I hike for waterfalls.
I need this on a shirt because this is the truth! There is no way I would cross a river on a log, climb up a rocky hillside with only a rope for balance, or walk narrow pathways with terrifying drop offs if it weren’t for the waterfalls to be discovered at the end.
And the hike back to the beautiful Glymur waterfall, it is worth all that effort!
Glymur is the second highest waterfall in Iceland, which basically means you all need to see it. If you do this hike you will get a “I hike for waterfalls” shirt. Deal?! Seriously though I really need to look into these shirts!
Back to the hike.
Glymur is one of the most beautiful hikes I have done in Iceland, and that is saying a lot, you guys have seen the beautiful hikes I have got to do around here!
What makes Glymur truly special to me is the nature in this area, it is gorgeous! And when you are feeling the burn as you sweat your way up the steep hillside it helps to have something pretty to look at (and I am not talking about my Vikings backside, although that is nice as well:) to motivate you to keep on climbing.
The nature in this area, it is motivation enough to keep on going!
And this little photo shoot of beautiful nature was all in the first five minutes!
Now my first time hiking Glymur I took this first part of the hike as a sign that this would be a nice easy hike back to a beautiful waterfall. At the time I remember thinking how glad I was that the Viking had finally taken me to a hike that I could actually manage without turning into a sweaty mess.
This dream world of mine, it quickly changed, as soon as I walked through a cave.
In case you didn’t catch that, the start of the hike has a cave for a doorway, how awesome is that! Thankfully it is a very large and open cave so no issues of claustrophobia occur.
The cave, aka doorway to Glymur
Okay the walk through the cave is still nice and easy, it goes on the “this hike is rainbows and butterflies” side, as does the beautiful river that greets you on the other side of the cave.
That picture up above. The one of me pretending to play in the puddle, or something like that. That is actually me trying to delay what I know is about to happen since I know that my hike is about to leave the “rainbows and butterflies” side and enter the “why did I think this was a good idea” side. This is all due to the log.
The beautiful places never have an easy path, ain’t that the truth!
I must toot my own horn here though and say I handled this attempt at crossing the log much more gracefully than my first time at Glymur. Let’s compare.
First time:
Second time:
If my laughing is any indicator you can tell round two went much smoother. If you have any coordination at all this obstacle will be no problem for you. Just ask H, he practically danced across the log.
All pumped up on my successful log crossing we took off for the steep climb up the rocky hillside. Thankfully there is lots of pretty views to help somewhat distract me from the pain I felt in my legs and the shaky feeling in my gut from my fear of heights.
I told you guys this hike was hard work:)
A group of hikers passed by when H was taking these pictures of me, I think they thought I really was struggling and that face was no joke. They even asked H if we needed any help haha. They probably thought what is this guy doing while she is down there struggling or something. It had me cracking up for the rest of the hike, hence the second picture of me laughing.
And this one, of me still laughing.
After what felt like ages of climbing we finally caught a glimpse of Glymur in the distance. And this is where my mantra, “I hike for waterfalls” came to be as I repeated it (much to H’s enjoyment) the rest of the way up the steep hillside.
Thankfully by this point we were almost to the top and soon we came to a somewhat flat area that has some stunning views. Once I have reached this point of the hike, and finally caught my breath, it is right back to the “rainbows and butterflies” thoughts about this hike. How could it not be though, just check out these views!
Oh you know, just doing a little tree pose on a cliff, no big deal. I wish I hadn’t deleted the outtake real of this pose, some of those pictures made for a good laugh.
After taking in the views we headed off for the last little bit of the hike so we could get up close and personal with Glymur. We didn’t hike all that way for nothing!
A waterfall worth the hike don’t you think?
To have your own epic hiking adventure to Glymur check out the map here and get to planning!
Don’t forget to tag all your Icelandic adventures with #UnlockingIceland. I am loving seeing all your pictures, keep them coming and happy adventuring around Iceland!
Question of the Day?
What do you hike for? What is your favorite outdoor activity?
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