstaðir (“EH-yils-sta-thir”), which is pretty much the biggest town in the East of Iceland.
Starting from the roundabout connecting Route 1 (Ring Road) with the Route 95, we then drive south on the Route 95 for 11km.
Then, we turned right onto Route 931 and followed it for about 21km as it followed the southeastern shores of Lagarfljót before eventually crossing a bridge and reaching a three-way junction.
Turning left at the junction onto Route 933 (Fljótsdalsvegur), we then drove for a little over 3km to the next turnoff with the Route 910 (Austurleið).
From there, we turned right to go up the switchbacks and drive for nearly 35km to the signed turnoff for Laugarfell on the left.
Finally, we took the unpaved turnoff (Laugarfellsvegur) for the final 2.2km to the car park at the Laugarfell Hot Springs car park.
However, the pullout that we stopped at to check out the Slæðufoss Waterfall was about 700m before the car park at the end of the road.
Overall, this 75km drive would take a little over an hour.
For geographical context, Egilsstaðir was 27km (about 30 minutes drive) west of Seyðisfjörður, 175km (about 2 hours 15 minutes drive) southeast of Mývatn, 248km (over 3 hours drive) east of Akureyri, 186km (under 3 hours drive) north of Höfn, 448km (under 6 hours drive) northeast of Vík, and 6351km (7.5 hours drive) northeast of Reykjavík.
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Upstream to downstream and back sweep of the profile of Snaedufoss from near its brink
Downstream to upstream sweep starting from Laugarfell and ending with a nice contextual look at Snaedufoss
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