The Magical East Fjords

Happy, happy day.  As sad as we were to leave our peaceful little heaven at the Ásbyrgi campsite, we knew we were heading somewhere we would love.

We took road 864 back from Ásbyrgi to the Ring Road, which was somehow even worse than the road we took there. Well, really, it didn’t start off all that bad. We made it to the east side of Dettifoss without too much trouble. The mist and fog and rain that had set in the night before was still hanging around as we hiked out to the massive waterfall, but I do have to agree with what I had read online, that the view from that side was better.

Every spot I stopped at, I decided I needed to get just a bit closer, until I was standing near the edge right by the waterfall. I almost felt like I was just going to be sucked right into it. It was just so big, and so powerful.

But then we left Dettifoss, and the road was just ridiculous. It took us so long to bounce our way over the potholes back to the Ring Road.

And then we were flying down the road, taking in views of mountains and valleys and waterfall after lovely waterfall.

Iceland is ridiculous with its waterfalls. You’re just driving along the Ring Road, and there will just be a little pull off to walk up to some gorgeous waterfall that you know nothing about.

We reached Egilsstadir, the gateway to the East Fjords, and stopped to refuel and grab some groceries. And then onward we went, our little Jimny climbing up a mountain, looking out over forests (in Iceland!!) and beautiful land as far as we could see.

We were clearly in a cloud at the top of the mountain, but as we started climbing back down into the town of Seyðisfjörður, the views started getting clearer and prettier.

We pulled into a parking lot and were mesmerized. Seyðisfjörður is quite possibly the most picturesque little village I have ever seen.

We walked through the streets and checked out the little blue Church.

There was a ferry docked, but somehow there weren’t many people around. We walked the sidewalk along the fjord for awhile, and then stopped in a pub on the water for some lunch, where I had a wonderful veggie burger and baked potato.

We considered just staying there the rest of the day since we liked it so much, but the day was still young and we already had a lot of ground to cover the next day. So, we climbed back up the mountain, the weather having cleared up a bit to allow us to see the fjord and the little waterfalls along the way better.

We drove south and turned off toward Mjóifjörður. I almost chickened out of going after seeing the condition of the road. I looked at Anthony and said “I don’t know, maybe we should just skip this one.”
And he asked, “Well what’s going to be there?”
“Just some beautiful fjord.”

And so of course, Anthony decided we were going. And I am SO glad he did.

Not many people know about Mjóifjörður, or at least don’t make a point of going. It’s far off from the Ring Road for one thing, and the road there is rough, and there is barely even a town in the fjord (population around 35). But I had read online that it was beautiful and that the little fjord had wonderful weather from being so well-protected and that was enough to put it on my radar.

The views the entire way there were insane. Waterfalls everywhere we looked. And sure enough, the weather became sunnier and warmer and calmer the closer to that fjord we got. I swear it is magical. I fell so in love.

One of the only named waterfalls on the way down is Kliffbrekkufossar, which is actually a series of stepped waterfalls. And it was stunning.

I saw so many other little waterfalls in the distance that I wanted so badly to go try to explore. But the fjord itself was stupidly beautiful itself, and it was calling our names, so we drove down and along the water until the little town. I daydreamed of going totally off-grid and staying there for the rest of eternity. Ok, so maybe not for winter. But I could totally live there for the summer.

We slowly made our way back to the paved road, and drove down to the next fjord for the night, Reyðarfjörður.

They had a lovely little campground next to a duck pond looking out at the fjord.

It was absolutely freezing, so we ate some soup and drank some hot chocolate to stay warm, and huddled up in our top-tent for the night. We set an alarm for the middle of the night to see if the Northern Lights would make an appearance, and sure enough, they did, but it was a weak showing. Possibility looks good for tonight, though, so fingers crossed!