April, 2025.
Waimea Canyon Drive, Kauai, Hawaii.

It has been a dozen years since we drove the Waimea Canyon Drive, State Highway 550, to capture the views of the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific.” I’d forgotten the drive up the road is curvy but relatively easy to navigate, offering a journey through Kauai’s natural beauty. Parts of the road are in serious disrepair. Work crews plan to address some of the issues as of the time of this writing. Much of the road was open, but some pull-offs were unavailable to sightseers, as heavy equipment, orange cones, and other signs of upcoming maintenance were in place.

The Waimea Canyon Lookout is about 4,000 feet (1,200 m) above sea level, but there are pull-offs along the way that invite a closer look at the canyon. Of course, I will share some images of the canyon. The gate to Puʻu O Kila Lookout was closed to vehicular traffic due to road repairs beginning in March 2024. According to Hawaii’s Division of State Parks here, the lookout will still be accessible by pedestrians, and parking is available at Kalalau Lookout.

About the photo: Apparently, I was the only one who discovered this photo opportunity. >grin< I did a Google Image Search to see if I could find any similar images of this tree with a booth underneath. Almost all of the photos Google showed me were outhouses. This structure is definitely not an outhouse. It resembles a phone booth, but there are no utility wires near the structure. Of course, they could have been removed and buried, but that’s not likely given the number of utility poles we saw on the drive. There were a couple of notices posted in the booth, and nothing indicated that a phone had ever been on the wall. So, the booth is an enigma.

The tree is on the west side of the highway at the edge of an unpaved parking area. The view looks west with the blue sky almost matching the deeper blue of the Pacific Ocean in the background. Using my Samsung S23 Ultra, I exposed for the bright sky and used object masking in Luminar Neo to increase the exposure of the trees and booth.

I invite fellow bloggers to join in by creating their own Cellpic Sunday posts. There’s no set theme—the only rule is that your photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or other mobile device. The second rule is simple: link your challenge response to this post or drop a comment here with your link so others can find it. And remember, despite the name, there’s no penalty for sharing on a day other than Sunday.

John Steiner