The Big Island Waterfalls
The Big Island Waterfalls are one of the featured scenic attractions on an island that has plenty of unique and memorable ones. The Big Island of Hawaii as the name suggests is the largest of the Hawaiian Islands. This island is so big that you could take all the other islands together and they’d all still fit into this island! Believe it or not, this island is still expanding as lava flows from the active Kilauea crater and its vents, thus adding to its landmass when the lava cools against the Pacific Ocean. The interior of the island is dominated by the twin volcanoes of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa (both of which are well over 10,000ft). On clear days, Julie and I were able to see their impressive summits looming large on the horizon towards the mauka (inland) side. We even managed to see snow on their summits after clearing storms!
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In addition to its size, Julie and I have to believe that the island was one of the most unique places in the world. In addition to seeing snow on the two shield volcanoes dominating this island, we also managed to experience the quickly varying climates of a lush, humid tropical rainforest just a few miles from the snow on the island’s windward side near Hilo. This was where we saw the majority of the waterfalls in the Big Island. Then, there were drier and more desert-like lava fields on the leeward side near Kona and Waikoloa.
The waterfall highlights that we’ve encountered in the Big Island included Hi’ilawe Falls in Waipi’o Valley, Akaka Falls (our favorite on the island), and the classic Rainbow Falls near Hilo.
Two of the three waterfalls mentioned above made our Top 10 Hawaii Waterfalls List, which gives you an idea of the quality of the waterfalls here.
Given the sheer size of this island, I’m sure there are more Big Island Waterfalls to discover than our humble sampling, which you can see below. In the mean time, have a look and click on the links to read more about our experiences with them.
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