North Iceland
Lake Mývatn
July 4, 2026, continued
After a bit more than an hour’s drive from Borgarfjörður Estuary, we stopped and looked at Rjúkandi Waterfall, 139 meters high. The waterfall is on the left, and another photo from the drive is on the right, below.
We then continued our drive to Stuðlagil Canyon. There are two canyon access points, and after determining that the views from the west did not seem as good, we drove across a bridge and parked on the east side. We then walked on a relatively flat and wide path for about 45 minutes to reach the beautiful canyon.
Stuðlagil Canyon is lined with basalt columns, and its river is a beautiful blue-green color. There were many people who ventured down into the canyon or climbed up on pillars (we have no idea how, or how they got down), but we thought the view from the safe rim was awesome enough. We had rain, sun, wind and clouds on the walk, and it was pretty cold. We returned to the parking area and had lunch purchased from a food truck that we ate outside at a picnic table, despite the temperature.
A distant view of the canyon from the early part of the walk.
This photo and below show the viewing platforms on the other side of the canyon. The walk there is shorter, but the views are not as good.
To the right and below you see people who climbed the basalt. We have no idea how they got up there or more importantly, how they got down. Waterfall shown at lower right is near the start of the trail.
This was one of our favorite stops on the trip. We had read information before we left home saying that improvements had been made, paving some of the road, making better viewing spots on the west side, with nice restrooms, and an improved road on the east side to a closer parking area, making the roundtrip walk 3.2 miles instead of 6 miles. We were glad for those improvements, which made visiting Stuðlagil feasible for us.
From there we drove about an hour and forty-five minutes through an increasingly dry landscape with lava fields, although tall mountains covered with snow were also clearly visible. Just before Lake Mývatn, we stopped at the Námafjall geothermal site (aka Hverir). We walked around through bubbling mud pots and steaming vents for forty-five minutes, but it was very cold, so we decided to leave and check in to our warm hotel.
The area around Lake Mývatn evokes the surface of the moon, except for the snow, of course!
Views of the geothermal area, and two
short videos.
From there, we drove along Lake Mývatn past the large and impressive Hverfjall Crater. We took one look at the steepness of its sides and decided that ascending it was not in the cards for us. From there we drove a bit farther to one of the rare gasoline stations in the area, before turning around and driving for twenty minutes to our hotel on the lakeshore. Our room featured a fantastic panoramic view of the lake and the aforementioned crater. We are staying two nights here and will see more nice sites tomorrow.
A good view of Hverfjall Crater above.
View of the lake from our hotel, below.
Here is the map for the sights of North Iceland.
