Covered in goosebumps, screaming “holy shit” repeatedly in my head, and feeling the most alive I had ever felt in my life is what standing over the edge of Dettifoss Waterfall did to me. This waterfall had such an intense power to keep me locked into the present moment that it forced me to be completely mindful of everything going on around me. I was lost in a euphoric flow and remember tearing up to how amazing this feeling was. I found it absolutely mind-boggling that about 30 minutes ago I was filled with anger, frustration, and doubts. All of that had disappeared in almost an instant. This exact moment helped remind me about the importance of mindfulness and being aware of how far thoughts can drive me.
*Blissful Backpacking tip*
You don’t have to control your thoughts. Just stop letting them take control of you. Who knows how many once in a lifetime opportunities could be right in front of you hidden by a cloud of thoughts.
A Frustrating Drive to Dettifoss
After 6 days of exploring Iceland in my van. I felt that I had seen it all. I walked behind waterfalls, inside of volcanoes, hiked on top of glaciers, witnessed active geysers, and slept under the stars on black sand beaches. Dettifoss was one of my last sights to see, but for some reason, I was not too excited about seeing yet again another waterfall. I mean there are supposedly around 10,000 waterfalls in this small country. I thought to myself, could this one really be worth it after everything I had already seen?
The road to Dettifoss was one of the most difficult roads to maneuver through in Iceland. After turning off from the ring road, I entered a road covered with an insane amount of deep potholes. Because of how deep they were I was forced to drive around 5MPH, constantly on edge dodging these holes. Sometimes they would be so unpassable that I would have to offroad a bit. In what was supposed to be only a 20-minute drive on this road ended up being around a full hour of very slow driving.
At one point I had to stop in order to reconsider whether to continue. My whole fridge in the back of my van had flipped over spilling out all my food/drinks and honestly I was afraid that I would get a flat tire. So together with my earlier doubt on whether this was worth it. I was stuck in this situation feeling somewhat miserable and for some reason pissed off at life. Nevertheless, I fought through all the negativity and decided to continue on towards Dettifoss.
Final Stretch – The Hike
After one of the most intense drives of my life. I finally reached a sign pointing to the direction of the waterfall. There I saw a couple of cars parked so I too left behind my van and began hiking. I was still very angry and convinced that this waterfall wouldn’t be worth it. That I had wasted a big chunk of my day getting here.
About a 10-minute walk from where I parked I noticed this beautiful river that meandered through a rocky valley. The river alone was a unique sight to see which began making my doubts slowly disappear. After fully taking in the sight, I followed the river and then I began hearing a loud consistent roar. It was like the gods were yelling out to me and pulling me towards them. It was no doubt the waterfall that I had worked so hard to reach. My heart racing, I eagerly power walked towards the direction of the sound. At long last, I made my first sighting of the waterfall and what was to come after indeed changed my view towards life forever.
Dettifoss Waterfall
This waterfall wasn’t like any of the others. It displayed how truly monstrous nature could be. The sound of the waterfall was deep and loud. A sound that doesn’t stop and goes on forever. Another thing that caught my attention was just how out in the wilderness this waterfall was. No railings, signs, or fences. Just in the middle of nowhere on some volcanic/glacial island. I was able to fully experience the waterfall by being able to walk up close to it, on the edge, and look down from the top.
During this time, I had no idea that Dettifoss was considered Europes most powerful waterfall. I had it randomly marked down on my physical map with an X like it was a pirates treasure. So I was completely blown away from the sight because I had 0 expectations of it. Then I realized; shouldn’t I approach every experience like this? Is that really what it takes to attain this feeling that I was having?
Here is a short guide on how to do a quick mindfulness exercise to bring you more into the moment.
After spending quite some time staring in awe at the waterfall and taking in everything that I learned from this one experience. Filled with curiosity on what else was waiting to be discovered, I became motivated to further explore. A mentality that was the complete opposite of what I had earlier in the van. So I decided that I had to figure out where all this water was coming from. That was my mission from this moment and without delay began my adventure.
Selfoss Waterfall
There were about 10 people at Dettifoss, but it seemed like that was the furthest they were going. I hiked along the river behind Dettifoss for about a mile. At points, I went completely off the track, climbed up sand dunes, hopped over rocks and explored small caves. I did not see one person during this solo adventure. I felt like I had this whole area to myself. Then with much anticipation, I reached an area that answered everything that I was curious about. It was Selfoss waterfall and what made this one so unique was how incredibly wide it was. It looked like there were 50 small waterfalls all draining into this one river that creates Dettifoss. Once again a sight that I had no expectations for made it even more amazing.
Going to see Dettifoss waterfall ended up being one of my favorite experiences in Iceland. The feeling I was experiencing was one of a kind. It was as though I had discovered something new in this world. A first of my kind to see this sight. Maybe this feeling was what Christopher Colombus experienced when he first saw America. It’s crazy to think that I almost skipped this place because of my stubborn mentality of thinking that I had seen it all. I was weak and allowed my thoughts to drive me to bad decisions. I learned from that mistake and made sure to never let that stop me from seeing something in a foreign country again.
