From Kapaa on the East side of the island, we drove along the Southern shore then veered North on the windy Kokee road to reach the East side of the island, which follows the canyon's edge.  As we found out, there is really only one road around the island, and it took us approximately 1 hour to circle ¾ of the island.

The odd thing is that this arid canyon does not feel like it belongs on such a tropical & rainy island.  In this small island of Kauai, you change ecosystems in a matter of 30 minutes or less.  At the end of the road, we saw - nothing - because the vista was shrouded by a very thick & dense cloud.  We were truly on cloud 9 on top of paradise.  The only certitude was that on either side of our trail were vertical drops, which the guide book described as "conclusive", should one slip off the trail.

After reaching the top edge of the canyon, we encountered indeed a wetter then wet elf forest & swamp, so odd at this high elevation.