Travelogue: Waimea Canyon

After a few days SCUBA diving Ni'ihau Island and hiking the Kalalau Trail, we decided to do some sightseeing in the western part of the island and visit the Waimea Canyon.  We had seen the famous color-saturated photos of the steep canyon walls painted in red and green hues - we wanted to see those images in person.  Time for a day road trip up Waimea Canyon Drive / Koke'e Road (Route 550).

We brought along our trusty "blue guide book" and our rugged Garmin 60CSX GPS (just in case we needed it).  Normally I will prepare and print out a 1:24K topographic map for a trip like this, but I did not have enough time before this trip.  We didn't really have any plans for hiking today - we just wanted to take a look at all the scenic viewpoints and maybe just walk a bit down one or two trails.  Any lengthy hiking was still out of the question because my feet were still too banged up from the Kalalau Trail (I had mega-blisters on both feet and couldn't wear shoes for almost a week). 

So, wearing Crocs on my battered feet, and carrying water and a raincoat (just in case), we set off early in the morning driving from Kapa'a to the south.  We weren't hungry when we started, but by the time we reached the town of Waimea in the southern shore, we were starving!  So, as persons well versed on the local dietary options, we stopped at a large gas station for an indigenous favorite - Bento Box Lunch!  This traditional Hawaiian meal draws its lineage from the old plantation days with heavy influence from the multi-ethnic cultures of the workers.  My Bento today consisted of teriyaki chicken, teriyaki beef, chicken katsu (breaded and fried Korean style), rice, seaweed, all in a small saran-wrapped box.  Lunch was delicious!

We initially missed the turnoff onto Waimea Canyon Drive - looks like most of the street signs "suggest" that you take Route 552 up to Waimea from Kekaha Town.  But, everything we had heard recommended taking Route 550 (Waimea Canyon Drive) instead because the views were much more impressive.  After a quick U-turn, we were headed up the side of the mountain on Route 550.  This scenic road snakes its way upwards offering sweeping views of the coastline below and after a few miles, we can start to make out intermittent views of the Waimea Canyon off to the right (east).

We continued up this road, stopping at a designated pull-over point or just where the shoulder was wide enough so that we could take in the vies and snap a few photos.  There were numerous tourists in their cars doing the same.  At one point, near the intersection between 550 and 560, the ground on the left (west) side of the road was a deep maroon-red colored dirt and the entire side of the hill was covered in this stuff, broken up by a small stream cascading into miniature water falls.  This was the famous Kauai red dirt that was used to dye all of those tourist shirts!  This same pigmented soil was present on the sides of the Waimea Canyon giving it that striking red hue.

Just prior to the 7-mile marker, Route 560 intersects from the west and we continued upwards - from here on, the road is named Koke'e Drive (but still designated as Route 550).  Just past the 10-mile marker we stopped at the Waimea Canyon Lookout.  This is the entrance point where most tourists and guided tours will stop for a look-see.  We parked in the gigantic parking lot and took the short walk to the large, two-tiered observation platform.  From here, we were treated to fantastic views of the Waimea Canyon.  The one only thing keeping this from being perfect was the solid overcast skies that gave that neutral grey-ish light color.  But, at least it wasn't raining (yet).

We continued on stopping at the next several lookouts.  Each one offers a different perspective of the canyon as you progress to the north (uphill).  As we ventured further up Koke'e Road, it seemed the clouds began to lower themselves, eventually enveloping the tops of the ridges.  As we reached the Pu'u Hinahina Viewpoint (between mile marker 13 and 14), the clouds had swarmed the canyon and all that could be seen was a blanket of fog - it also started drizzling (thank goodness for the raincoats we packed).  But, as quickly as it arrived, it began to disappear.  In one minute the canyon was shrouded in deep white, then over the next several minutes, the fog and clouds seemed to disintegrate leaving the red rocky canyon walls behind.  Patience is a must when dealing with Kauai's weather!

We continued up the road to the end, stopping for additional scenic points and searching for a trail head to the Honopu Ridge Trail that we were planning on doing in a few days.  On the way back down, we stopped at the trailhead for the Kukui Trail (on the right-hand, eastern side of the road).  This, like most other trail heads in the Koke'e State Park are very poorly marked; many trailheads aren't marked at all.  The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook does a pretty good job at diagramming the trails here as well as providing landmarks, and mile-marker references.  A GPS is extremely useful here in trying to find where the trail starts as well as staying on the trail (assuming you have programmed the trail's waypoints into your GPS...)

After driving around for a bit, we finally came across the Kukui Tail tailhead - nothing more than a widening of the road shoulder and one small brown sign set back from the road on a small ridge (barely viewable).  It was worth the hard search - the trail eventually would lead you several thousand feet down all the way to the bottom of the Waimea Canyon to a campsite.  What we were after was just the very beginning of the trail where it offered unobstructed views of the canyon below from several small hilltops.  You are walking on the Kauai red dirt the entire time here and the trail winds its way around shrubbery at the start taking you to the edge of the ridge.  From this lip, the path parallels the drop off, giving you ample opportunity to stop, stare, and photograph the Waimea Canyon below and beside you.  In my excitement, I accidently knocked my sunglasses off my head (unknowingly) while taking photos and had to hike all the way back when I finally realized it.  Amazingly, we somehow fond them laying on the red dirt at the top of a bluff.

At this point the weather turned for the worse.  The clouds moved back in with a good downpour of rain.  Any ideas of seeing anything from the Kalalu Lookout escaped us and we drove back down to the coast and headed west to Polihale Beach to check it out.  The lighting conditions were tricky today, so we shot most of our photos in RAW mode - good thing we did, because we were able to correct the white balance and lighting afterwards and "save" most of the shots.

For more photos and maps, check out our main Waimea Canyon page.

The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook
This is an outstanding guide book full of beautiful pictures and right on information. I picked up this book before my second trip to Kauai. We had visited the island the year before for our honeymoon. I really wish we had bought this book a year earlier!  There were so many things on Kauai that we didn't even think of to do or see the first time and we bumbled around from place to place, seeing little of the island. The second trip, we used this guidebook and checked out some outstanding restaurants and beaches.
 

Kauai Trailblazer
This is an outstanding guide for families and outdoor enthusiasts with an interest in hiking and exploring Kauai, one of the Hawaiian islands. Featured are "user friendly" descriptions of 199 hikes and strolls to mountain ridges, tropical gardens, beaches, jungles, coves, reefs, historic landmarks, ancient ruins, swamps, craters, forests, coastal bluffs, tide pools, towns, canyons, waterfalls, and river valleys. Details are provided for 68 beach (22 of which are only accessible by trail), 42 snorkeling polls (island favorites and hidden coves), 61 mountain bike rides, 27 kayaking waters (13 rivers and steams, 14 bays and lagoons), and 36 surfing spots.

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