Kolufossar

The waterfalls of the troll woman Kola

 

Our second stop on our trip to northern Iceland was Kolufossar - the waterfalls of the troll woman Kola.

 

Near the ring road, the Víðidalsá river plunges over three waterfalls into the Kolugljúfur gorge. The gorge is 1 to 2 km long.

 

 

The waterfalls can be reached from the ring road via road 715 (Víðidalsvegur). The road is a 13 km long circular route. Shortly before the waterfalls, turn off again and follow the signs to the parking lot.

 

 

This is the beginning of road 715, the turnoff from the ring road. However, we waited a little while until the animals had crossed the road and turned off again a little further on to another pasture on the other side of the road. 

 

 

 

You then park in the large parking lot in front of the old wooden bridge that spans the river and the Kolugljúfur gorge and walk across the bridge to see the gorge.  

 

The three waterfalls are called Efrifoss (= “upper waterfall”), Kolufoss (= “waterfall of Kola”) and Neðri-Kolufoss (= “lower waterfall of Kola”).  

 

Together, the three waterfalls are called “Kolufossar” (= “waterfalls of Kola”).

 

 

 

 

 

But please be careful!

The Víðidalsá river originates on a plateau in the former rural municipality of Húnavatn (now Húnabyggð) and flows for approximately 67 km through Lake Hóp to the sea. From mid-June to the end of September, fishing is permitted in the river below the waterfalls up to the Kolugljúfur gorge, approximately 25 km from the mouth at Hóp. The Kolufossar waterfalls in the gorge are so high that salmon cannot swim further up the river, so fishing is only possible in the pool below the waterfall and further downstream to the sea. 

As far as I can tell, the Starir fishing club has leased the fishing rights in the river. Anyone interested in fishing must therefore contact the club. However, the Víðidalsá river and its tributary Fitjá are both known as good fishing rivers: large salmon weighing around 20 pounds are mainly caught here, but char and trout are also found.

Incidentally, the name “Kola” is said to derive from the troll woman Kola:

She is said to have lived near the Kolugil farm, close to today's path to the gorge, before retreating into solitude. 

It is said that she dug the Kolugljúfur gorge with her own hands and then lived on the rocks by the waterfalls. Her sleeping place was on a special slab on the cliffs, which is still called Kolusæng (= “bed of Kola”) today. It was located directly by the river, behind the waterfalls, so that in the morning, before getting up, she could reach into the pool below the waterfalls with her long arms and put the first salmon of the day, still raw, into her mouth. 

 

When she got up, she caught more salmon, which she then ate cooked. A little further west, there is still a large hole in one of the rocks called Koluketill – Kola's cauldron.

 

The troll woman Kola is said to have been buried nearby under the hill Koluhóll. 

 

 

[Translated from here.]