Rauðfeldsgjá Gorge

About Rauðfeldsgjá Gorge

Rauðfeldsgjá Gorge is a narrow ravine cut into Botnsfjall mountain on the south coast of the Snæfellsnes peninsula in West Iceland, a couple of kilometers east of Arnarstapi. From the road it looks like a dark crack in the slope, but once inside, the walls close in overhead, a stream runs over the rocks underfoot and moss covers everything the light reaches.

It's one of the few places on Snæfellsnes where you can walk into a mountain rather than look at one, and it takes less than an hour. Inside the Rauðfeldsgjá canyon you walk and scramble over wet rocks in the stream itself while water drips from above. Waterproof boots make the difference between a fun scramble and soaked socks, and the going gets harder the farther in you push.

A signposted turn-off from Route 574 leads to a small, free gravel parking lot, and a path climbs to the mouth of the gorge in roughly 10 to 15 minutes. From Reykjavík, the drive takes about two and a half hours, and the trip from Arnarstapi to Rauðfeldsgjá is only a few minutes by car. Most visitors spend 30 to 60 minutes here, including the walk up.

Late spring to early fall is the time to go inside, when the rocks are free of ice. Visiting Rauðfeldsgjá in winter is different, because the path and stream can freeze, so look in from the entrance and skip the scramble. There are no facilities on site, though the Arnarstapi coastal walk and the Gatklettur arch are close by.

The name comes from the Saga of Bárður Snæfellsás. In the story, Rauðfeldur and his brother pushed Bárður's daughter Helga onto an iceberg that drifted to Greenland, and Bárður, the half-troll guardian of the peninsula, threw Rauðfeldur into this ravine in revenge.