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Waimea Canyon
Kauaʻi’s red-walled gorge, the Grand Canyon of the Pacific
On an island better known for beaches, Waimea Canyon opens a gash about 10 miles (16 km) long and up to 3,000 feet (910 m) deep across western Kauaʻi. Its walls are layered in rust red, ochre and green, the colors of weathered basalt flows stacked by the volcano that built the island. Two forces carved it. Part of the shield volcano collapsed roughly four million years ago, and the Waimea River, fed by the extreme rainfall on Mount Waiʻaleʻale, has been cutting into the rubble ever since. The Hawaiian name Waimea means reddish water, for the eroded soil the river carries.
Long nicknamed the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, the gorge is protected in the 1,866-acre Waimea Canyon State Park, which adjoins Kōkeʻe State Park along the road that climbs from the town of Waimea toward the cliffs of Nā Pali. Lookouts along the highway give views straight down into the canyon, where waterfalls such as Waipoʻo Falls spill from the rim after rain. Trails descend to the river, and the dry leeward canyon contrasts sharply with the dripping rainforest of the Alakaʻi plateau only a few miles upslope.