“Norse myth says Asbyrgi is a hoofprint of Odin's eight-legged horse; geologists say it was carved by catastrophic glacial floods. The canyon keeps both stories.”
About Ásbyrgi Canyon
The land here records repeated jokulhlaups, sudden glacial floods triggered when subglacial eruptions melted huge volumes of ice that then burst out down the Jokulsa a Fjollum river. These floods are thought to have cut the horseshoe in stages. Alongside the science, the older Sleipnir legend has been told for centuries to explain the strange shape.
Asbyrgi is a vast horseshoe-shaped canyon in north Iceland, around three and a half kilometres long, with sheer cliffs up to a hundred metres high enclosing a sheltered, wooded floor of birch and rowan. A rocky island called Eyjan splits the centre. After the wind-scoured plains around it, the calm, green, tree-filled canyon feels like a hidden world.
After the wind-scoured plains around it, the calm, green, tree-filled canyon feels like a hidden world.
Two Origin Stories
There are two explanations for the canyon's shape. Folklore says it is a giant hoofprint left by Sleipnir, the eight-legged horse of the Norse god Odin, as he galloped across the sky. Geologists tell a different tale: the canyon was gouged out by catastrophic glacial flood waters, jokulhlaups, bursting from beneath the ice sheet when volcanic eruptions melted it, possibly in two separate events thousands of years apart.
The Experience
You walk into the sheltered canyon floor, suddenly surrounded by birch woodland and birdsong, with the curved cliffs towering on three sides. A short trail leads to a small pond at the head of the horseshoe, beneath the highest walls. The contrast with the bleak surrounding plateau is the whole point; Asbyrgi is a green refuge enclosed by rock.
Why It Matters
Asbyrgi captures the way Icelanders have always held mythical and natural explanations side by side, the hoofprint of a god and the scar of a flood describing the same place. It is also a rare pocket of woodland in a largely treeless country and a highlight of the north's Diamond Circle route.
Asbyrgi captures the way Icelanders have always held mythical and natural explanations side by side, the hoofprint of a god and the scar of a flood describing the same place.
Why Visit
A sheltered, wooded canyon with dramatic cliffs and a famous double origin story, part of the north's Diamond Circle. The main viewpoints need only short walks.
✦ Insider Tips
- 1
Walk to the pond at the head of the horseshoe beneath the highest cliffs.
- 2
It is part of the Diamond Circle, so pair it with Dettifoss and Husavik.
- 3
Look up Eyjan, the rock island that splits the canyon, for a viewpoint.
- 4
Enjoy the rare woodland; Iceland has very little native forest.
