A Six-Waterfall Day

 We were sad to leave the cozy KMC but had lots more of the Big Island to discover.  The Hilo farmer's market was our first stop but we are sad to say that we were underwhelmed.  But maybe that's because we're slightly jaded? We can get all of the fruits and veggies at our local market, although prices are slightly higher on O'ahu.  We briefly wandered through downtown Hilo, which is slightly larger than a "blink and you'll miss it" town.

Setting out from Hilo we approached Falls #1:  Rainbow Falls.  We didn't see any rainbows (actually, it didn't even occur to us that the falls are so named because a rainbow can often be seen here in the morning) but did see a beautiful and very easily accessible 80ft waterfall.

A few miles down the road brought us to Pe'epe'e Falls which took a little bit of climbing to get us to this view, but we were rewarded with not just a pretty view of the falls but also orchids growing in the wild.  This area is also known as "boiling pots" for the rushing water that appears to bubble up at the surface.

The "border" painted on the men's room wall at Falls #2.

Lonely Planet tipped us off to Falls #3:  Wai'ale Falls, on the same road as the first two.  It's marketed as "off the beaten path" but we were expecting somewhat of a trail to get to the falls.  Instead we ended up practically bushwhacking for about 1/4-1/2 of a mile, but were rewarded with falls all to ourselves.  These pictures, taken from above, do not quite show how high we were.

We parked our car on the side of the road near some locals.  We were slightly concerned about leaving the car because our luggage was in the trunk and rental cars are kinda obvious.  A, always believing that people are inherently good, was less concerned and his optimism proved to be right.  When we got back to the car the guys waved a shaka at us and offered us some of whatever they were drinking out of old soda bottles. (We declined.)

Continuing North from Hilo we made a brief stop at Baker Tom's for malasadas where Baker Tom talked story with us while we munched on a blackberry filled donut.  We then detoured off the Hawaii Belt Road to take the Pepe'ekeo Scenic Four Mile Drive which brought us to a short hike through the back of a botanical garden and Onomea Bay.

Supposedly a turtle and shark-filled bay, we saw neither but got some nice views.

Leaving the Scenic Drive we thought we might stop at What's Shakin' but were first distracted by this lovely view complete with a horse in a pasture, the ocean, and a rainbow.  Three cars pulled over right behind us in accordance with the Tourist Scenic Drive Rule:  if a rental car is pulled over on the side of the road there must be something to see over there.

A enjoys his "What's Shakin'" smoothie.

We then made it to What's Shakin' for what might be the most expensive smoothie in the world, but we admit they were delicious and very fresh.















But now we haven't seen a waterfall in nearly 15 miles so we continued on the Great Waterfall Tour of 2010 to Akaka Falls State Park which has two waterfalls on a nice half-mile loop trail.

Kahuna Falls (#4) - 100ft

Akaka Falls (#5) - 220ft

At the end of road on the east side of the Big Island is Waipi'o Valley, a spot we assumed we would skip due to the time it takes to get there but then we decided to make a go of it, even if we would only get to see the valley from the lookout.

Black beach from Waipi'o Valley lookout

Waipi'o Valley was beautiful from above and warrants a return trip to fully explore the valley.  As darkness was approaching we decided not to try to make it down to the beach.  But we were tempted by waterfall #6 to head into the valley.  The road leading into the valley descends about 1,000 feet in one mile at a 25% grade.  Not wanting to risk getting caught there at night with a car gear problem (and violating the rental car agreement) we hoofed it down.  We were about to give up when we started to see Hi'ilawe Falls.

Hi'ilawe Falls is rumored to be the tallest waterfall in the state of Hawaii between 1200 and 1600 feet.

We got one last snapshot before dusk turned to dark for the walk back up the hill.

We departed Waipi'o Valley and headed west to our next destination, a bed at the Hilton Waikoloa, about 130 miles and 13 hours from the Volcano.