- Akaka Falls State Park
‘Akaka Falls State Park is a
state park in Hawai‘i, located 11 miles north fromHilo (at the end of Highway 220) on the Island of Hawai‘i. It includes ‘Akaka Falls, a 442 ft. tall waterfall. "‘Akaka" is the Hawaiian name for this feature. “‘Akaka” means "A rent, split, chink, separation; to crack, split, scale". 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.Local folklore describes a stone located here called "Pōhaku a Pele" that, when struck by a branch of "lehua ‘āpane", will call the sky to darken and rain to fall (Pukui, Elbert, & Mookini, 1974). "Lehua ‘āpane" or "‘ōhi‘a ‘āpane" is an "‘ōhi‘a" tree ("
Metrosideros polymorpha ") with dark red blossoms.‘Akaka Falls is located on Kolekole Stream. A large stone in the stream about 70 ft upstream of the falls is called "Pōhaku o Kāloa" (Pukui, Elbert, & Mookini, 1974).
References
* Pukui, Mary Kawena, Samuel H. Elbert, and Esther T. Mookini. 1974. Place Names of Hawaii. The University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu. 289 pp. (ISBN 0-8248-0524-0)
* Pukui, Mary Kawena, Samuel H. Elbert, 1986. Hawaiian Dictionary. The University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu. 572 pp. (ISBN 0-8248-0703-0)ee also
*
List of Hawaii state parks External links
* [http://www.outdoordb.org/index.php?title=Akaka_Falls Hiking to the falls from OutdoorDB.org]
* [http://www.fmschmitt.com/travels/Hawaii/akaka-falls-big-Island/index.html Photo Essay on Akaka Falls State Park]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
