Spending a Day in Hilo Hawai'i Chasing Waterfalls and Volcanoes

Our next to last day on Hawai’i, we ventured to the other side of The Big Island to explore Hilo.

​We hadn’t been on the Eastern side of the island yet, and we were excited to see what the “wetter” side would be like.

Hilo is the United States’s most wet city accumulating over 100 inches of rainfall annually. Compare this to the Kona side, where we were staying, which only gets about 30 inches! This excessive rainfall creates an extremely lush landscape, and we were pumped to explore it!

​We left from Kailua-Kona first thing in the morning and drove north. We were following the extremely informative “Big Island Hawaii Gypsy Guide” which provided an audio tour as we drove toward Hilo.

The Big Island Hawai'i Gypsea Guide app we followed around the island.

See our entire day in Hilo in my YouTube video below to get an idea of just how beautiful this side of the island truly is!

Waipi’o Valley

Our first stopping point was Waipi’o Valley. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time to hike or ride down into the valley, so we just stopped at the overlook and dreamed of what it looked like down below. From atop the view point, it was stunning. After taking it all in, we headed south down Highway 19. ​

The sign at the Waipi'o Lookout.

Looking down onto Waipi'o Valley.

Looking at dolphins out at sea!

Akaka Falls State Park

The entrance to Akaka Falls State Park.

Our next stop was Akaka Falls State Park.
We paid the $5 entrance fee and started walking down the path.

This place was unbelievable! We were not expecting the area to be so remarkable.

​It was probably only a half mile to the falls, but it took us forever to get there while we were stopping and marveling at the different plants all along the way.

We followed the path right up to the free-falling Akaka Falls. We marveled at its sheer height for a while and read all of the infographics.

Walking down the trail towards Akaka Falls.

Akaka Falls!

​They told myths about the land and shared stories of fish that climb the cliffside! The Goby fish is an incredible climber and one of the most astonishing fish in the world. After being totally blown away by Akaka Falls, we left the park and finally headed down into Hilo. 

The story of the o'oppu Alamo'o or Goby fish.

A silly cartoon about the mysterious fish.

See more from the lush Akaka Falls State Park in my YouTube video here!

Hilo 

The pineapple cocktails at Pineapples!

 
​We drove downtown for a bite to eat and pulled over when we saw a window lined with pineapples and tables full of people. Pineapples Restaurant was an adorable open aired restaurant  full of pineapple cocktails, and we couldn’t pass it up!

​As soon as we sat down we ordered a round of these huge, photogenic pineapple cocktails. The drinks were great, and the food we ordered was even better! After our meal, we hit the road back to see more of Hilo.

The delicious mussels I had at Pineapples.

You can read all about Pineapples and the other places we ate across the island in the “Where We Ate on The Big Island” post here!

Rainbow Falls

Rainbow Falls.

​After lunch, we made a quick drive over to Rainbow Falls. We stopped very quickly at the gorgeous waterfall and learned of more Hawaiian legends. This time, the stories focused on Maui and a giant lizard, Mo’o Kuna.

Rainbow Falls was home to the God Maui’s mother who lived behind the fall. When Kuna attacked, Maui came to protect her and her home. He finally rescued her and chased away the lizard, but not before calling on Pele, the goddess of volcanoes, to throw hot stones into the river. Our next stop was named after the effects of those stones!

The Hawaiian legend behind Rainbow Falls and The Boiling Pots.

Boiling Pots

The view of The Boiling Pots.

We continued up the road just a bit to the Boiling Pots and learned more about the same legend of Maui, Pele, and Mo’o Kuna. As I was saying, the legend says that Pele threw hot stones into the river and kept Kuna away from Maui’s mother. The deep pools where the river swirls and crashes today are believed to be remnants from the epic fight!

Both Rainbow Falls and the Boiling Pots were nice, quick stops just outside of downtown Hilo. 

Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park

Our discovery of Hawaiian legends continued as we listened to the “Big Island Hawaii Gypsy Guide” app on our way down to Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. We learned all about Pele and how she made a home on The Big Island and built the caters that make Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.

The entrance to the national park.

Standing as "close" as we could get to the Kilauea eruption.

​This was our second time coming to the park during this trip, but the first time there wasn’t any lava. 72 hours before our second arrival, an earthquake opened up the earth, and the Kilauea crater opened back up. Lava began to pour out the volcano, and we were here to see it.  We arrived at sunset and saw the glow of the red hot lava down below.

Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park.

The glow of the lava crater down below.

You can read more about Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park and our two trips in this more detailed blog post here!

We packed a lot into our day trip to Hilo and saw every highlight we could. There was a lot more we could have seen, but our day chasing waterfalls and volcanoes was perfect for us, and we drove back to Kona overjoyed with our day. 
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See every place we went in Hilo in my Youtube video below, and if you like it hit subscribe to see even more from our time on The Big Island!

If you would like to read more about our entire week on The Big Island, visit my Hawai’i Page, HERE, to read posts about every place we snorkeled, stayed, and ate.

See Where We Snorkeled On The Big Island
Where We Ate Across Hawai'i's Big Island
​Where We Stayed For Our Week On The Big Island