South Point Road

South Point Road is a narrow paved lane that crosses open grassland on the south end of Hawaiʻi Island and ends at Ka Lae, the southernmost point of the 50 states. It leaves Highway 11 at Waiohinu and runs just over 10 miles to the coast. It has almost no curves, so this is a scenery drive, not a twisty one.

The land is bare, windy pasture and lava with few trees, and the wind bends the ones that do grow. Wind turbines stand along the road: the Pakini Nui wind farm, completed in 2007, replaced the older Kamaoa farm that was shut down in 2006. Near the end, one branch goes to Ka Lae and another goes east toward Papakōlea.

Ka Lae is one of the earliest Hawaiian settlements, with a long archaeological record, and the South Point area is a National Historic Landmark District. Locals fish from the cliffs here. It is a dead end, so you return the way you came.