Journey To The Center Of The Earth

The approach to Gullfoss, across barren sand flats and grassy hills, is deceptive. In the distance, there are mountains — and in good weather, a glimpse of a glacier — but nothing to suggest the presence of the most majestic waterfall in Europe. Then all at once, there's something like a low cloud close to the earth, sparkling with points of light as if a handful of diamonds had been thrown into the air. Suddenly, Gullfoss — the Golden Falls — lies before us, forbiddingly beautiful. Visitors can walk all the way to the edge of the falls, where the water hurtles past, roaring, surging, playing, on and on. The torrent is a mighty symphony that overwhelms you. Swathed in spray, you feel baptized and renewed.

CHARLES HOOD / OCEANS-IMAGE.COM

DEEP INTEREST Divers Peter Rowlands  and Tomas Knutsson in the "Silfra Cathedral", a lava ravine in Thingvellir national park, Iceland, site of the meeting of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates

Gullfoss, on Iceland's White River, is one of the most powerful waterfalls in Europe — a rush of icy water 100 m across that drops 12 m, then twists and narrows before thundering 20 m off another ledge into a deep canyon. In another country, Gullfoss would be the center of attention; in this part of south-central Iceland, it's just one stop on the so-called Golden Circle of wonders, a primeval theme park where continents collide and melt in fire and steam, then solidify again in ice and stone.

"Thus did fierce resistless forces/ Fashion Iceland's sacred shrine," wrote the poet Jonas Hallgrimsson some 160 years ago. His lines epitomize the cardinal points on the Golden Circle that runs from Reykjavik via the lava fields and deep rifts of Thingvellir National Park, on through the geothermal spouts and springs of Geysir, to Gullfoss and back. Divers can explore the crystal-clear depths of the Silfra ravine, or the nearby lake that is home to uniquely evolved varieties of charr and stickleback. Far beneath the diver's reach, the groundwaters are superheated and come spewing 30 m into the air every 10 minutes from the Strokkur geyser.

RAGNAR TH. SIGURDSSON / ARTIC-IMAGES.COM

SPOUT IT OUT The Strokkur geyser lets fly

The wonders of the Golden Circle have enraptured visitors for centuries, but the affinity we Icelanders have for our turbulent earth is bred in the bone. Back in 1907, an English speculator tried to buy Gullfoss in order to build a hydroelectric dam on the White River. Sigridur Tomasdottir, the daughter of a local farmer who co-owned the falls, devoted the next 50 years of her life to thwarting development plans, and even threatened to throw herself over the edge.

Tomasdottir lost the court battles, but won the battle for Icelanders' hearts and minds — in 1979, the government granted the falls protected status. So Gullfoss and the Golden Circle continue to symbolize the undefiled beauty and power of nature that poets like Hallgrimsson will forever want to praise. Sometimes, though, it's enough to submit to their majesty in awed silence.

Ólafur Ragnar Grimsson is the president of Iceland

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