Kauai vacation

April 24th - Waimea Canyon


Click on any photo to see a larger image

We got up early and bought some fruit and doughnuts from the supermarket to take along for breakfast. We wanted to get to Waimea Canyon before it became overcrowded with tour buses. There is only one road through Waimea Canyon, so we thought it would get crowded. Along Route 50, as we drove along the south side of the island, there is a pulloff for the viewpoint near the mouth of Waimea Canyon. We stopped there to eat our breakfast. These three photos were taken at that view point.

It is a tradition in my family to take a photo of the sign at the entrance of the places we visit. So here I am at the Waimea Park Sign, and then at the sign for the first overlook. I am surprised Waimea Canyon is not a National Park. After all, Maui has Haleakala National Park, and the Big Island has Volcano National Park. Certainly Waimea is beautiful and unique enough to warrant the protection of our federal park system.

Here are photos from the first lookout. They have built a grand viewpoint, where you have stupendous views of the canyon. It is a terrific sight. The nickname for Waimea Canyon is the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. I was vaguely imaging that I would assemble these photos into one large panoramic view, but they don't line up quite right.

I believe the 800 foot falls is called Waipoo Falls. We did not take the trail to that falls. We will have to go back to Kauai some day and do that trail!

We drove down the road, then pulled off for more photos and views. The next picture is looking back at the first lookout. If you look closely, you can see the tiny people on top the large rock outcropping.

I don't know which trail that is on the ledge, we didn't get a chance to do that hike. It must have some pretty spectacular views into the canyon.

The rock walls aren't really as red as they appear in this photo. I was trying to correct the picture using Photoshop, unfortunately I just had 400 speed film in my camera, and that is not very good at picking up outdoor color in natural light. Photoshop overcorrected the color. But you still can get a view of Waimea River at the bottom of the canyon.

I think these two photos were taken when we outside the parking, driving down from the entrance. You can see the Waimea River in the bottom of the canyon.