Kauai

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When Hollywood moviemakers want to film “paradise,” they often come to Kauai, as they did for South Pacific, King Kong, and Jurassic Park. The island may be small (just 32 miles [51 kilometers] across), but it takes in mountain ranges, green valleys, sunny beaches, the majestic “Grand Canyon of the Pacific,” Hawaii’s only navigable river, and the famous Na Pali Coast—a stretch of coves and cliffs so rugged they can be reached only by hiking trail or boat. This coast blocks the island’s perimeter road from completing a circle—a blessing, because this leaves whole regions of Kauai remote and unspoiled. All around the Garden Isle you’ll find the towns small, the buildings no higher than a coconut tree (except for one hotel), and the people relaxed and friendly. Exploring all these wonders, this drive makes two different round-trips, north and south from centrally located Lihue. CONTINUED

- Lihue
- Lydgate Park
- Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge
- Kee Beach
- Poipu
- Russian Fort Elizabeth State Historical Park
- Waimea Canyon State Park
- Kokee State Park

(Continued From Top)

Lihue

Opaekaa Falls, near Wailua

Photograph © Phil Schermeister

An old sugar plantation town, Lihue (Convention & Visitors Bureau +1 808 245 3971. General information on Kauai also available) is the island’s commercial and civic center. The Lihue Sugar Mill, founded in 1849, still crushes sugarcane, harking back to the days when sugar was the island’s main industry; a conveyor belt moving the sweet product straddles Hawaii 50 near Hawaii 56.
Want to see history close-up at an 1864 sugar plantation? Visit the Grove Farm Homestead Museum (Nawiliwili Rd. +1 808 245 3202. Mon., Wed., and Thurs., reserved tours only; Adm. fee), where you see humble workers’ houses and the owner’s mansion, with its walls of rich koa wood and displays of Hawaiiana and embroidery.
Downtown, a cluster of 1930s buildings dot Rice Street, the town’s main thoroughfare. In one of them, the old library, you’ll find the Kauai Museum (4428 Rice St. +1 808 245 6931. Closed Sun.; Adm. fee).Here, the history of Kauai—the oldest Hawaiian island—is told, from its volcanic origins some six million years ago to 19th-centuryplantation life. Among the exhibits, a model village, quilts, feather leis, and hula instruments illuminate early Hawaiian culture;while seashells and gourds introduce the region’s natural history.
In the town’s watery frontyard on Nawiliwili Bay, Kalapaki Beach offers a lovely crescent of sand and good water for swimming andbodysurfing. Kayakers start in the bay and venture up Huleia Stream, where jungle greenery grows to the water’s edge. Thislush landscape appeared in the Indiana Jones movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. Not far upstream via Hulemalu Road, the MenehuneFishpond is set apart from Huleia Stream by stone walls that may have been built morethan a thousand years ago by Hawaii’s first settlers, the menehune.Legend says these “little people” ; did the work in a single night, passing stones one to the next for 25 miles [40 kilometers]. An adjacent marshy area is a refuge for native birds such as Koloa ducks and Hawaiian black-neckedstilts.
Four miles north of Lihue via Hawaii 56 and 583, you’ll find Wailua Falls, where two 80-foot [129-kilometer] cascades drop side by side over a sheer cliff. If you’re willingto admit you watched TV’s Fantasy Island, you’ll recognize these falls from the opening credits. According to legend, island chiefs made ceremonial leaps to prove their courage.

Lydgate Park
Return to Hawaii 56 and drive north about 5 miles [8 kilometers] to the mouth of the Wailua River, the only navigable waterway in the Hawaiian Islands. On the south side of the river mouth, Lydgate Park offers fine snorkeling among resident blue parrot fish, a grove of ironwood trees, and two large pools framed by lava rocks. There are traces of a heiau (temple) and the Hauola Place of Refuge, where a violator of old Hawaiian taboos—perhaps a commoner who allowedhis shadow to fall on a chief—could escape execution.

Accompanied by enthusiastic musicians singing such local favorites as the “Hawaiian Wedding Song,” you can take a boat tour upriver to a greenery-draped cave called the Fern Grotto (+1 808 821 6892 or+1 808 822 4908. Fare). Or take a side trip along the Wailua River, on Hawaii 580. After half a mile you’ll see Holoholoku Heiau, the sacrifice spot for unlucky taboo violators who didn’t make it to the place of refuge. Nearby, noble women bore their children at the flat-backed royal birthing stones. Keep driving inland; just past Poliahu Heiau, which once belonged to a chief, is an overlook onlacy Opaekaa Falls. Well to the west, at the center of the island, is the Wailua River’s source, Waialeale (5,148 feet [1,569 meters]). One of the wettest spots on earth, it receives an average 451 inches [1,145 centimeters] of rain annually.

Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge
Back on the main route, continue north on Hawaii 56 past Kapaa and Anahola to the 1870s plantation town of Kilauea. Here, head out Kilauea Road to Kilauea Point and the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge (+1 808 828 1413. Adm. fee), the domain of red-footed boobies, wedge-tailed shearwaters, Laysan albatrosses,and great frigatebirds with 7-foot [2.1-meter] wingspans. Look offshore for sea turtles,dolphins, and—between November and April—humpback whales. Alsoat the refuge stands a 1913 lighthouse.
About a mile west of Kilauea, take the first Kalihiwai Road you come to (there’s another one just after) to Kalihiwai Beach, a widestrand on a pretty bay. The second Kalihiwai Road (and a left on Anini Road) will bring you to Anini Beach Park, a popularspot for snorkeling and learning to windsurf. It has miles of sand and a fringing reef that creates a quiet lagoon safe for swimming. (This beach used to be named Wanini, but the “W” fell off the sign, and nobody everbothered replacing it.)

Hanalei Valley, near Hanalei

Photograph © Phil Schermeister

Continue on the coastal highway past Princeville. Just beyond the point where Hawaii 56 becomes Hawaii 560, pause at Hanalei ValleyLookout, which overlooks geometrical taro fields threaded by the calm HanaleiRiver. The valley grows about half of Hawaii’s taro root, which is pounded to make poi, the gooey finger food that mainlanders often compare to wallpaper paste. Partially protected as the Hanalei National WildlifeRefuge, the valley harbors four endangered nativewaterbirds—Hawaiian black-necked stilt, Hawaiian coot, Hawaiian moorhen, and Koloaduck.
Continue into the valley to Hanalei, a tiny town that devotees say has an otherworldly quality, as if the water faucets ran with magicpotion. The area is home to a tropical punch blend of local families, surfers,celebrities, and New Age types. Explore the mountain-girded Hanalei Bay, which enjoys a worldwide reputation as a summer yachtingport.It’s a classic crescent of sand with streams running into the ocean.

Waioli Huia Church, Hanalei

Photograph © Phil Schermeister

For a glimpse of Hanalei’s roots, see the 130-year-old clockthat’sstill ticking at Waioli Mission House (+1 808 245 3202.Tues.,Thurs., and Sat.; donation). A Southern-style frame residenceerected by missionaries in 1837, it is surrounded by a riot ofjunglegreenery seen through wavy glass windows. In front is the greenWaioli Huiia Church, where Sunday hymns are sung inHawaiian.
Just past town is Lumahai Beach (Viewpoint past Milepost4), the location of the scene in South Pacific (1957)whereinMitzi Gaynor vowed to “wash that man right out of my hair.” Don’tswimhere, due to treacherous conditions.
Keep driving across one-lane bridges. Within a few miles you reachManinholo dry cave, said to have been dug by themenehune.Then comes Limahuli Garden (+1 808 826 1053. Closed Mon.andSat.; reservations required for guided tours; Adm. fee), withnativeplants and taro growing on thousand-year-old rock terraces—avision ofHawaii in early times. On ahead, Limahuli Stream is handy forrinsingoff salt water and sand. Farther along the road are theWaikanaloa and Waikapalae wet caves, with pools ofwaterinside.

Kee Beach
The road ends at Kee Beach. Popular for swimming (only in summer during calm conditions), it also has a reef for snorkeling. A pathleads along the cove, above the rocks, to ancient Kauluapaoa Heiau, where the sacred hula was taught to youths.
From Kee Beach, the Kalalau Trail snakes its way up and down cliffs to the Kalalau Valley, 11 miles [18 kilometers] along the Na PaliCoast (+1 808 274 3444. Permit required for camping or hiking beyond 2 miles [3.2 kilometers]. Hiking difficult and swimming often dangerous. Also accessible by boat and helicoptertours). On this remote coast you’ll discover the way Hawaii used to be, with green valleys, dramatic palisades, secluded beaches, andstreams with pools and waterfalls. Hawaiian families were living in the timeless valleys of Na Pali by A.D. 1000. After a few hours here, you’ll forget what century it is.

Flower-laden Truck near Eleele

Photograph © Phil Schermeister

Retrace your route to Lihue for the second half of the drive, nowheading south and west of town. Begin by driving southwest onHawaii 50.After 7 miles [11 kilometers], go south on Hawaii 520 to Koloa, where thefirstsugar mill in Hawaii was erected in 1835. All that’s left areremnants of the old chimney. In this tourist-oriented town you’llseefalse-fronted buildings, huge poinciana trees, and cascades ofscarletbougainvillea.

