(more and higher resolution photos here)
On Friday it was raining, so much so that there were flood warnings, so we decided to drive to the other side of the Island to check out waimea canyon, hoping it would be dry when we got there. As we drove through the look-outs it was still raining a bit.
Even when we got to the last stop, Kalalau Lookout, it was still very foggy, so much so that we could hardly see the coast.
The winds that day were 40mph, and on top of the lookout trail you could stand on a rock and have the exhilarating experience of feeling the cool fog streaming by making a beeline for the ocean.
We hiked down maybe ¾ of a mile on the red slippery trail until coming to a section so muddy we’d have to plunge in or go back, so we went back.
We drove back down to the next lookout to use the restroom and the sun started peaking out, so we high-tailed it back to Kalalau and enjoyed about ten minutes in the sun with good visibility until the next bit of fog rolled overhead and down the cliffs, once again obscuring the view of the coastline.
The fog rolling over actually made the view and the experience much more dramatic and enjoyable for me than if it had just been a sunny day with clear sky. Maybe that’s the Ohio genes in me. Would have loved to follow that mud trail further around the cliffs on a sunny day though.
As with everywhere in Hawaii, there were lots of chicken in the parking lot.
Here is a video of the main Waimea overlook on the way out, with much more fog.
And one of the many waterfalls on the side of the road:
We took the 552 road down (there are two routes out) to the southwest and headed up around the coast north to Polihale state park. The park is only accessible via a 5 mile long unfinished dirt (read: mudhole) road. I think my brother’s girlfriend, who bought a Jeep just to do things like this, would have loved it, but Sam was reticent at first.
Then we saw a rented mustang go by with two women inside. If they could do it, we could do it. None of this was a surprise, we’d had the spot recommended to us by Byron’s wife and she’d warned about the rough road.
After a little over an hour of creeping along the extremely bumpy and muddy swiss cheese road we came to what has to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world and watched the sunset. Even the dunes back from the beach were amazing looking and had a backdrop of the majestic mountains that framed the canyon.
The lady(bug)s love me in Kauai for some reason.
We drove back out in the dark, which would have been terrifying if we hadn’t made it okay in the daylight earlier. Every few seconds a brave frog would hop out in front of the headlights and we’d play a game of chicken (or frog) seeing who would move first.
Once out of the unfinished road it was a long dark drive up around the coast to Princeville. Ironcially we were not that far from Princeville, but there isn’t a public road that connects the Polihale area to Hanalei Bay (west of princeville). It felt a lot like driving in Ohio, we even passed a small-town fair with Hawaii’s version of rednecks eating cotton candy and riding those questionable whirly-gig things held together with duct tape. America!
