Akaka Falls State Park
Interesting facts
- The Hawaiian freshwater goby climbs the falls with a "powerburst": it shoves upward with its pectoral fins, then re-anchors with the suction disc formed by its pelvic fins.
- The goby is mostly a grazer, with plant matter making up over 90 percent of its diet, and may refuel on algae coating the rock as it climbs.
- Adult males of the climbing goby reach only about 7 centimetres, and they develop a yellow to bright red rear body that females lack.
- Studies show the goby's larvae drift down to the sea more often during new-moon phases, before returning as juveniles to climb back up.
- Kolekole Stream rises at about 8,000 feet on the eastern slope of Mauna Kea and runs roughly 12 miles to the ocean.
- Kolekole means "raw" or "scarred" in Hawaiian, while the nearby village of Honomū takes its name from the Hawaiian for "silent bay".
- About three miles below the falls the stream reaches the sea beneath a long steel bridge built for sugarcane trains and converted for cars after the 1946 tsunami.
- The state park around the falls covers 65.4 acres, and its paved loop path is just 0.4 miles long.
Why it is worth it
ʻAkaka Falls drops 442 feet (about 135 metres) in a single, nearly unbroken column into a deep, densely overgrown gorge on the windward flank of Hawaiʻi Island. Kolekole Stream runs to the lip through dense tropical growth and simply leaves the cliff, so that the waterfall hangs in front of a wall of green with the gorge floor lost in mist below. The visitor side of the state park lies high on one shoulder of the ravine, and a short loop trail through the forest reaches several viewpoints. Along the same loop the 300-foot Kahūnā Falls and a number of smaller cascades come into view.
The falls carry a chiefly name: ʻAkaka is traditionally connected with a chief called ʻAkaka-o-ka-nīʻau-oiʻo-i-ka-wao, grandson of Kūlanikapele and Kīakalohia. The surroundings hold places from Hawaiian lore as well. A stone named Pōhaku a Pele is said in local tradition to darken the sky and bring rain when it is struck with a branch of lehua ʻāpane, the ʻōhiʻa tree with deep red blossoms. Another large boulder, about 70 feet upstream of the lip, is known as Pōhaku o Kāloa.
For all its height, the waterfall is no barrier to some of the stream's native animals. The ʻoʻopu ʻalamoʻo, a goby found only in Hawaiʻi, spawns in the stream above the falls; its young are swept to the sea and later return, climbing the wet rock beside the falling water with a suction disc on the belly. A native shrimp, the ʻōpaekalaʻole, has likewise evolved to climb the cliff and live in Kolekole Stream. The park is managed by the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Getting there
The park lies just west of the village of Honomū at the end of Hawaiʻi Route 220, which leaves the Hawaiʻi Belt Road (Route 19). The town of Hilo lies about 11 miles (18 km) to the south; the straight-line distance is about 15 km. The nearest airport is Hilo International Airport (ITO), about 19 km away.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
ʻAkaka Falls State Park is a state park on Hawaiʻi Island, in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The park is about 11 miles (18 km) north of Hilo, west of Honomū off the Hawaii Belt Road at the end of Hawaii Route 220. It includes its namesake ʻAkaka Falls, a 442-foot (135 m) tall waterfall. ʻAkaka is named after Chief 'Akaka-o-ka-nī'au-oi'o-i-ka-wao, grandson of Kūlanikapele and Kīakalohia. The accessible portion of the park lies high on the right shoulder of the deep gorge into which the waterfall plunges, and the falls can be viewed from several points along a loop trail through the park. Also visible from this trail is Kahūnā Falls, a 300-foot (91 m) tall waterfall, and several smaller cascades.
Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
19.85389, -155.15444per Wikidata