Hilo is on the rainy side of the Big Island. We decided not to let the day be a washout and took a self-guided tour of some of the nearby waterfalls. Our first stop was Umauma Falls. It's located on private property managed by the
World Botanical Gardens and is being turned into a tourist attraction complete with zipline. We saw an advertisement promoting entry for $6 per vehicle. When we got there we were quoted $12 to enter. However, they honored the $6 price -- it was a printing error, they claimed. Overall, Umauma was underwhelming. We drove to the top of a hill and walked through a jungle path lined with durian trees and other foliage.
We caught a glimpse of the three-tiered falls in the distance.
It was actually raining quite hard so we decided not to hike any further. We hopped back into the car and set our sights on
Akaka Falls State Park.
Akaka was more impressive with more well-developed trails. We enjoyed watching the water tumble over 400 feet to the pool below.
I spotted another lovely specimen by the roadside and took a snap of it drenched in rain.
We finished off our excursion with a stop at Rainbow Falls located just outside Hilo Town.
We were able to hike past a large banyan tree to the top of the falls and see where it originated.
We enjoyed watching the water tumble over the rocks from a safe distance.
We drove a bit further out to the Boiling Pots. We weren't sure what to expect here. It was picturesque but I was envisioning some sort of boiling cauldron. It wasn't clear how this spot got its name.
We continued to the Upper Piihonua Bridge.
A lovely two tiered waterfall was visible in the distance.
With that, we called it a day.
