Waimea Canyon - Is it Worth the Trip?
Written: Oct 07 '00 (Updated Oct 07 '00)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: nice views
Cons: long drive from the North, no good restaurants
|
|
|
| count's Full Review: Kauai |
Review Topic: Sights & Attractions
Review Topic: Sights & Attractions
After having explored the North and East coasts of the island in depth, I decided it was time to head to the West. At the time, I was based on the North Western side of the island and had to drive all the way around the island to get to Waimea Canyon since the roads fail to go over the Na Pali Coast unfortunately.
There is really only one main road on the island so it's one long pleasant drive. Did I say long? Perhaps 1.5 hours from one end of the road to the other unless, of course, you're there during the tourist season. The only place I ever found a traffic jam was when moving through Kapaa town.
The South Western side of the island, in my opinion, is no match for the North. The beaches didn't have a clean tropical feeling, the residents were poorer and the views not as nice, bland... you could have been anywhere.
We explored the flatlands for a while driving up small streets having no idea where they lead. Most of them were dead ends leading to a military base but interesting all the same.
We decided to pull over and have a picnic lunch before heading up the mountain to the canyon. It was a beautiful sunny day. Half an hour later, it was beginning to get a little colder so we headed off. The road to the Canyon is small, windy and a little dangerous to say the least so proceed with caution. The views along the way are fabulous and the air so clean. It no longer looks tropical though and has more of a "bush" feeling.
Finally, after an hour's drive (slow paced), we arrived at the Canyon but it was so incredibly foggy that we could see nothing but white over the edge. It was very spooky knowing that there was a giant drop but not being able to see it. Despite not being able to see anything over the edge, there was a group of mountain goats roaming around the lookout but the eventually disappeared into the mist. There were stray cats eating from the bins (popular pet dumping area) and beautiful noises coming from the variety of birds in the area.
Personally, canyons don't excite me too much but I would recommend driving up the mountain just for the pleasant drive and fresh air. However, I would not recommend making this one of your important sights but if you have time, you'll enjoy it out there. Don't expect any nice restaurants out there, I suggest packing your own lunch for maximum pleasure.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
count
|
|
Member: Count
Location: London, UK
Reviews written: 260
Trusted by: 45 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.