Glymur - Icelands Tallest Waterfall

Click on the title to take you to more pictures and information on this hike. The 6 Elders in Iceland decided they wanted to see Glymur and take the two new members with them. That meant only Elder Koyle could go as the van only holds 9. I took our two Elders into Reykjavík and was going to spend the day looking for more sites to visit. When I dropped them at their first meeting place, Elder Koyle asked if I wanted to drive instead. At first I said no and then why not. Even though I did not expect to go I had packed P-day clothes so we stopped at a store and I changed clothes and exchanged cars. It looked like it was going to rain all day but not once and we actually got quite warm climbing to the top - over 200 vertical meters from the parking lot to the top. There were no trails identified only a closed road, but we saw some yellow painted rocks on the road and followed them. We then came to Y were the road went up the mountain (after later walking down that road I am not sure what could possibly go up it) and a trail led off in the direction of the falls - no yellow markers on either. We chose the trail and I am sure we were on the Leggjabrjótur (literally: Leg Breaker) trail mentioned in the link. I kept up with the 2 Elders leading us even when we got to the straight up loose rock part which scared our only true Icelander that was with us. The views were spectacular even though we were on the wrong side of the canyon to see the entire height of the falls. We then walked further past the falls in hopes of finding a way across the river so we could walk down the opposite side and see the waterfalls completely. There was no place to cross. Our Icelandic member did not want to go back down the trail so I went with him along with the others except for the two Elders who left their sweaters on the trail. The road did not look promising as it led away from the canyon and up another hill but our Icelandic member was not going to go down the trail and my knees were starting to both me so I thought it was worth the try. Eventually we saw the road off in the distance start down the mountain and eventually towards where we were parked. We even made it back first. There were sections of the road that were practically straight up and our Icelandic member said the only vehicles that could make it up this road had huge water filled tires - I would like to see one of those. Needless to say I am feeling the hike but it was fun and very beautiful. Now I would like to go again if someone can tell me where to find the trail on the other side. There were probably at least 20 people climbing on the same side as we did (only not on the Leg breaker trail - they used the road) but we only saw 4 on the other side. They were too far away to find out how they got there though.

The first picture is at the top of the falls. The parking lot is way beyond the end of the canyon like out near the water you see in the bottom picture. The main waterfall that is the tallest in Iceland is on the other side of the one in the middle picture. Next time we are going to find the other trail.