You wouldn’t think of Kauai as a place where you would need to worry about rush hour traffic. But there is only one main highway connecting all of the towns on the island, so unfortunately it is a concern—especially if, like us, you want to travel from one side of the island to the other. This meant we would need an early wake-up call. So we set the rooster alarm for approximately 5 a.m., and the little punk worked like a charm.
Our first stop was a few miles down the road at the
Kilauea Bakery, not far from the lighthouse we’d visited the previous day. It’s been so long now I can’t remember what everybody had, but I remember this being a quality stop for coffee and pastries, with the added bonus that they actually stocked all of the items displayed on their menu.
With that, we were on the road. I mentioned that there’s only one main road on the island. The stretch between the towns of Lihue and Kapa’a handles the heaviest volumes, and there is a second land northbound to try and help keep the traffic moving. However, during the morning rush, most of the traffic is heading southbound into Lihue. This seems like a good time to ask you to play Amateur Highway Engineer. Say you don’t have enough money to build another lane in the southbound direction. How would you handle the traffic volumes during the morning rush hour?
Obviously, you’d do this:
Hey, it may be low-budget, but it worked. And while it was slightly disconcerting for me to be driving on the left side of a double-yellow line, I couldn’t help but wonder who the poor sap was whose job was to get up at 4 a.m. and place every single one of these orange cones for miles…and then have to go pick them up again later in the day. It’s a living, I guess.
We were able to beat the traffic and managed to avoid the notorious Kauai speed traps as well. It took about an hour and a half to get down to the southwest corner of the island, which was the entry point for
Waimea Canyon State Park.
Known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, Waimea Canyon is the result of an ancient volcano giving way to erosion and a fault line, creating a canyon 10 miles long and over 3,000 feet deep. Given the heavy rainfall the area receives and Kauai’s famous rust-colored dirt, the colors and scenery are particularly eye-catching.
That is, when you can see it.
That bit about rainfall I mentioned? Well, it just so happens that the top of Mount Wai’ale’ale, the highest point on Kauai, either receives the most annual rainfall in the world or is near the top of the list (reports vary). There’s a location in India that is also in the running, although it receives most of its rain during the monsoon season, while Wai’ale’ale gets rain a stunning 335 – 360 days out of the year.
Now if you’ll indulge me, let me set the Wayback Machine to the distant past of the previous day. Remember those beautiful clear pictures of the Kauai mountains? The abundant sunshine? In a place that receives rain over 90% of the year, that sure looked like it would have been a great day to go up the mountain, wouldn’t you say?
Anyway, we started the drive up into the park. There was sun to the west, so even though we saw some gray skies ahead, we hoped there would be some clear spots. A few miles up the road, we found a dirt parking area for our first view of the canyon:
Hmm…a little hazy, for sure. Not very encouraging.
The kids had been arguing over something in the car, and as all arguments between kids go, I’m sure it was over something extremely important and relevant to the well-being of the human race. I only mention this so I can post this picture of the kids shunning each other at the overlook. I did resist the urge to utter the immortal Dad line in the car: “Stop or we’re turning around and going home!”
We got back in the car once everyone had worked out whether staying at a Holiday Inn Express really does make you smarter, or whatever their issue was. By the time we reached the first “official” lookout, everyone appeared to be in a better mood. Dave continued his attempts to win the Goofball Trophy.
We walked up the short path to the lookout to take in the deep, blazing colors of the Grand Canyon of the Pacific:
Sigh. This weather was not cooperating at all. I do think you can see enough to realize that this really is a spectacular place, though. We were baffled as to why fish ponds on the Big Island merited National Park status while this place was relegated to being a mere state park.
Looking back down to the south shows that there were indeed some blue skies to be found that day. Just not in the direction we were traveling.
Nobody likes a quitter, so we forged on ahead. At the next overlook, we found a nice couple from Pennsylvania who offered to take a family picture for us in this spectacular location. Christmas card?
Ok, this is just getting ridiculous. Our situation has not improved.
We made it to the top of the canyon, where the Koke’e Lodge is located along with a small visitor center. Not a whole lot to see there, but we busied ourselves for a little while hoping to give the clouds time to clear. We are nothing if not optimists. After waiting a while, with a few not-entirely-based-on-fact claims of, “I think it’s letting up!”, we set out for the viewpoints at the top of the mountain. The goal here was to see the glorious Na Pali Coast from above, reveling in the sheer, rugged cliffs dropping straight down to the azure-blue ocean. On the drive, we noticed this sign at a driveway:
Much of the mountain’s west side is restricted property, owned by the U.S. Military. I don’t want to speculate as to what kinds of installations reside under the rock or within the mountain itself, but some locals have named the area “Ka-Boom Mountain.” So take that for what it’s worth.
We finally made it to the end of the road. We climbed out of our car, walked to the edge, and paused for a moment to savor the view, and our good fortune in being present in that place to witness it. Ladies and gentlemen (and Tim), I give you the stunning Kalalau Valley on the Na Pali Coast:
You just don’t get to see sights like that every day, do you? Obviously, this wasn’t our day. If you would like to know what this view should actually look like, I invite you to check out podsnel’s
Hawaii TR here.
We were somewhat dejected, knowing this was our only shot to see this place. But from what I can tell, our experience is very, very commonplace. Much like seeing these guys:
I’m pretty sure that was Extra Crispy’s cousin, Original Recipe.
We drove back down the way we came and stopped again at the canyon overlooks, just to see if the view had improved at all. We took a halfhearted look and—hey, what’s this? Is that actual color?
Wild goats:
Looking back up the mountain, we could see that the top was still socked in, but things had at least improved here at the canyon. So we were thankful for that. It could have been a total washout, but through patience and some good luck, it was only a partial washout!
Coming Up Next: It’s been a while since we visited a unique burger joint, don’t you think?
She wins.
Hadn't thought of that...
I hope you can get there! It's a special place.
Priceless.