Continue south on Hawaii 520 toward Kauai’s main resort hotelarea,Poipu. After 2 miles [3.2 kilometers], turn right onto Lawai Road, leading toPrinceKuhio Park and the the 1871 Birthplace of Prince Kuhio,whobecame one of Hawaii’s first territorial delegates to Congress.Fartheralong is the Spouting Horn, a tube in a lava shelf throughwhichwaves surge, sending up a fountain of spray. It first makes astrangerasping sound, which legend says is the moaning of a giant femalelizardtrapped in the tube by a clever fisherman.

Poipu

Rugged coastline near Poipu

Photograph © Phil Schermeister

In Poipu, you’ll want to visit Allerton Garden (+1 808 742 2623. Tues.-Sat., reservations required; Adm. fee.), a former private estate where the landscape hasbeen turned into art. You stroll through outdoor “rooms” created by exotic tropical hedges and tree canopies, decorated with pools,fountains, and sculptures. The tour also explores part of the Lawai Garden, whose collection ranges from common bamboo to the rare plant Kanaloakahoolawensis; only four are left in the world—two in the wild and two in the garden’s nursery. Ask about the huge ficus tree where the dinosaur eggs were found in Jurassic Park.
Near the resort area, Poipu Beach Park offers golden sand and nice snorkeling.

Russian Fort Elizabeth State Historical Park
Retrace your way to Koloa and take Hawaii 530northwest to Hawaii 50, and continue west. Less than a mile [1.6 kilometers] beforeWaimea lies Russian FortElizabeth State Historical Park, which contains the ruins ofan 1816fort built by the Russian-American Company to provision itstradingships. The star-shaped bulwark was made of lava rocks, soon afterabandoned, and now is in rubble and overgrown.

Waimea Canyon State Park

Waimea Canyon

Photograph © Phil Schermeister

Ahead in Waimea, Capt. James Cook made his first landfallon theHawaiian Islands in January 1778. Just west of town, turn north onHawaii 550 (Waimea Canyon Drive), which winds up into the coolerinterior of the island. You’re heading for Waimea Canyon StatePark(+1 808 274 3444), which preserves what Mark Twain dubbed the“GrandCanyon of the Pacific”—a 3,600-foot[1,097-meter]-deep gorge that opened alongageological fault and then was eroded by streams and rain. The redearthdoes resemble the Arizona canyon, but is veiled by mists,accessorizedwith greenery, and often trimmed with waterfalls.
Walk the Iliau Nature Loop, located before Milepost 9, fora lookat the canyon and its plants—particularly native iliau, a cousinof therare silversword, with a stem that can be 12 feet [3.7 meters] tall. After Mile10,stop at spectacular Waimea Canyon Lookout, a viewpoint thatshowsstream-carved side canyons entering the main, 10-mile [16.1 kilometer]-long gorge.Aheadat Puu Ka Pele Lookout you can see 800-foot [244 meter]-high WaipooFalls(dry during rain shortages). Puu Hinahina Lookout, pastMile 13,has viewpoints of the island of Niihau—which is privately ownedandalmost purely Hawaiian—and down the length of Waimea Canyon.

Kokee State Park
Soon the road enters Kokee State Park, high in themountains. The park’s many hikingtrails wander past ginger, ferns, koa trees, and many otherplants; aboardwalk runs over the boggy terrain of the Alakai Swamp. You canobtain hiking information and arrange guided hikes at the KokeeNatural History Museum (+1 808 335 9975), located justpast Mile15. The museum also has a 3-D model of the canyon, plus displaysonlocal plants, animals, and hurricanes. Note the shell of a Pacificgreensea turtle, an animal revered by some Hawaiian families as theiraumakua, or ancestral guardian spirit. The facility hasbeencalled a “bantam museum,” not only for its size but also for thewildchickens running loose outside. (They’re actually moa, orjunglefowl.)
Don’t miss driving on through the ohia forest to KalalauLookout. Here, at4,000 feet [1219 meters] above sea level, you’re at the altitude where cloudsform; aclear view is more likely before 10 a.m. You look down the largestvalley on the Na Pali Coast, a jumble of green land tumbling tothe bluePacific. Settled by ancient Hawaiians and populated until the1920s, thevalley’s only residents now are wild pigs and goats, rummagingamong thesilvery green kukui trees. Another viewpoint overlookingthe lushvalley, the Puu O Kila Lookout, comes at road’s end.
You have two choices for the trip back to Hawaii 50. Remain onHawaii550 alongside Waimea Canyon, the way you came; or turn rightpartwaydown on Kokee Road, which descends with varying views of the coastandthe island of Niihau to the town of Kekaha. Hawaii 50 will thenbringyou back to Lihue.