Waimea Canyon is known as the “Grand Canyon of Hawai’i” and it’s easy to see why. It cuts a deep swath through southwest Kaua’i and is majestic. We drove up the canyon road, and I was telling Laralee to stop at nearly every pullout so I could climb up the embankment and look at the vista.
Kyra was unimpressed, and stayed in the car.
As we neared the top of the canyon, we literally drove up into a cloud. Much of the higher altitudes in Kaua’i seem to be enveloped in clouds pretty often, due to all the moisture in the air. At first it looked like nothing more than a light fog…
… but when we started hiking the Pu’u o Kila trail, the clouds thickened and soon we were unable to see the canyon at all.
Interestingly, the edge of the trail dropped off as a sheer cliff. Although we couldn’t see into the canyon itself, it was obvious we were standing at the top of a vertical wall at least several hundred feet high.
At times, the forest had kind of an eerie otherworldly quality about it:
But wait! Laralee saw a break in the clouds.
Sure enough, the air cleared a bit and we had a view along the canyon toward the Na Pali Coast:
It was fleeting– the clouds dissipated for only a few minutes, but what they revealed was spectacular.
Then they closed in again, and we were wreathed in fog once again. It was really interesting to hike in these conditions.
At times I thought maybe we’d get a good view, but even at the Pihea lookout at the “top” of the trail, it was almost entirely enveloped in clouds.
I’d hoped that during the hike we’d get a break, but alas, the cloud cover persisted. We hiked back down the trail and managed to catch one last glimpse toward the coast:
Although the clouds provided interesting scenery, I was disappointed not to see the entire view. Next time, we decided, we’d come in the morning rather than waiting until the afternoon when the clouds roll in.
Driving back down the road afforded a couple more amazing shots.
Like the Na Pali Coast, this is a place I definitely want to return to, and take some of the dozen or so more serious hikes. Amazing stuff.