Beyond the Overlook
Iceland · East Iceland hike

Stuðlagil Canyon Hike

The trail itself was ordinary. The basalt-column canyon at the end was anything but.

Basalt columns and blue-green river in Stuðlagil Canyon
Beyond the Overlook trail snapshot
Effort4/10
TrailMostly ordinary
PayoffExceptional
Best forBasalt geology
CrowdsManageable for us
Worth it?Yes

The destination is the reason to hike

We would not sell Stuðlagil as a beautiful trail from start to finish. The walk is fairly plain. What makes it worthwhile is arriving at the canyon and suddenly seeing towering basalt columns wrapped around bright blue-green water.

Tall basalt columns lining Stuðlagil Canyon
The final canyon is what makes the otherwise ordinary approach worth doing.
Worth it? Yes. Go for the canyon, not because you expect every mile of the approach to be scenic.
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