Waimea Canyon State Park: Red Dirt Falls

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.

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