This photo was taken on the way back. All the white is so awe- inspiring! It is like a snow desert as one of my cousins put it.
If you have not read my previous posts on my epic Iceland road trip itinerary part one and two then let me give you some background, so you can truly enjoy and feel like you were on our journey.
We decided to drive around the ring road - the main highway that goes around Icelands outer edge. The waterfall I wanted to see super badly, Dettifoss is the most powerful waterfall in Europe and being the waterfall chaser I am -- I had to see it! We drove 12 hours, some of which were a bit trecherous, but luckily our car had studded tires. Those really help more than you would think. I suggest you get a car with studded tires if you are renting a car in Iceland - you can read more about driving in Iceland HERE.
On our fourth day we were finally ready to go to Dettifoss. Filled with excitment we set off in the morning after a delicious breakfast at Dimmoburgir Guest House in Myvatn. We set out probably around 10 or 11am, fast forward 30 or so minutes later and we had made it to the entrance of what was going to be an interesting day. When we arrived we saw about eight to ten other cars sitting at the entrance of the 12 mile drive to Dettifoss and we wondered why... and it was not long until we found out.
The Sign says "Impassable" in english and Icelandic and then it says "if you drive past this barrier/sign and problems occur assistance may entail substantial Expenses." We convinced ourselves since it wasn't closed we could go down it...although I don't think it had a hinge....
There was a sign that ever so kindly warned us that this road was not serviced and we could drive down it at our own risk, but if we did need help it would cost us. We hummed and hawed for a little while until we finally decided to try it. I mean....we are from Colorado after all and we have a lot of experience driving in snow and to top it off we had studded tires (not that we were really sure if they would help with this specific situation). We started down the road and began to slide to the left. Now... keep in mind this road was barely big enough for two cars to pass each other and on either side their was a 45 degree angle drop off. If you went off of the road you were going to either roll or be very stuck for a long time. We got a little bit nervous and decided that we better go back. It was a bit spirit crushing considering we had only made it one mile and I really wanted to get to Dettifoss.
Now....Imagine this: We are sitting in the middle of the road in one and a half feet of snow and we decide we are going to definitely get stuck if we try to turn around. Instead, Robert backs out with his super epic back out skills. I mean he backed this car out an entire mile! I was pretty impressed despite the depression that was setting in at the realization I may never get to see Dettifoss.
Then, we had this bright idea, lets wait for someone to come with a bigger car and beg them to take us. I was willing to cry if I had to. So....just as we were about to leave, after sitting there for a half hour or so a jeep pulled up with some big ole tires on it. We decided we would begin begging, but they were too nervous to drive down the road in the snow (I'm guessing that the sign also played a part in scaring them). If I have learned anything you should never convince someone to do something if they are not comfortable because it will always end in disaster so we decided to crushingly let it go, we drug our feet in the snow back to our car and tried to figured out what we were going to do.
We were the only car for miles. It was a bit scary, but also very fun! The tire marks are because I took this photo on the way back.
I bet right about now you are like, Raquel you have basically written a novel and we still do not know how you made it! Well... I started researching everything - tours that will take you to Dettifoss in big cars, Where to rent a car in Myvatn, etc... I probably typed "Rental car Myvatn" i n my phone about 30 different ways until finally.... I found something!
We drove to the address...well we got a little bit lost first which was a little more aggravating than usual because we had spent half the day trying to get to a waterfall that we did not know if we would ever make it to (not to mention we drove half way around the country to get to it). We showed up to a car garage (like a place where they fix and work on cars). Low and behold this polish entrepreneur had started a car rental business and he had just made his website live that day! It was basically meant to be! They had an epic land rover defender with 31 inch tires. These were just stock tires so it wasn't anything ginormous - our original car had 26 inch tires on it. But it was a big enough improvement from our original car. We decided to rent it and give it a try because I'd be damned if I didn't make it to that waterfall. Also, there were no studs on these tires and the Polish man even told us that they also had a tow truck company and gave us his card just in case we got stuck. He knew how treacherous that drive was going to be.
Our Beautiful Land Rover Defender For the Day!
On our way over we decided that we would pick people up if they were at the entrance and wanted to go. I mean, we had seven extra seats. Finally, we made it back to the infamous road to Dettifoss and the car that refused to drive us down was still sitting in the same spot. This was about two hours later - we asked them if they had made it and they said no. Then, we saw some others that looked just about as sad as I did when I thought we weren't going to make it. I had Robert ask them if they wanted to come because I get nervous when I have to talk to strangers... haha (not really, but kind of). Anyways they said yeah!
Thankfully we had them! It took us about two hours to drive 12 miles because of how many times we had to dig ourselves out. Oh yeah and that poor clutch on that car. We had read it was easier to start in deep snow if we started in second gear -- well... it was a lot harder than it sounded to start in second. We eventually decided to start it in first.
The fun began once we loaded the Four Tyler, Texans into the car. There were some tire marks from others trying to make it down the road for about the first mile and then it was just us! Robert was driving and I was spotting. The snow had not fallen evenly on the road, sometimes it was not as deep on the edges and sometimes it was not as deep in the middle. So we had to zig-zag every which way. It was kind of scary though because at times we had to get so close to the edge of the road. if you go off of this road you are most likely going to flip or be stuck for a long time - due to the 45 degree angle ledge on either side.
There were a lot of times when no matter which side we chose to drive down, the snow was so deep that it would build up under the car and stop it in its tracks. At this point, the three guys and myself got out of the car to dig it out and create a little path to give it the momentum to get going. After doing this about twelve times and two hours later we finally made it to Dettifoss. It sounds like it was tedious, but it was actually a lot of fun and a huge accomplishment.
If you look closely you can see the car tire spewing up snow, because we were stuck. Luckily, this time all we had to do was back out because we had tire tracks paved in the road already from the way to Dettifoss.
When we made it, we were the only ones there for the entire two hours. It was a pretty amazing and surreal experience to have Europes most powerful waterfall to ourselves for two hours.
Some Pictures of Dettifoss - The pics really do not do it justice.
The misadventure wasn't over just yet! On the way back I was droning for the video and some of the pictures from the car and not paying attention to Roberts speed... Yes, I often have to tell him to slow down because he gets a little excited and goes a little crazy with his speed. Anyways, all of the sudden the car was up sideways on two wheels and thankfully we came back down, but we spun 180 degrees to the left and then 180 degrees to the right before the car somehow managed to straighten out on the road again. I honestly do not know how we stayed on the road let alone didn't flip. Robert later admitted he was going 50-60 mph. He was only able to do it because of the tire tracks already in the road from our drive to the waterfall. Needless to say I paid attention to his speed after that. But we all survived and it was all part of the misadventure.
Until the next time,
Raquel and Robert
Check out the video below. It is only a few minutes and I mean I might be bias...but it is pretty cool! Some pretty cool Drone Footage of the car and waterfall are included. So, check it out!
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