Hawaii 2022, 4/4: Waimea canyon
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 44.19 mi
- Elevation gain
- 5,600 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 5,600 ft
- Max elevation
- 4,197 ft
- TrailRank
- 32
- Min elevation
- 0 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Time
- 6 hours 24 minutes
- Coordinates
- 3551
- Uploaded
- October 8, 2022
- Recorded
- June 2022
near Kekaha, Hawaii (United States)
Viewed 132 times, downloaded 0 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
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Waimea canyon road
Made with Bob's gravel: asphalt route, except for the little bonus trail "Iliau Nature Loop"
Preamble : New change of island for this last Hawaiian bike ride... make way for Kauai! The bike has brand new brakes, since I took care to have them repaired the same morning, in Lihue (after the somewhat tense descent of Haleakalā , on Maui).
🏁 Departure from Kekaha: it's quite hot on the oldest of the main islands of the Hawaiian archipelago (not counting Ni'ihau?), but cars are scarce on Route 552, which already offers pretty views of the ravines between which it weaves, as a prelude to the main course that is to come. Shortly after the sign missing the entrance to Waimea Canyon State Park, we join road 550, around 700m above sea level.
The canyon of Waimea does not take long to show itself, at the level of the Iliau Nature Loop , a nice little path which allows you to approach the edge of the one nicknamed "Grand Canyon of the Pacific". Seen from here, one wonders how the Waimea River, which seems so small at the bottom, could dig such a monumental thing, but the island of Kauai is famous for its extremely abundant rainfall (some places even claim the title of "the rainiest place on the planet", 💦 without necessarily specifying in relation to what time scale!), 🤔 who ended up getting the better of the old volcano that was the heart of the island (@MaunaKea🌋 @MaunaLoa🌋 @Haleakalā🌋 you guys know what to expect: get your umbrellas out!). ☔️
The points of view will then follow one another, but I leave some for the return, because layers of fog sometimes mask the view. When it deigns to be seen, the canyon is really impressive: no wonder it served as the setting for Jurassic Park ! Fortunately, I won't come across a velociraptor or a T-rex... 🦖 only chickens ! 🐓 There are indeed many free on Kauai, but rather at lower altitudes.
The road undulates a lot and culminates at the Kokee Radome (1280m) , a US Air Force radar station 🎖️ located just above the Kalalau lookout, which dominates the Nā Pali coast in a spectacular way. It continues a little further, to another belvedere (Pu'u O Kila) located on a ridge, offering on one side a breathtaking panorama of the Pacific, and on the other an equally spectacular view of the wild interior of the island.
I will take all my time on the way back, stopping at the few panoramas that I had snubbed on the way there because of the fog. Small conversation with a very nice young American couple, who seem amazed that we can climb this by bike! 😉 In order to vary the pleasures, I take route 550 to go down to the coast (more panoramas where it is tempting to approach the precipice!), where there is quite a bit of wind. It only remains for me to follow the latter between the cities of Waimea and Kekaha to return to my starting point, with the waves of the Pacific just on my left and the island of Ni'ihau almost in line of sight on the end: the most western of the main islands, private (belonging to a very wealthy family bearing the name of Robinson... a coincidence?!), is inhabited by a hundred natives – the demographic estimates vary greatly according to the sources – and it is difficult to access it. This is the end ... two consecutive nights by plane are waiting for me to return home! ✈️
Hawaiian Bike Adventures :
🚩 Hawaii 2022, 1/4: Mauna Kea & Mauna Loa
🚩 Hawaii 2022, 2/4: Chain of Craters road (Kīlauea)
🚩 Hawaii 2022, 3/4: Mauna Haleakala
🚩 Hawaii 2022, 4/4: Waimea canyon
Made with Bob's gravel: asphalt route, except for the little bonus trail "Iliau Nature Loop"
Preamble : New change of island for this last Hawaiian bike ride... make way for Kauai! The bike has brand new brakes, since I took care to have them repaired the same morning, in Lihue (after the somewhat tense descent of Haleakalā , on Maui).
🏁 Departure from Kekaha: it's quite hot on the oldest of the main islands of the Hawaiian archipelago (not counting Ni'ihau?), but cars are scarce on Route 552, which already offers pretty views of the ravines between which it weaves, as a prelude to the main course that is to come. Shortly after the sign missing the entrance to Waimea Canyon State Park, we join road 550, around 700m above sea level.
The canyon of Waimea does not take long to show itself, at the level of the Iliau Nature Loop , a nice little path which allows you to approach the edge of the one nicknamed "Grand Canyon of the Pacific". Seen from here, one wonders how the Waimea River, which seems so small at the bottom, could dig such a monumental thing, but the island of Kauai is famous for its extremely abundant rainfall (some places even claim the title of "the rainiest place on the planet", 💦 without necessarily specifying in relation to what time scale!), 🤔 who ended up getting the better of the old volcano that was the heart of the island (@MaunaKea🌋 @MaunaLoa🌋 @Haleakalā🌋 you guys know what to expect: get your umbrellas out!). ☔️
The points of view will then follow one another, but I leave some for the return, because layers of fog sometimes mask the view. When it deigns to be seen, the canyon is really impressive: no wonder it served as the setting for Jurassic Park ! Fortunately, I won't come across a velociraptor or a T-rex... 🦖 only chickens ! 🐓 There are indeed many free on Kauai, but rather at lower altitudes.
The road undulates a lot and culminates at the Kokee Radome (1280m) , a US Air Force radar station 🎖️ located just above the Kalalau lookout, which dominates the Nā Pali coast in a spectacular way. It continues a little further, to another belvedere (Pu'u O Kila) located on a ridge, offering on one side a breathtaking panorama of the Pacific, and on the other an equally spectacular view of the wild interior of the island.
I will take all my time on the way back, stopping at the few panoramas that I had snubbed on the way there because of the fog. Small conversation with a very nice young American couple, who seem amazed that we can climb this by bike! 😉 In order to vary the pleasures, I take route 550 to go down to the coast (more panoramas where it is tempting to approach the precipice!), where there is quite a bit of wind. It only remains for me to follow the latter between the cities of Waimea and Kekaha to return to my starting point, with the waves of the Pacific just on my left and the island of Ni'ihau almost in line of sight on the end: the most western of the main islands, private (belonging to a very wealthy family bearing the name of Robinson... a coincidence?!), is inhabited by a hundred natives – the demographic estimates vary greatly according to the sources – and it is difficult to access it. This is the end ... two consecutive nights by plane are waiting for me to return home! ✈️
Hawaiian Bike Adventures :
🚩 Hawaii 2022, 1/4: Mauna Kea & Mauna Loa
🚩 Hawaii 2022, 2/4: Chain of Craters road (Kīlauea)
🚩 Hawaii 2022, 3/4: Mauna Haleakala
🚩 Hawaii 2022, 4/4: Waimea canyon
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