Waterfalls in Hvalfjarðarsveit

Botnsá and Hvalskarðsá

The Botnsdalur valley is popular with both tourists and locals. At the head of the valley sits Hvalfell, a mountain that was formed in the later stages of the ice-age. It blocks the valley, forming a deep lake behind it.

Botnsá river flows from the lake around the north side of Hvalfell. When it passes the mountain, it drops into a deep canyon. This is the waterfall Glymur, the second highest waterfall in Iceland at 198m.

The starting point of a visit to Botnsdalur is the parking area. From there, a trail leads to the river below Glymur, which can easily be crossed in summer by walking across a log and chain contraption. The log is removed each autumn for safety reasons as the trail up the canyon side is too dangerous in winter. On the trail there are a couple of view points where the entire waterfall can be seen.

The trail continues along the river side to the lake. From there it’s possible to go to the mountain top and also to walk around the mountain.

Not far from the parking area is the waterfall Folaldafoss. It’s a bit inaccessible and not easy to photograph from the ground. A nice waterfall even though it was blasted some 50 years ago in an attempt to make it easier for salmon to go further upstream.

Much easier to photograph are a series of pretty waterfalls in Hvalskarðsá river, which flows into Botnsá just above Folaldafoss. The waterfalls are all beside the Leggjabrjótur (“leg breaker”) trail. To get there, turn right immediately after the gate from the parking lot and cross Botnsá on a foot bridge.

Bláskeggsá

Near the old whaling station under Þyrirll Bláskeggsá river sports the first concrete road bridge built in rural Iceland. The area is quite historic, having been a major naval base during WWII and then a whaling station for decades. It’s a nice area for hiking, and easy to get to up the mountain. A trail/track starts behind the oil tanks.

Just above the bridge there’s a small waterfall. It’s not a pretty sight since it has been damaged some time in the past.
In the middle of the valley there’s a nice waterfall where there used to be a farm and pasture, Litli-Sandur. As far as I know it’s called “Fossinn við Litlasandsveginn”, or the”waterfall by Litili-Sandur road”.
Most impressive is a series of five tall waterfalls where the river comes down from the mountain, simply called Bláskeggsárfossar. The canyon is quite deep so it’s probably difficult to get a photograph of all of them together from ground.

Sellækur is a small creek that flows into Bláskeggsá. It has a small waterfall that can be quite nice in good water.

Akranes

The Akrafjall mountain sits all by itself in the center of the Akranes peninsula. A number of small rivers flow from it. Most of the water comes down through the Berjadalur valley, which has some waterfalls at the valley entrance in the river Berjadalsá. These are well worth a visit when there is good water.

The lowest and smallest one is Kúafoss. It’s just by a car-park at the foot of the mountain.
Just above the water reservoir is Háifoss, a tall waterfall in a nice setting. It’s easy to photograph from the north side.
The aptly named Gljúfurfoss is about 100m upstream. I’m not sure it’s possible to get down into the canyon to photograph it.
Another 100m upstream are Lambafossar, according to maps. If these are what I photographed, they can barely be called waterfalls (plural).
Just below the bridge on the trail there are Skeiðsflatafoss and Skeiðsflataflúðir. As the name implies, the latter is more rapids than a waterfall, but it’s still a nice setting.

There’s a small river on the east side of the mountain called Brunná with a couple of waterfalls. The lower one is Svartifoss.

Laxá í Leirársveit

Laxá í Leirársveit is a salmon river flowing from Eyrarvatn lake to Leirárvogur. It has four small waterfalls (Laxfoss, Hundafoss, Sunnefufossar and Kattafoss) and a bigger one (Eyrarfoss) near the lake.

There’s a limited track to the lower waterfalls and a pretty good one to Eyrarfoss. The river is off-limits during the salmon season.

Kúhallará

This strangely named river flows through a deep canyon into Þórisstaðavatn lake. There are two nice waterfalls near to the end of the canyon (Kúhallarfoss and Veiðifoss) and a larger set of waterfalls called Kúhallárárfoss at the head of the canyon. These can be glimpsed from the road over Ferstikluháls when it starts to descend into Svínadalur.

It’s quite an interesting area and worth exploring further. There are service roads for the power lines on both sides but it’s also possible to hike up the west side, which is what I did.

Grafardalsá and Dragalækur

Grafardalsá river flows through Grafardalur valley into Geitabergsvatn lake. There is a passable road on the north side of the valley.

Halfway up the middle of the valley there is a small unnamed waterfall. There isn’t a good view of it from the ground on the north side of the river.
Stóramelsfoss is just above it. Again, there isn’t a good view of it from the ground on the north side of the river.
About 400m further upstream is Merkjafoss, by far the most impressive waterfall in the river. It’s in a narrow, winding canyon.
Below the farm of Grafardalur there are two small waterfalls Grafarfoss and Kvíafoss.

Dragalækur flows into Grafardalsá. It has a nice waterfall called Krossfoss right beside the road.

Árdalur

The Árdalur valley lies between the mountains Hafnarfjall and Brekkufjall. At the head of the valley there are two impressive waterfalls: Árdalsfoss and Skuggagilsfoss. Árdalsfoss can be glimpsed from the road but the second one stays hidden until some way into the valley.

There are tracks on each side of the river that reach about half-way from the road. The photographs below are taken from the north/east side. The hillsides are quite steep so it’s a bit of a clamber getting there.

Various rivers

Other waterfalls in the area:

At the point where the road into Botnsdalur valley leaves the main road there are a couple of waterfalls close by. Paradísarfoss is in the river Brunnsá. It’s named after a grove of trees on the east bank called Paradís (“Paradise”).
Just a couple of hundred meters to the east there’s a small waterfall called Mígandi ("Pissing”). It’s often almost dry but the setting is nice so it’s quite pretty when there is some water.
East of Saurbær church there is a small waterfall in Saurbæjará river.
Close to the road over Ferstikluháls there is a small creek Sellækur with a small waterfall called Rjúkandi.