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Gullfoss es una de las atracciones más populares del país. Se encuentra en el amplio cauce del río Hvítá, que fluye hacia el sur y a un kilómetro de la cascada gira bruscamente hacia el este cayendo en tres escalones curvados. En ese momento se cae en dos saltos (de 11 y de 21 metros) en una grieta de 32 metros de profundidad, que mide unos 20 metros de ancho y 2,5 kilómetros de largo. El caudal medio en esta catarata es de 140 metros cúbicos por segundo en verano y 80 en invierno. El máximo flujo de agua medido es de 2.000 metros cúbicos.
Durante la primera mitad del siglo XX y algunos años más adelante, se creó una importante especulación acerca del posible uso de Gullfoss para generar electricidad. Durante este periodo la catarata fue alquilada indirectamente a inversores extranjeros por sus dueños, Tómas Tómasson y Halldór Halldórsson. Sin embargo, los intentos de los inversores de llevar a cabo el proyecto fracasaron, parcialmente por falta de fondos. La catarata fue vendida posteriormente al estado islandés. Incluso entonces se idearon planes para explotar el Hvítá, lo que habría cambiado Gullfoss para siempre. Estos planes no se llevaron a cabo y ahora Gullfoss está protegido.[cita requerida]
Junto con Þingvellir y los géisers de Haukadalur, Gullfoss forma parte del Círculo Dorado, una ruta turística de un día muy popular en Islandia.
Gullfoss (dall'islandese: gull "dorato" e foss "cascata") è una delle più note cascate dell'Islanda sud-occidentale, lungo il percorso del fiume Hvítá nel Haukadalur.
La portata media è di circa 140 m³/s in estate e 80 m³/s in inverno. Le acque tumultuose del fiume Hvítá compiono due salti di 11m e 21m di altezza, con orientazione relativa di circa 45°, e proseguono poi in una stretta e profonda gola che si apre nell'altipiano.
Gullfoss, soprannominata spesso "la regina di tutte le cascate islandesi" per la teatralità, la bellezza e i giochi di luce del suo doppio salto, è situata relativamente vicino alla capitale Reykjavík (120 km circa) e fa parte assieme al Þingvellir e i vicini geyser (Geysir e Strokkur) al cosiddetto Golden Circle (Circolo d'Oro), ovvero l'insieme di attrazioni naturalistiche più note e visitate d'Islanda.
Gullfoss waterfall in Iceland. Part of the Golden Circle. Which includes Geysir and Þingvellir (Thingvellir) in South-West Iceland...
Gullfoss (The Golden waterfall) is Iceland's most famous waterfall, and one of the natural
wonders of the world.Gullfoss is also by far Europe’s most powerful waterfall.
Gullfoss is actually two separate waterfalls, the upper one has a drop of 11 metres and the lower one 21 metres. The rock of the river bed was formed during an interglacial period.
There was absolutely no chance of using my grad filters as the spray from the falls was unreal !!! So this shot is two bracketed shots blended together.
© 2012 Michael Ridley
Images may not be used without prior permission
Gullfoss is in the river Hvítá (engl. white river), which has its origin in the glacier lake Hvítávatn (engl. white river lake) at Lángjökull glacier about 40km north of Gullfoss.
Glacial water is brownish, since it carries lots of sediments that the glacial ice has carved off the earth. Gullfoss is called the "Golden Falls", since on a sunny day the water plunging down the three step staircase and then tumbeling in two steps down into the 32 m deep crevice truly looks golden.
Gullfoss is one of the main attractions in Iceland and gives its name to the Golden Circle.
Gullfoss and its environments were designed in 1979 as a nature reserve. This served to permanently protect the waterfall and allow the public to enjoy this unique area. The Environment Agency of Iceland is responsible for the management of this reserve.
The origin of its name:
Gullfoss gets it’s name from the golden hue that often shines in its glacial waters.
Another assumption is that the name was inspired by the rainbow you often see when the sun hits the water spray that is thrown up by the waterfall.
The name can also be found in a travel journal by Sveinn Pálsson. “Once upon a time, a farmer named Gýgur lived at Gýgjarhóll. He had plenty of gold and could not bear the thought of someone else possessing it after his lifetime. To prevent this, he placed the gold in a coffer and threw it into the waterfall.” Which has ever since has been named Gullfoss.
How was Gullfoss formed?
Well the gorge was formed by flash flood waters that forced their way through the cracks in the basalt lava layers. On average the water flow is around 110 m3/s. But when these floods happen it can go up to 2000 m3/s, this means that it can fill almost 50 Olympic pools in one minute or about one every second. The floods were so intense that they could fill up the gorge, which is an impressive 32 meters tall, up to the top.
Gullfoss is a tiered Cataract, its total height is 32 m. It has two falls, of which the longest drop is 21 meters tall. It is in the Hvitá River in the Southwestern part of Iceland
Sigriður and her Struggle to Protect Gullfoss:
Sigriðus is an important figure for the myth surrounding the waterfall. She was born 24th of February 1871 and she died ain the Autumn of 1957, aged 87. She lived all her live in Brattholt, a farm that still exists today, and was the second eldest of 13 children born from Margrét Pórðardóttir, a housewife and Tómas Tómasson, a farmer on that same farm.
Only seven of these children made it to adulthood, and Sigriður came to be their leader, since her older sister and only brother left the farm at an early age. Sigriður was thought by her siblings to be rather strict.
Tourism of this amazing waterfall has been dated to as far back as 1875, and its access was rather difficult. Sigriður and her sisters would often guide the visitors all the way up to the waterfall, they built the first trail that led down to the waterfall.
When speculated that Gullfoss was going to be rented by some investors to generate electricity she was not happy, and took them to court, even threatening to throw herself in the river. Fortunately, the investors failed to pay for the rental and eventually the property was recovered and sold to the Icelandic Government in order to protect it as we know it today.
Gullfoss, Suðurland, Ísland
Gullfoss is a waterfall on the glacially fed Hvíta River (and there is more than one river of that name in Iceland). Not far from the capital of Reykjavik, it is a major tourist attraction, but I don't hold that against it. It is a magnificent, roaring, crashing, spraying waterfall. You can barely hear yourself think, much less keep dry, when you are at the edge of its tiers of cascades.
Gullfoss is a massive waterfalls in the “Golden Circle” east of Reykjavik. The day we were there, it seemed that every thing was frozen. The flow was very small. The lower level where you can get closer to the waterfalls was close due to icy stairs. Later on, we saw something quite rare, at least for us, the moon at the East and the Sun at the West above the horizon…it was pretty cool to see. I got to tried my in camera double exposure where I shot the moon with my longest zoom and then the waterfall at the widest end. Near by is Strokkur is where you can see Geysir, a medium size geyser that would explode every 8 to 12 minutes and sometimes a double explosion a big one followed by a smaller one. .
Gullfoss is a massive waterfalls in the “Golden Circle” east of Reykjavik. The day we were there, it seemed that every thing was frozen. The flow was very small. The lower level where you can get closer to the waterfalls was close due to icy stairs. Later on, we saw something quite rare, at least for us, the moon at the East and the Sun at the West above the horizon…it was pretty cool to see. I got to tried my in camera double exposure where I shot the moon with my longest zoom and then the waterfall at the widest end. Near by is Strokkur is where you can see Geysir, a medium size geyser that would explode every 8 to 12 minutes and sometimes a double explosion a big one followed by a smaller one. .