Waimea Canyon

This morning when we rose, one of us way earlier than the other, as has been our habit.....we saw clear sky over the mountain behind us, a good sign that it would be a perfect day to drive south to Waimea and go up to Waimea Canyon.  The drive itself didn't take long, and we soon saw our sign indicating the road to the canyon just as we were leaving Waimea.  Mostly the road up was good.  This is what I'd call a 'Bikers road'!  Twisty hairpins and C turns and S curves climbing gradually up and up.  About 2 miles before we got there we could see the clouds beginning to sift over.  We found the parking lot, facilities, cars, buses and roosters and hens, and at the end just before you start the climb up to the lookout areas, a food vendor, set up doing a booming business selling containers of fresh pineapple, fresh coconut and papaya, along with cookies, snacks and cold drinks.  We waded through the throngs and made our way to the lower viewpoint for photos.  It was cool up there and a lady coming down the path asked Val where she got her sweater.  We think Val could have sold it for twice what she paid to the shivering people walking down.

The view was Awesome, even though it was beginning to cloud over and threaten rain.  We took a few shots, then climbed to the higher lookouts.  I am a person with a very real fear of heights but I swallowed my fear and very gingerly edged close enough to the edge of the fencing to take a couple of shots, then I was out of there!  I will post photos separately.  Unfortunately, using the iPad and trying to merge the photos and text doesn't work so I find myself typing the text in the blog program, then sending the photos separately by email.  Text doesn't copy over to the blog when added between photos in the email.

We drove back down the mountain to Waimea and found a place for lunch, which was really good.  It's interesting how different in terraine, vegetation and rainfall the parts of this small island are from each other.  You could tell the rain falls mostly in the north i.e. Hanalei, and around the mountains, but the areas to the south are very brown and dry!  In the middle where we are, lush, green and beautiful.

A little info on Waimea Canyon courtesy aloha-Hawaii.com:

Though only 26 miles across and 21 miles north to south, Kauai is home to one of Hawaii’s natural wonders, Waimea Canyon. Mark Twain was referring to its scale when he dubbed it the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific.”

About

Located on the island’s west side, Waimea Canyon is 10 miles long, a mile wide and about 3,600 feet. The red, green, blue, gray and purple hues of its chasm makes Waimea Canyon a must-see attraction when visiting Kauai.

As far as the eye can see, crags, buttes and gorges march into the distance under a dramatic banner of roses, lavenders, celadons and siennas. The canyon was carved thousands of years ago by numerous floods and rivers flowing down from the summit of Mount Waialeale, renowned as one of the wettest spots on Earth (it receives an average of 466 inches of rain each year).

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You may notice I mention the fowl population in quite a few posts....honestly, they are everywhere on the Island!  Roosters seem to outnumber the hens, but that may just because they are so elegantly coloured and constantly cockadoodledoing....even in the night, that they stand out more!  We chuckled, walking into Walmart this afternoon, mr. Rooster was announcing something to all and sundry!  We have heard people wanting to throttle mr. Rooster when he's crowing around the complex in the middle of the night!!!