The two waterfalls Hraunfossar and Barnafos were only a 15 minutes drive away from my cabin at Reykholt. It was a chilly but lovely day with blue sky and sunshine – and this was „painting“ the Hraunfossar in amazing autumn colors. And I’m not telling anything about my „adventure“ afterwards which was caused by confusing and contrarious information of my paper map and Google maps… But I made it back safely to my cabin in the end.
Hraunfossar is a series of waterfalls formed by rivulets streaming over a distance of about 900 m out of the Hallmundarhraun, a lava field which flowed from an eruption of one of the volcanoes lying under Langjökull glacier. The name comes from the Icelandic word for lava (hraun) and the word for waterfalls (fossar).
Literally a stone’s throw upstream from Hraunfossar, there is another waterfall called Barnafoss. Its name, the waterfall of the children, comes from an accident which is said to have taken place here in former times. There was a natural bridge over the waterfall and two children from a nearby farm fell to their deaths crossing the river on the bridge. Afterwards, the grief-struck mother had the bridge destroyed.