Spectacular View of Stuðlagil Canyon: Video

Vala Hafstað

Stuðlagil canyon, East Iceland, suddenly became an immensely popular destination for Icelanders last summer, reports Björn Steinbek in the travel section of mbl.is.

The canyon, through which the river Jökulsá á Dal, a.k.a. Jökla, runs, used to be known mostly to the locals. After the building of a dam for Kárahnjúkar hydroelectric power plant, however, which opened in 2009, the water level of the river in the canyon dropped by 7-8 meters, making the canyon and its basalt columns much more visible than before. The best time of year to visit Stuðlagil is June through August.

The canyon can be accessed both from the east and the west. In both cases, you drive from Ring Road 1 along Efri Jökuldalsvegur road for about 20 minutes. The drive from the town Egilsstaðir takes about an hour.

You can either drive to the farm Grund, park there in a parking lot and view the canyon from an observation deck, which was recently built there.

The other option is to turn off the road by the farm Hákonarstaðir and continue toward the farm Klaustursel, park by the bridge (since a new parking lot has not yet been taken into use), cross it and follow a hiking path to Stuðlagil. This involves a roughly 10-km-long (6-mile) hike (5 km each way), which can take up to three hours, so it’s wise to bring a lunch bag along.

Enjoy the drone video, posted by Björn:



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