The Big Island offers a wide range of opportunities to view waterfalls, although the time of year and the amount of recent rain can really impact how impressive they look. We were in Hawaii in the late stages of a rather extended drought so some waterfalls were a little thin. Access to falls can vary from drive-by pull overs to hikes through the rain forest. This is another in our series on Top 10 Activities for families with teens and tweens on the Big Island of Hawaii. Click the link for info on the other 9!
Waterfall Walks Near Hilo
Since we stayed several days on the east side of the island, we visited waterfalls that were short drives from Hilo. Akaka Falls, located 11 miles North of Hilo, near the small town of Homomu. Akaka Falls State Park offers a dramatic 442 ft waterfall (twice the height of Niagra Falls) accessed via a short hike on a paved trail.
Akaka Falls in the afternoon sunlight
Leaving the parking area, the trail splits with the shorter path to the falls going down the left fork. We opted for the longer stroll to the right which took us over a couple of rolling hills through forests of ferns, flowers and rain forest trees and provided a view of 100 ft tall Kahuna Falls, on the way to the main event at Akaka Falls. The longer loop is less crowded and affords more of a rain forest experience if you have the time. It also provided our growing kids the opportunity to demonstrate that their legs and knees are in better shape than mom’s and dad’s as they repeatedly, but good naturedly, had to wait for us to catch up to their energetic strides!
A view of Kahuna Falls on the way to Akaka Falls
Rainbow Falls, A Short Trip from Downtown Hilo
We also stopped by Rainbow Falls in the Wailuku River State Park , which is just outside of Hilo. The 80 ft falls drop in front of a lava cave and into some pretty pools but after Akaka Falls it was sort of a let down. We continued down the road in search of the “boiling pots”, a series of active pools connected by underground lava tubes. However, these were not too active due to the drought so we were soon on our way. This is a nice side trip if you are heading this way en route to the Saddle Road but may not be worth making a special trip to visit unless your family really loves waterfalls.
