ICELAND, THE GOLDEN CIRCLE PART III: WATERFALLS AND POOLS

June 12, 2019

One of the things Iceland is known for is its waterfalls, and the granddaddy of them all is Gullfoss (Gull = golden and foss = waterfall), located on the Golden Circle drive. It comprises two massive drops, the second turned at a right angle to the first.

The first drop is 36 feet:

The second drop is 69 feet, and it plunges into a gorge that is as deep as 105 feet, extending the fall:

This second drop reminds me of Victoria Falls, which also plummets into a deep gorge, preventing a full view of the falls. The power of Gullfoss doesn't come close to Victoria Falls, but the view is also not impeded by all the spray Victoria Falls puts out.

In the summer (which is when we were there), 4900 cubic feet of water crash over these falls each second.

Sigrídur Tómasdóttir (1874-1957) was raised on a sheep farm near the falls. She and her sisters didn't have a formal education, but they were well read and sometimes led visitors on tours to Gullfoss.

In the early 20th century, different groups tried to secure rights to harness the power of Gullfoss for electricity generation. Sigrídur worked tirelessly to preserve the natural state of the falls. She staged protests, met with government officials in Reykjavik, and even threatened to throw herself over the falls to stop the developers. Her efforts were ultimately successful. Because of her work in saving Gullfoss, Sigrídur is considered to be Iceland's first environmentalist.

A monument to Sigrídur was erected in 1978 next to her beloved falls.

There is a delightful legend from the 17th century about a boy who was tending sheep on one side of the falls who fell in love with a girl tending sheep on the other side. (The area around the falls has good ground for grazing.)

The river above the falls moves powerfully towards the first drop, and it is impossible to cross either on foot or on horseback.

Nevertheless, the girl signaled to the boy, asking him to come to her, and to prove his love, he miraculously made his way across the treacherous waters. The two married and lived happily ever after. 

The only thing we saw crossing the raging water was this very annoying drone, being flown by a young boy and a man who I presume was his father, in spite of the fact that "no drones" signs were posted at the falls. I guess I am just getting to be a grumpy old lady.

Faxifoss (Horse Mane Waterfall) was our next stop, and in some ways it was my most favorite waterfall in Iceland. It is about 260 feet wide and has a drop of 23 feet. It didn't hurt that there were hardly any people there:

All of the shadowy figures below are people in our group:

The royal purple borders of lupine enhanced the natural beauty of the falls:

This salmon step ladder on one side of the falls was unique. If only there had been salmon climbing it!

Being able to walk right up to the crystal clear water was a treat:

How could anyone not love this spectacular place--the perfect combination of power and peace?

In contrast, our next stop was at the [not so] Secret Lagoon. Constructed in 1891, it is the oldest swimming pool in Iceland. It is fed by ancient geothermal hot springs in the area. The water temperature measures right around 100° F all year long. When we walked through, dozens of people were enjoying the mineral-rich water.

Some of the streams that feed the pool are much hotter than 100° F. (100° C = 212° F!)

Wooden plank pathways lead to hot spots. There is even a small geyser that erupts every five minutes:

The Secret Lagoon has undergone several renovations over the past 128 years, including getting new changing rooms.

By the way, the structures you see to the left of the new changing rooms in the picture above are greenhouses, which also benefit from the warm, moist air in this region.

Our final stop on the Golden Circle Tour was a pool of a different sort, the Kerid Crater Lake in the caldera of a 3,000-year-old extinct volcano.

The last two items on the list are especially helpful:

The wind was whipping so hard that it was hard to walk upright, but we circumnavigated the entire caldera, which is about 180 feet deep and 560 feet wide at the bottom. The water itself is 25 to 50 feet deep, depending on recent rainfall and other factors. The top is 890 feet across, making (I think) the circumference about 2800 feet or a little over 1/2 mile.

The crater is surrounded by terrain that couldn't look less like a volcanic zone. However, not too long ago this area was probably completely devoid of trees. More than 1,000 years ago, the Vikings destroyed most of the forests that covered one-fourth of Iceland. Now Iceland is on a campaign to regrow those forests to help with erosion and as part of a climate action plan. (Everywhere we went we heard concerns about climate change.)  In fact, in 2019 the goal is to plant 4 million trees, surpassing the 2018 accomplishment of planting 3 million trees. In spite of those efforts, just 1% of the country is currently covered in forest.

Incidentally, the purple lupine that grows all over Iceland that I love so much is not native. It was brought to Iceland in 1945 from Alaska to help reinvigorate the soil. The flowers now cover 0.4% of Iceland's land surface, a fact that some Icelanders are not happy about.

Back to the crater.

Most of the crater has steep, somewhat barren walls. The lava rock is red instead of the customary black:

One side has more vegetation and a path that leads to the water. Going down looked fun, but going back up did not, and we were given only a short time to enjoy this spot, so we didn't take advantage of the extra cardio-stimulating activity.

Here is another view of the path, making it look less steep than it was:

Tourism is exploding in Iceland. In 2000, the number of visitors surpassed the number of residents of Iceland, and now tourists exceed residents by more than three times:  According to Forbes magazine, in 2018 Iceland was the 10th fastest growing tourism market in the world.

Graph from here

According to Wikipedia, Iceland is especially popular for visitors coming from the United States. I already know of two friends who have been to Iceland since we returned.

Rank	Country	2015	2016	2017	2018
1	United States	242,805	415,287	576,403	694,814
2	United Kingdom	241,024	316,395	322,543	297,963
3	Germany	103,384	132,789	155,813	139,155
4	Canada	46,654	83,144	103,026	99,715
5	France	65,822	85,221	100,374	97,224
6	Poland	27,079	39,613	66,299	91,463
7	China	47,643	66,781	86,003	89,495
8	Spain	27,166	39,183	57,971	65,589
9	Denmark	49,225	49,951	53,240	51,019
10	Sweden	43,096	54,515	56,229	49,316
	Total foreign	1,261,938	1,767,726	2,195,271	2,315,925

I'm glad we made it to Iceland when we did. I hope the gorgeous Golden Circle drive doesn't end up with crowded roads like Yellowstone or restricted roads like Zion National Park. It was wonderful to wander around as we did with minimal crowds at even the most popular places.