Waimea Canyon

The Grand Canyon of the Pacific, they call it. Mark Twain's line, apparently — and like a lot of Twain's lines, it's better than it has any right to be.

Kauai is small enough that you can get from green volcanic coast to red dryland canyon inside an hour. We pulled over at the lookouts, walked a couple of the rim trails, and watched cloud shadows run across the canyon floor.