Gullfoss

Soon after leaving Geysir, our vans pulled over to the side of the road, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. One of the geologists in the lead van had spotted a classic example of erosion and wanted to take pictures for his lectures. It might help to explain a few of the events I describe if I note that I was in the back of the second van, and so wasn't privy to all the decisions made on short notice by those in the lead van. We also, relatively speaking, had fewer geologists in the second van, which may help explain why I don't go overboard with the geological details. I'm a history type, after all - the only one on the trip. Anyway, after a short stop for photographs, and a brief debate between geologists about whether or not a rock formation on the side of the road was a collapsed lava tube or not, we continued on our way.

Gullfoss comes as something of a surprise. The waterfall is hidden until you're right on top of it, and when you do see it, it's most impressive. What was most unusual for a North American visitor was the lack of guardrails, platforms, and warning signs. We were able to walk right up to the water's edge at the top of the upper falls. One path was actually closed due to risk, but it led under the area we were standing on and was very unsafe. This attitude towards personal responsibility - the assumption that people are actually intelligent enough to recognize risk and make appropriate personal judgments instead of the North American habit of assuming that everyone's inherently stupid, foolish, and unable to make rational choices on their own - was quite refreshing. It also meant that the places we visited weren't encumbered with unsightly railings, platforms, and other accouterments that blight so many places in North America. The only examples of "safety" provisions that we saw during the trip were small ropes at ankle level, usually surrounding actual danger spots (geysers, geothermal mud pools, and volcanic vents), the occasional length of boardwalk in ecologically sensitive areas or places where you're liable to sink through a thin crust into hot areas, and some small warning signs. I only hope that increased tourist traffic, especially from North America, doesn't change this situation.

We discovered another hazard at Gullfoss. Icelandic scenery has a way of devouring film, and this was the place where it really began. It took a conscious effort for me to remind myself not to expend lots of film at this place; there was, after all, much more still to come. After an all-too-brief period of time, whose end was marked by some vigorous horn blowing from the vans, we once again clambered into the vans and headed north into the Icelandic interior.

Iceland Trip
Introduction · Itinerary · Background · Arriving in Iceland · Getting Around · Geysir · Gullfoss · Kjölur Route
Hólar · Akureyri · Goðafoss · Mývatn · Húsavík · Krafla · Ásbyrgi · Jökulsárgljúfur · Reykjavík
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Last updated 20 January 2006
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