The Waterfall Circle, East Iceland

The spray from Kirkjufoss makes the day look misty even in the sun

The Waterfall Circle, which is also called the Laugarfell Loop, is an 8 kilometers long hiking circle that starts and ends in Laugarfell. In the beautiful setting of the Eastern Highlands, Laugarfell is a mountain hut offering accommodation and food with two wonderful natural hot spring pools from which you can see Mt Snaefell on clear days.  According to local folk tales the water here is known for its healing powers.

 With no other inhabited farms or buildings around, you can enjoy some really lovely hikes here, which are not likely to be overrun by tourists.  When we did the hike we occasionally encountered other hikers, but for much of the hike we were alone with no one else around.

The obligatory selfie with waterfall….

 There are many interesting hiking paths around Laugarfell and a number of beautiful waterfalls. In particular, there are two main hikes that have been marked out with coloured posts; the 8km Waterfall Circle hike that we did and a longer route that adds an extra loop to the middle of the circle hike. 

The first little waterfall we came to

 When researching the walk, I discovered that all the websites tell you that you can see five waterfalls and one canyon and that some of these waterfalls are among the most powerful in East Iceland. Most famous of the waterfalls are Kirkjufoss and Faxi.  The above is all true, but in my opinion they seriously undersell the place when describing it as five waterfalls and one canyon.  This is an absolutely gorgous hike across mossy green rolling hills dotted with dozens of waterfalls, some tiny but many much larger.  Several of these magnificent waterfalls just seem to emerge suddenly from dramatic canyons (definitely more than one), stopping you in your tracks!  Counting both the little waterfalls and big ones, I have to say I lost count of how many there were!

Even the small waterfalls were very beautiful

 Our first challenge was when we set off and carefully read the sign telling us how to follow the path by following the yellow marker posts (with green posts for the longer hike).  When we got to the first post we discovered it was red not yellow!  Having done the entire walk I can vouch for the fact that regardless of what the official sign says, it is marked by red posts.

Following the river Laugará

 The hike itself is quite easy; the path is relatively flat and the trail is well marked (once you’ve worked out the colour of the posts!). There are areas of the trail that are quite muddy and a few sections that are a little steep either up or downhill, but nothing overly challenging.  With the sheep far outnumbering the people, this was a wonderful way to escape the crowds and to see some truly stunning waterfalls that have easily equalled many that we have found on the well-beaten tourist routes.

Stuðlafoss

 We followed the red posts along the river Laugará, in the summer sunshine, blue skies dotted with white fluffy clouds, and it felt as if we were in a world of our own.  The weather, in typical Icelandic fashion changed from moment to moment and during the course of our hike we walked through thick mist, pouring rain and glorious sunshine, reminding me of the popular Icelandic saying “If you don’t like the weather…. Just wait five minutes!”  Luckily, we are very used to living in Iceland by now and were equipped with clothing for whatever the weather decided to throw at us. 

Walking through mist that would change back to sunshine a few minutes later

 There were a few of the spectacular waterfalls that particularly stood out on the hike; the first being Stuðlafoss, a waterfall that tumbles down a wide crack between two cliffs of towering basalt columns.  It wasn’t a huge waterfall but was very beautiful.

Stuðlafoss

 About halfway along the hike we came to the waterfall called Faxi, where the Laugará river meets the Jökulsá í Fljótsdal and there’s a magnificent viewpoint with a bridge from which we were able to get some pictures. When we crossed the bridge, we noticed the posts had turned from red to green, so realised that this is the start of the added loop, making the walk far longer.  It also looked a lot more challenging, with a narrow sheep track traversing a very steep slope, so we took some more photos from that side of the bridge as the view of Faxi was better from there and then crossed again to continue on our easier hike along the canyon. 

Faxi

This section of the hike is extremely muddy and boggy in places and boardwalks have been placed at regular intervals to help with the worst of the wet ground.  Even so, I was glad of my new, and rather expensive, Aku leather hiking boots as before very long at all they were completely soaked.  However, true to the promises of the manufacturer, my feet stayed perfectly dry and warm as toast.  Money well spent! 

A small waterfall next to Faxi and the bridge joining the two hiking routes

 As we followed the canyon we saw several more high and narrow falls plunging down the vertical wall of the canyon to our left until we eventually and unexpectedly arrived at Kirkjufoss, yet another mighty and powerful waterfall which is almost at the end of the hike.  It didn’t disappoint and felt as if we’d almost saved the best till last, looking down the canyon at the Kirkjufoss falls with the mountains behind.  Just glorious.

Kirkjufoss

After Kirkjufoss, the path kinked to the right and we followed the trail up over the hills and back down to the mountain hut at Laugarfell, where we enjoyed a well-earned beer and a bite to eat.  There is also a hot tub that is free for residents at the mountain hut but that anyone can pay to use, which is an added bonus for anyone who arrives back tired and footsore from the hike.  We didn’t use the hot tub as we were heading to the Vök Baths geothermal spa later in the day, but it’s definitely an added attraction – as if the gorgeous hike weren’t attraction enough!  A lovely way to spend two or three hours in stunning surroundings.