After visiting the attractions around Myvatn yesterday and Husavik in the morning, I continued my second part of the journey in diamond circle. I’d say my highlight of diamond circle is Dettifoss, as this powerful and wonderful waterfall really impressed me! If you look closely, you’d see two dots near the waterfall, those two dots are people!

Location

This was my itinerary of Day 9. Point A is the campsite I stayed, then point B being Husavik (Read my previous post on What’s there besides whale watching in Husavik?)

And I’d be talking about Point C (Ásbyrgi) and Point D (Dettifoss) in this post. As I went clockwise in my trip, I encountered Ásbyrgi canyon first.

Ásbyrgi

I have to admit that I was under prepared for Ásbyrgi. Without knowing that it’d be a 2-hour hike, I rested in the beautiful information center without going up to see this gorgeous canyon.

The information center was warm, friendly, and it had a cafe and a small (free) exhibition!

If you plan to hike to Ásbyrgi canyon, then this info center is where you’d depart (Mark in yellow: Info Center). My mistake was I went to the wrong parking lot (Mark in yellow: Not here!), and wasted a lot of time in finding the right hiking path.

Since I didn’t go, I only took picture of what I’d might see.

I made a mistake in going to the wrong parking lot, but it wasn’t an obvious mistake until I realized later…. see! This post seemed somehow promising! And there were many people with us that put me in confident that we were at the right place.

Except when we got to the end of the trail, we only saw a beautiful pond, with lively ducks.

While we were wondering how exactly we’d go up to see this canyon…. which was then we realized we were at the wrong place. Haha!

We didn’t see the canyon by hiking, but at least we still saw some of it in our car when we drove by.

Moving to our next destination, Dettifoss waterfall! Enroute to Dettifoss, we saw a post. In Iceland, this icon means you should stop for the attraction even though you have no idea what it is!

Hafragilfoss

It turns out to be a nice and sweet attraction with just a bit of detour. A lovely waterfall it is! Not many tourists were there (I guess they weren’t bothered as Dettifoss has a lot more fame!) It’s a lovely place to see the magnificence of nature. And I like how I could see the riverbank.

And what’s really cool at this place was the rocks you stand on are actually red here! So don’t miss out on this waterfall if you are driving to Dettifoss!

Dettifoss

So finally, Dettifoss! The gem of this Diamond Circle.

Being the most powerful waterfall in Iceland, it takes a bit effort to view this waterfall. When you get out from the parking lot, you’d have to walk a bit.

And it’s truly breathtaking! I leave it for you to discover its wonder!

The Hiking Route

It’s apparently a popular hiking route from Ásbyrgi to Dettifoss. I don’t know how other people do it, but I did meet a group of Slovak who planned to hike this trail in 1 day!

So I looked up on the internet: http://www.vatnajokulsthjodgardur.is/english/what-to-see/hiking-routes/the-jokulsargljufur-canyon/asbyrgi—dettifoss/

The distance from Ásbyrgi to Dettifoss is 32km. And normally people plan it as a 2-day trek, with a stop at Vesturdalur (Hljóðaklettar). You can download a map here.

I think it won’t be an easy hike. But who knows? Maybe this will be your next adventure! (Otherwise… just rent a car, hehe!)