2014-04-27 10-28-21 Iceland - Eyrarbakka Eyrarbakki

Jósepsdalur (), also Josefsdalur , is a small valley, about 2 km long in southwestern direction, and to the east of the volcano

Vífilsfell Vífilsfell () is a hyaloclastite ridge in southwestern Iceland (Weichselian). It is 655 m high and located west of Jósepsdalur valley on the volcanic plateau of Hellisheiði. It forms the northernmost offset of the Bláfjöll mountain massif ...

up on Hellisheiði at a distance of about 25 km from Reykjavík within Selvogshreppur municipality.Ari Trausti Guðmundsson, Pétur Þorleifsson: Íslensk Fjöll. Gönguleiðir á 151 tind. Reykjavík 2004, p. 300 The

Bláfjöll Bláfjöll (, "blue mountains") are a small mountain range in the southwest of Iceland on Reykjanes peninsula at about 30 km from Reykjavík. They form sort of a double mountain massif to the west and in the east of JósepsdalurÞór Vigf ...

mountains surround the U-shaped valley.Þór Vigfússon: Í Árnesþingi vestanverðu. Ferðafélag Íslands Árbók 2003. Reykjavík 2003, p. 83 The valley is situated next to an old trail over the pass ''Ölfusskarð'' from

Ölfus Ölfus () is a municipality located in Iceland. The major town is called Þorlákshöfn. The bottled water brand Icelandic Glacial is manufactured in this area, at the Ölfus spring. Geography In Ölfus several lava tubes can be visited. ''Raufa ...

, the region in the south of Iceland around

Hveragerði Hveragerði (, "hot-spring yard") is a town and municipality in the south of Iceland, 45 km east of Reykjavík on Iceland's main ringroad, Route 1 (Iceland), Route 1. The river Varmá runs through the town. Overview The surrounding area ...

, to Reykjavík.Íslandshandbókin. Náttúra, saga og sérkenni. Reykjavík 1989, v.2, p.806

Folk tales

Acc. to an old folk tale, a

troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

woman shall have lived in a cave in Jósepsdalur. Another folk tale explains the name of the valley: A man named Jósep lived in this valley once. He had a bad reputation for swearing and blasphemy. In the end, his farm with him and all his family was caught by the devil and disappeared in the underworld.

Grímur Thomsen Grímur Thomsen (May 15, 1820 – November 27, 1896), Icelandic poet and editor, was born in Bessastaðir in 1820. He was the son of Þorgrímur Tómasson, a goldsmith. In 1837, he went to the University of Copenhagen, where he studied law and ...

refers to the saga in his poem "Jósepsdalur".

Sports in Jósepsdalur

The Jósepsdalur was from time to time famous for sports.

Skiing

Ski lifts and a ski school were in place in the valley from 1936 on. But today, these are installed in the Bláfjöll, i.e. on the northern side of the mountain massif.

Hiking

It is possible to hike up on

from Jósepsdalur. Another hiking tour goes from Jósepsdalur over the pass Ólafsskarð to the Leitin

shield volcano A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a warrior's shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more v ...

and from there following the Reykjavegur hiking trail, which crosses the Reykjanes peninsula from its tip at ''Reykjanesvíti'' and ''Gunnuhver'' to Þingvellir, to the craters ''Syðri Eldborg'' and ''Nyrðri Eldborg'' which produced around the year 1000 the ''Kristnitökuhraun'' lava field.Reynir Ingibjartsson: 25 gönguleiðir á Reykjanesskaga. Náttúran við bæjarvegginn. Reykjavík 2014, pp. 142-147

Motorsport

Some sorts of motorsport are today practised in the remote valley.

References

Valleys of Iceland {{Iceland-geo-stub