Öxnadalsheiði

Öxnadalsheiði is a plateau (which includes a valley of the same name) in between Norðurárdalur in Skagafjörður and Öxnadalur in Eyjafjörður, Iceland.^[2] Route 1 between Skagafjörður and Akureyri goes through the plateau,^[3] which is quite snowy and used to be a difficult route to travel.

The road through Öxnadalsheiði has, at its highest point, an altitude of 540 meters above sea level and, as such, is the second-highest point on Route 1 after Möðrudalur wilderness^[4] (in the highlands of north-eastern Iceland). The plateau is narrow towards the west, in Giljareit and Skógahlíð,^[5] where the Heiðará river runs through a huge, deep gorge along the road. The river widens towards the east where the border between Skagafjörður and Eyjafjörður counties is, along the Grjótá river.^[6] Overlooking the Grjótá is Grjótárhnjúkur, a 1237-meter-tall mountain, to the west of which is located Tryppaskál, overlooking the river in the basin of the ravine,^[7] where nearly 30 horses were driven off a cliff in 1870. Their bones are still visible in the basin.^[8] Ruins of two farms were found on the plateau. These farms became abandoned sometime in the 13th century.

There was, for a period of time, a mountain house named Sesseljubúð on the plateau around the basin.^[9]