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The Road to Hilo. Surprise Waterfalls!
Apr. 19th, 2022 07:05 amHawaii April Travelog #26
Hakalau - Thu, 14 Apr, 2022, 11:30am
I am still feeling wrecked from hiking the Koko Head Tramline Trail... and that was three days ago. Today at least I'm feeling a little less wrecked than yesterday and the day before, plus I'm pretty tired of hanging around the resort (it just pisses me off anyway). Time to get out! But on short hikes, because I'm still mostly wrecked.
For today's adventure we picked a drive around to the wet side of the island. The "Big Island" of Hawaii, which is named Hawaii, is dry in the west and wet in the east. It's related to how the winds blow moisture in from the ocean. Around Hawaii the prevailing winds circle around in a weird loop. Here the trade winds actually blow east to west. Anyway, our plan for the day is to drive around the north toward Hilo, stopping at Akaka Falls on the way, have lunch in Hilo, then drive back west across the middle of the island, visiting the top of Mauna Kea— at over 13,000' elevation— before returning home after dark.
As we drove northeast from Waikoloa we soon passed from the sunny warm skies of the dry side into the gloom and drizzle of the wet side. We were prepared for that; when we visited the Island of Hawaii several years ago we stayed near Hilo. It... had pluses and minuses. The minus was it didn't feel like a Hawaii vacation is supposed to feel. It was rainy and cloudy and there were no sandy beaches. In that sense it was kind of a fail. But the one redeeming quality of the wet side is that there are waterfalls over there. We love waterfalls.
On the wet side of the island we found a serendipity. Bonus waterfalls!
This falls is one of several we spotted from the side of the road on Highway 19 northwest of Hilo. Most of the falls we passed so quickly there wasn't time to stop. And many were small. But this one was so big, upstream in a gorge from a bridge we crossed, that I had time to hit the brakes, pull over to the side of the road, and (safely) back up to a parking space near the bridge. Thankfully the rain slowed to a drizzle for a few minutes as we donned our rain ponchos and walked out halfway across the bridge, cameras in hand.
As we walked out onto the bridge another waterfall came into view, dropping down the cliff next to us.
Waterfalls are so plentiful on the wet side of the island that these aren't deemed special. There's no park here to facilitate people seeing them or to collect money. They're not even marked with a sign.
Update: I determined later, from studying a map, that these falls are on Umauma Creek and Hanapueo Creek, respectively. There is a private park called Umauma with waterfalls in it, but those falls are farther upstream. We visited "The Umauma Experience" on our trip in 2016/2017 and were turned off by the mercantilism, though we at least saw some falls way upstream. It's cool that these two falls are free. But don't blink or you'll miss them!
Hakalau - Thu, 14 Apr, 2022, 11:30am
I am still feeling wrecked from hiking the Koko Head Tramline Trail... and that was three days ago. Today at least I'm feeling a little less wrecked than yesterday and the day before, plus I'm pretty tired of hanging around the resort (it just pisses me off anyway). Time to get out! But on short hikes, because I'm still mostly wrecked.
For today's adventure we picked a drive around to the wet side of the island. The "Big Island" of Hawaii, which is named Hawaii, is dry in the west and wet in the east. It's related to how the winds blow moisture in from the ocean. Around Hawaii the prevailing winds circle around in a weird loop. Here the trade winds actually blow east to west. Anyway, our plan for the day is to drive around the north toward Hilo, stopping at Akaka Falls on the way, have lunch in Hilo, then drive back west across the middle of the island, visiting the top of Mauna Kea— at over 13,000' elevation— before returning home after dark.
As we drove northeast from Waikoloa we soon passed from the sunny warm skies of the dry side into the gloom and drizzle of the wet side. We were prepared for that; when we visited the Island of Hawaii several years ago we stayed near Hilo. It... had pluses and minuses. The minus was it didn't feel like a Hawaii vacation is supposed to feel. It was rainy and cloudy and there were no sandy beaches. In that sense it was kind of a fail. But the one redeeming quality of the wet side is that there are waterfalls over there. We love waterfalls.
On the wet side of the island we found a serendipity. Bonus waterfalls!
This falls is one of several we spotted from the side of the road on Highway 19 northwest of Hilo. Most of the falls we passed so quickly there wasn't time to stop. And many were small. But this one was so big, upstream in a gorge from a bridge we crossed, that I had time to hit the brakes, pull over to the side of the road, and (safely) back up to a parking space near the bridge. Thankfully the rain slowed to a drizzle for a few minutes as we donned our rain ponchos and walked out halfway across the bridge, cameras in hand.
As we walked out onto the bridge another waterfall came into view, dropping down the cliff next to us.
Waterfalls are so plentiful on the wet side of the island that these aren't deemed special. There's no park here to facilitate people seeing them or to collect money. They're not even marked with a sign.
Update: I determined later, from studying a map, that these falls are on Umauma Creek and Hanapueo Creek, respectively. There is a private park called Umauma with waterfalls in it, but those falls are farther upstream. We visited "The Umauma Experience" on our trip in 2016/2017 and were turned off by the mercantilism, though we at least saw some falls way upstream. It's cool that these two falls are free. But don't blink or you'll miss them!
