We both got up early on Wednesday to head west to the Waimea Canyon for sunrise. The trip was worth it because we got to see lots of sights without any crowds. Waimea is where Captain Cook first set foot on the island. The canyon is 10 miles long, 1 mile wide and over 3,600 feet deep. Our GPS checked in around 3,900 feet.
The canyon was spectacular with its red dirt and green forests. There were many lookouts from which to get a look at its beauty. The first one we stopped at, however, had so many bees you could just here them humming so loudly. Not see them but hear them! We moved on.
Good thing too because there were better lookouts as we climbed the canyon!
There is an 800+ foot waterfall in the canyon. I can’t get enough of the waterfalls! But the view from the very top of the canyon was amazing. Ocean to one side and deep canyon to the other.
Because we got such an early start, there were no crowds for several hours. You could hear the birds and even water rushing from so far away. But on the way back down there were so many more people and they were not taking in nature so much as just gawking at it and yelling about it!
We had lunch in Waimea at Wrangler’s. It had a western flair and was all open-air dining. Bless the hostess for putting me under a ceiling fan! The food was good. They have the smallest salad bar but it was cold and fresh.
After lunch we traveled to the end of the road on the west shore. In Kauai, roads just end and you can’t go any further. Generally you have a view waiting for you. Here we didn’t chance the rental on the 4 miles of dirt road that continued on though!
We waited in line for shave ice at Jo Jo’s Clubhouse – known to be the best on the west shore. Their mac nut ice cream was excellent but I still think Fish Hut wins as the best ice.