| |
| Raufarholshellir and Glymur, WW | |
|
| | Raufarholshellir and Glymur, WW | | | |
|
|
Raufarholshellir and Glymur, WW
| | |
| |
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | On the day we went from an AirBnB in Hveragerdi to a Bookings.com in Borgarnes Iceland we hit a couple reasonably well known outdoor attractions - they both show up on Tripadvisor.
Rauferholshellir is a roadside lava tube/cave near Hveragerdi (I was told I could pronounce this Hurdy Gurdy). It's wider than the AZ lava tubes and had a fair amount of ice due to ceiling drips. We were poorly equipped (two lights for four people, sneakers, no helmets) but enjoyed the challenge. The challenge was to avoid injury I think. My sons and I passed a few hundred feet into the darkness but had no reason to go further (it's 1.3km long). Looks like it'd be fun for the well equipped. No one was there when we arrived but as we left there were 3 other cars with young tourist/adventurers. At this time of year Iceland is probably 50+% tourist/adventurers.
We drove north and found the Glymur trailhead parking lot which was pretty crowded. Glymur is apparently Iceland's 2nd highest waterfalls at over 600'. Beautiful area and an interesting trail which passes through a cave and requires crossing the river on a log. I can say it's a nervous crossing for some (e.g. me) and we did see some people turn around there.
I had read that it is possible to make a loop by crossing the river above the falls and I kept my eyes open for people on the other side of the river. I only saw a few but enough to keep me interested...and when we did get above the falls there were a couple people on both sides of the river, some looking for a good crossing place. I wasn't afraid to get my feet wet and plowed ahead...not more than knee deep. Most others took their shoes off.
Coming back down the north side trail was very nice. It helps you realize how narrow the river gorge is (the people on the other side seem pretty close). Somehow I lost my GPS track but the loop was about 5mi, 2.5-3hrs. No solitude here but highly recommended. |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
