Directions to Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon and Kirkjugólfið
Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon
The Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon is 2 km long and 100 metres high. (Photo by: Andrés Nieto Porras)
The gorge itself came into existence around 9000 years ago at the end of the last ice age, when the icecap retreated and the current gap ruptured more. The natural plateaus on the both sides of the gorge will give you an idea of the former water level and the initial location of the lake.
Kirkjugólfið
Kirkjugólfið has an area of 80 square metres with 6-sided (pentagonal) basalt columns. It almost seems as if there had been a church here, with the floor as the sole remnant, but this is not the fact. The columns are all naturally formed by lava cooling down very slowly so that it crystallized. In the floor, there is also a single column with 10 corners. Can you spot it?