Hjaltadalsá is a river in
Hjaltadalur
Hjaltadalur is a valley on the east side of Skagafjörður, Iceland that was previously a part of Hólahreppur. The majority of the valley is surrounded by 1,000–2,000-meter-tall mountains, and it intersects with various remote valleys. Hjalt ...
valley in
Skagafjörður
Skagafjörður () is a deep fjord and its valley in northern Iceland.
Location
Skagafjörður, the fjord, is about 40 km long and 15 km wide, situated between Tröllaskagi to the east and the Skagi, Skagi Peninsula to the west. Ther ...
,
Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
. It originates from Hjaltadalsjökull glacier and runs the full length of the valley, before many
tributaries
A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ('' main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which the ...
and lakes flow into it. Further down the river there are lots of rapids and small waterfalls and the current is strong and rough in many places. A little past the town of
Sleitustaðir, the Hjaltadalsá and
Kolka rivers run together. The river is known as Kolka from that point until it reaches the ocean. Hjaltadalsá often contains
outwash
An outwash plain, also called a sandur (plural: ''sandurs''), sandr or sandar, is a plain formed of glaciofluvial deposits due to meltwater outwash at the terminus of a glacier. As it flows, the glacier grinds the underlying rock surface and c ...
, but Kolka has much more of it, which results in a significant color difference where the rivers converge.
Hjaltadalsá is a fishing river (as is Kolka). There is fishing for
arctic char
The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes, as well as Arctic and subarctic coastal waters in the Holarctic realm, Holarctic.
Distribution and habitat
It Spaw ...
in particular, and sometimes
salmon
Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...
. The Reykjavík Fishing Club manages the river, and it is possible to buy a fishing permit.
References
{{Authority control
Skagafjörður
Rivers of Iceland