Then we visited Kipuka Puaulu, which is known for its birds. We heard many interesting birds, but
found none in the trees that we could photograph. We did spot a pheasant hen (or possibly a grouse),
and took a picture of it. This is one of many introduced species in the Hawaiian Islands.
Afterwards, we drove up Mauna Loa road within the National Park, to an altitude of 6600 feet, where the road ends at Mauna Loa Lookout. The view was pretty hazy that morning, so we didn't break out the camera for that either.
Next we headed east towards Hilo, to explore the eastern corner of the island. We turned south at route 130 and went past Pahoa, following the signs to Kalapana. The signs are still there, but Kalapana is gone. The highway ends at a lava flow. Before the road was blocked, it used to connect to Chain-of-Craters Road within the National Park. A few years ago, lava destroyed the town of Kalapana.
We parked at the end of the road, where a four-wheel-drive track continued up and over the lava that blocked the road. We followed this track on foot. there is private property on both sides of the road. The people who used to live here still own the land, even though it is now covered with lava. The road follows the path of the highway, and after a quarter mile or so, the highway reappears, complete with painted lane markers and road signs. In this section we found several homes that had miraculously avoided damage although the lava flowed all around them. These houses were inhabited.
It was fascinating and sobering to see the effects of these lava flows outside the park. We were amazed at the tenacity of the landholders here. We wondered aloud about property values in this area, and we also wondered how much notice these people will have when the lava next decides to change course. We suspect that they will have plenty of notice, but doubt that the property values are very high.
In retrospect, it might have been interesting to take pictures of all this, but we didn't, so we have to be
satisfied with just telling the story.
In late afternoon, we went to Hilo and located Rainbow falls. Rainbow falls is located within the city of Hilo. It's very picturesque, and looked just like the pictures we had seen in travel guides, but we took a picture of our own, anyway.
We found a Hotel (Uncle Billy's Hilo Bay) on Banyan Drive and then we had a wonderful Italian dinner at Pescatore restaurant in downtown Hilo.
We started early, and reached Akaka Falls State Park at breakfast time.
There is a loop trail here, going through rain forest to two separate falls before looping back to the parking lot.
Some of the plants growing here had impressively large leaves. Steffi spotted a huge red flower
blooming some distance off the path. We took this picture of it with the long focus lens.
We are not sure what kind of flower it is, perhaps a Bromeliad of some type.
The first falls is the lower falls, known as "Kahuna Falls".
The upper falls, "Akaka Falls" is one of the prettiest waterfalls we had seen so far.
We stopped for a while to admire it, and while waiting here, a group of young
Japanese tourists arrived. One of them was kind enough to take a picture of
both of us with the falls in the background.
We left Akaka Falls State Park, and continued up the Hamakua Coast. The road stays close to the coast, because the slopes of the huge extinct volcano Mauna Kea come down right to the ocean here.
Eventually the road does branch. The route 19 moves away from the coast once past the bulk of Mauna Kea, but a smaller highway (240) continues along the coast past the town of Honokaa to reach the Waipio Valley Lookout.
The Waipio Valley is the easternmost of several deep valleys that cut
into the western portion of this coast. None of the others can be reached by car.
Four-wheel-drive vehicles can go down the extremely steep (25% grade) road that descends from
this lookout down into the valley. We parked our rental car in the parking area at the top, and
got out or hiking gear, so that we could walk down this road.
Walking down a steep road like this turned out to be a very difficult physical challenge.
It is very hard on the knees, and after a while, one is tempted to turn around and walk down
backwards. We made it to the bottom, though. At the bottom, we found that there was a road that
went up and down the valley. At first, we walk up the valley. This beautiful waterfall
in a side valley alone made the trip worth it.
A little further up the valley, the road fords the stream, and the river was a bit high,
so we turned and walked back down the valley towards the beach, hitching a ride partway
(past the muddy parts, actually) with some nice people we met. They were from Toledo, Ohio,
so we swapped horror stories about the weather back home (which was frigid, according to the news).
At the beach, we took pictures up and down the coast.
Afterwards, we walked back and up the road to the lookout. It was a difficult climb, although going up was perhaps a little easier than going down. If it had been a steep trail, rather than a road, it might have been even easier. The hike, both up and down, stretches tendons and muscles because of the slant of the road.
The rest of the day we drove to Waimea and then north on the high road to Kapaau and the Pololo Valley Lookout. The Pololo Valley is the last of these valleys. It was pretty, too, but not as interesting as the Waipio Valley.
From the northern part of the island, we had a great view of the next island, Maui. the eastern
part of Maui, which is the part we were looking at, is dominated by Mt. Haleakala, a 10,000 ft. Volcano.
We got a great picture of it as viewed from across the Alenuihaha Channel that separates Maui
from Hawaii.
We finished our tour by driving south to Kailua-Kona along the leeward coast. We spent the night in Uncle Billy's other Hotel, on Alii Drive.
This story continues with our trip to Maui in the next chapter.
[Intro] [Oahu] [Volcano] [Hawaii] [Maui] [Kauai 1] [Kauai 2] [Index]