Dettifoss to Selfoss loop from the west car park

The Dettifoss and Selfoss loop is the national park's D2 trail: 2.5 km and about an hour from the car park on the west bank of Jökulsá á Fjöllum, out to Dettifoss, upstream to Selfoss and back. It is free. It suits anyone already driving road 862 for Dettifoss who has an extra half-hour, and it is the version of Dettifoss to choose in winter, because the west road is paved and the east one shuts. It does not suit someone short of time: the plain viewpoint walk is half as long.

The figures, read today on Vatnajökull National Park's pages: D1, the walk to the Dettifoss viewpoint and back, is 1.5 km and 0.5–1 hour, rated easy, with the viewpoint 1 km from the car park. D2 adds Selfoss and is 2.5 km and about 1 hour, also easy. D3 down into the Hafragil lowland is 9 km and 4 hours, rated difficult, with steep ground and a risk of falling rocks. Dettifoss is about 44–45 m high and about 100 m wide; Selfoss is a drop of about 10 m above it. The site has a car park and a WC and no overnight stays. Road 862 is paved, with limited winter service; road 864 on the east bank is gravel and closes with the first autumn snow. The price list names parking charges only at Skaftafell and Jökulsárlón, none here.

#The arithmetic

Dettifoss is already a stop on day 4 of the seven-day Ring Road, day 3 of the five-day North and Diamond Circle and day 6 of the ten-day Ring Road. On those days the loop costs about 75 minutes on foot against 45 for the D1 viewpoint walk, so about 30 minutes more than the stop the ledger already counts. From a Reykjahlíð bed as a separate trip, the car park is 50 km and 45 minutes each way by OSRM on OpenStreetMap; with 75 minutes walking, 15 at the car park and a 30-minute buffer, about 210 minutes. From Húsavík via Ásbyrgi it is 92 km and 80 minutes each way, about 280.

#What goes wrong

Road: the park asks drivers to check conditions on the Road and Coastal Administration's site before taking road 862 in winter, and its winter page says paths may be slippery and recommends crampons. Safetravel.is advises winter tyres, watching vedur.is, and waiting somewhere safe for weather to improve rather than pushing on. Spray: the path near the falls is wet and can be iced well into spring. Hafragil: D3 is a separate, harder trail; the park warns of steep ground and falling rocks.

#Alternatives on the same road

North on road 862, Ásbyrgi has a 30-minute pond loop and a two-hour cliff-top walk. South at Mývatn, Dimmuborgir is a lava-formation walk 10 minutes from Reykjahlíð, and the Earth Lagoon is the warm end to the day. East on Route 1, Stuðlagil is the basalt canyon on the Egilsstaðir side.