Kauai is the oldest of the islands, and dominated by huge geographic features - mountains and canyons jutting up into the western half of the island. It’s also greener than the other islands: known as the “garden isle” Kauai is mostly rainforest. We had rented a car for this island alone, in order to drive to Waimea canyon to take some of the most famous hikes in the world. The drive out of the airport was as advertised, winding and with frequent and dramatic changes in speed limit. We headed south, and passed down a well known scenic highway where both sides of the road were fenced by twisted trees. No one knows when they were planted or who had planted them, we later learned. Pulling out of the woods we reached the coast and headed to Poipu, a collection of shops and hotels on the islands southern coast.
As we checked in, a blonde girl at the next station was shaking down the smiling hotel clerk. “We were just in Waikiki, and the Hilton resort there gave us a ocean view. Just letting you know. I’m a travel blogger, so if you want to give me an upgrade, you know, I just thought I’d mention it.” Amazing. We checked in then walked around, taking in the new neighborhood. It’s smaller, hardly the town of Kona where there were dozens of shops and hotels. There are some beaches and several beachy shops offering surf lessons, more than would seem required by the unimpressive waves we’ve seen. We planned our morning: a drive into Waimea canyon, to a trailhead that seemed unanimously lauded.
Kelsey was a little bit nervous about this, given that the last time we had considered driving on our own was for the road to Hāna, which ended up being the most wind-y road either of us had ever seen. We googled the drive to Waimea and it looked to also be a bit turny, but with a low speed limit that made most people explain it as “not that bad.” We went to bed early and woke up at the crack of dawn to head out on our adventure.
‘The road was as advertised - mostly highways until you turned out of the town of Waimea and into the canyon, when the road started snaking up the side of the canyon. Jake was very helpful with directions and Kelsey refused to look to the side, for fear of plummeting the car off a cliff, but we made it to the trailhead unscathed, even though the last half mile of the road becomes a somewhat skinny path with blind turns.
The trail stretched into the forest. After a while, it became clear that we were descending. We could see the ocean ahead, but lookouts were scarce. When we did get a look beyond the trees, it was underwhelming. As the path wound on, it became clear that we were on a ridge, with growing valleys to either side. The ridge was narrowing. We had no idea what to expect, all we had heard was that the trail was highly regarded and around 3.2 miles long, an out and back trail, not a loop. The further we descended, the more confused we were. Expecting a summit of some sort, we instead seemed headed toward some kind of stream. Maybe a waterfall? It was hard to see why the trail had provoked such rave reviews. Then we broke from the tree line, passed through a field of tall grass, and looked out at the massive entrance to Waimea canyon.
Others soon spilled out of the trees and joined us on the lookout, but for 5 minutes it was just us and the massive walls of the canyon on either side, with an uninterrupted line of blue on the horizon. Helicopters wheeled into the expanse, and it became clear how massive the canyon was - the helicopters seemed as though they were running into the walls, but the walls never came, even as the helicopter grew smaller and smaller to our eyes. The path went on - out onto the ridge that narrowed further until it was wide enough for only one person at a time, with grassy canyon walls falling hundreds of feet on either side, held unconvincingly taut by the roots of the shrubs that managed to thrive at near 90 degree angles.
We had been very skeptical on the way out, but the entire (uphill) way back we crossed paths with other skeptical hikers and encouraged them to keep going and that it was worth the hike. We ended up back in the parking lot at about noon, sweaty and hungry from our morning on the trail. On the drive down the canyon we stopped at one more lookout that ended up being very worth the break, opening up to the entire cravass. We continued on, stopping for lunch in Waimea before heading back to our hotel for a well deserved evening in.
