The next stop on our circuit of Iceland was Seyðisfjörður, a picturesque little port - population 700 - in the country's eastern fjords.
As we drove northeast from Skaftafell, we passed green farms backed by glaciers and waterfalls. In roadside ponds, we saw yellow and black-beaked whooper swans and other waterfowl, the extent of the wildlife we would see around the country.
After passing Höfn, the Ring Road begins its in-and-out route among the fjords. The drive is beautiful, but progresses slowly. Eventually, we turned up an unpaved road that cut a little more than 50 kilometers off the trip, driving by cascades and lakes and crossing a pass before rejoining the Ring Road.
A little farther on, we turned off the Ring Road at Egilsstaðir, drove up and over a pass with a ski area near the top, and down to Seyðisfjörður. There, colorful buildings sit at the base of the steep fjord walls.
In spring and summer, Seyðisfjörður is a ferry port for travelers from mainland Europe. A week into September, however, the town was quiet except for a small restaurant/gallery. We stayed in a more modern guesthouse - plenty of furnishings from Ikea - with a waterfall cascading down the steep slope behind it.
We had hoped to go kayaking on the fjord, but the outfitter shut down for the season at the end of August, with the departure of most travelers. We were staying only a night before moving on to the northeast of the country, so spent the evening walking around the extent of town instead.
When we arrived at the guesthouse, the owner urged us to check the weather forecast and road report because snow was expected in the area. That night, we looked online and called the phone number she provided for English-language information. Current conditions were rainy and snow was, indeed, in the forecast, but it didn't seem like anything we haven't seen at home in Montana.
The next morning, a dusting of white could be seen high up the fjord walls, but there were patches of blue sky and it wasn't currently raining or snowing.
On our way out of town, we stopped at a hydroelectric station on the river Fjarðará, which flows into town and the fjord. There, a trail follows the river up the lush, green slopes past a series of waterfalls. After hiking uphill for a little more than an hour, we turned around.
As we drove up and over the pass back to Egilsstaðir, we saw snow off the side of the road, but none on it. We would not be so fortunate later, on what was supposed to be one of the shortest driving days of our trip.
Here are more photos of the waterfall trail.
Location: The waterfall trail begins at the Fjarðarsel Power Station, down a short road on the south side of Route 93 about 2 kilometers southeast of Seyðisfjörður's main intersection.
