Hawaiian Landscapes: Sunset in Koke’e State Park

We went up highway 550 in the southern part of Kauai which takes you from the ocean’s edge up to and along the Waimea Canyon.  It is a beautiful drive with great views of canyon and over the Pacific Ocean.  The drive up rewarded us with two different rainbows over the canyon which we could stop and photograph both times.  We went up in the afternoon so that we would be in nice, warm evening light by the time we were at the top of the canyon.  That worked out really well and Bobbi and I both took some lovely images on the way up.  After weathering a heavy rainstorm while we were looking over the Kalalau Valley we headed back down and as the clouds cleared we found the sun was falling fast and we stopped at a bend in the road in the Koke’e State Park.

The sunlight on the clouds started out these incredible yellows and golds.  Within a couple of minutes, oranges and then purples entered the scene.  It was beautiful light and the silhouettes of the trees against these colors were really interesting.  It turned out to be an unusual and wonderful place to watch a Hawaiian sunset.