Welcome back to National Parks and other public lands with T! 
As we began to ascend into Waimea Canyon State Park, our guide pulled to the side of the road on the right. We walked a short way to an overlook of the beginning of the canyon, with views stretching back towards the ocean.
A little further up the road on the left near the 1500 ft elevation sign, we got out to wander a landscape that looked like it belonged in Southwest Utah. We were lucky to find the Red Dirt Falls flowing as it is seasonal and dries up at certain times of the year.
Waimea means ‘red water’ in Hawaiian. The soil gets its red color from the oxidation of iron in the rock over time. Kauai is volcanic, like the other Hawaiian islands, but was formed first, so the soil has had more time to break down.
Kauai Posts:
- Wailua Falls
- Lihue Plantation Hanama‘ulu Ditch
- ʻŌpaekaʻa Falls
- Wailua River State Park
- Mount Waiʻaleʻale
- Fuji Beach
- Moloa’a Beach
- Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge
- Kīlauea Lighthouse
- Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge
- Wai’oli Hui’ia Church
- NININI POINT LIGHTHOUSE
- Waimea Canyon State Park: Red Dirt Falls
- Waimea Canyon State Park: Waimea Canyon Lookout (Coming Soon)
- Waimea Canyon State Park: Waipo’o Falls (Coming Soon)
- Kōkeʻe State Park: Kalalau Lookout (Coming Soon)
- Kōkeʻe State Park: Pu’u O Kila Lookout (Coming Soon)
- Russian Fort Elizabeth State Historical Park (Coming Soon)
- Hanapepe Swinging Bridge (Coming Soon)
- Koloa Heritage Trail: Spouting Horn (Coming Soon)
- Koloa Heritage Trail: Keoneloa Bay (Coming Soon)
- Nā Pali Coast State Wilderness Park (Coming Soon)
Location: Waimea Canyon Dr, Waimea, HI 96796 (mile marker 23)
Designation: State Park
Date of my visit: April 19, 2019
What an unusual landscape! Fascinating.
Thanks 😊. It was like Mars in the tropics 🌴
We once spent a week on Kauai, but I doubt we saw half as much as you.
That must have been so relaxing 😌
Fabulous fotos!
Thanks 😊
WOW! I’ve never seen this kind of scenery in real life
Thanks 😊
We saw similar soil at the Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland
Cool 😎
On our family trips whenever we were driving through areas with red soil or rock, my sister would get nauseous. For some reason the scenery would make her car sick.
How bizarre 😳
I suspect it was because she didn’t like ketchup so the red soil (which reminded her of ketchup) coupled with a moving car sort of turned her stomach.
This is so beautiful. The water flowing over the red rock is such an incredible contrast. Reminds me a tad of Havasupai in Grand Canyon.
Thanks 😊. The area is similar to the Grand Canyon but with tropical foliage