We went on an incredible hike today; the most challenging and most beautiful that any of us have ever experienced! When we first got to Iceland and I was putting together our daily itineraries for the area in and near Reykjavik, we had a day that was sort of free to be filled with something new. I did some more research and found a waterfall named Glymer (the only waterfall I have seen without “foss” in the name), only an hour north of Reykjavik, that was hidden between too cliffs in a mountain fissure that required a 4 hour roundtrip extremely challenging mountain hike to view (did I mention that the total elevation hiked was over 1300 feet!?!) Naturally, we decided to try it!
Firstly, the drive to Glymer was the most beautiful we have done in Iceland. We even pulled off at one viewpoint and explored the rocks to the edge of the cliff of the sound. The views were magnificent!
Once we got to Glymer, we were not disappointed. The hike included a cave, several waterfalls, a river crossing with a log and rope only available in the summer, hiking along the cliff rock face at high elevation, unbelievable views, incredible elevation/terrain-based difficulty, tons of birds nesting on the cliffs and flying across the gorge, the grandeur of Glymer, barefoot fording a mountain river above Glymer (that becomes the falls about 100-200 meters later), and then a walk back that feels like you are the only person in the world. The entire looked like how the earth must have appeared millions of years ago, like Jurassic Park or The Land Before Time. It also demonstrated a lot about Ezra and Naomi as they did not complain once (Naomi literally was positive the entire time even though she had to do the entire grueling thing with much shorter legs!) It was all very worth it as the views and experience uplifted my soul so completely, even if it is hard to describe. It was all even accomplished with only a couple hiccups (When the valley opens up to a near 360 degree view and we were hiking right on the cliff edge, Valerie had a panic attack. She was amazing and was able to fight through it and finish the hike with us. Later, Valerie slipped on a rock when fording the river with the hiking backpack and my water bottle went flying into the river. Amazingly enough, an Icelandic couple must have saved it before it went over the falls and surprised us with it about 20 minutes later.)
As we finished the hike, we were exhausted, but so happy. Glymer was one of the best things we have done in all of our Iceland adventure!
Remeber y’all, whatever it is, even if you aren’t sure, Go For It!
Finally, as promised in the previous post, Ezra’s design unveiled:
See You On the Next Mountain!
July 5, 2025 – Total Step Count 17,874 (Extreme Terrain and Elevation)
Wow! I can only imagine the feelings when you are actually there! Thanks for this blog and letting us follow along on the adventure.
This all looks far more difficult to traverse than I thought it would be. Does anyone work along these hiking trails to help out or are you truly on your own?
So glad your mishaps were minor. I would be terrified even if I was in good shape.
Enjoy and stay safe!
It was a truly religious experience. Absolutely soul envigorating.
No, no official people are there. You are totally on your own.