Tag Archives: Waterfalls

Waipi’o Valley

Waipio Valley

Waipio Hi'ilawe FallsThis week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Bucket List Images.’ (See more responses here.) Since I don’t have a bucket list that posed something of a problem for me, so I plumped for this image of Waipi’o Valley, since I might never see this view again.

Waipi’o is a valley on the northeastern slopes of Kohala Mountain. The valley is about one mile wide at the mouth and about six miles deep with walls that are around 2,000 feet high. It’s accessed by a steep, one-lane road that’s for four-wheel-drive vehicles only. On the left of the top photo, and in the second photo, is Hi’ilawe Falls which tumbles almost 1,500 feet into the valley.

Waipi’o means ‘curved water’ in Hawaiian and the valley is known as the “Valley of Kings.” It was the home of Hawaiian royalty until the 15th century and was a stronghold of King Kamehameha, who united the Hawaiian islands under one leader. In its heyday, the valley was home to somewhere between 4,000 and 10,000 people.

Those numbers dropped over time, but the valley remained well-populated until 1946 when a magnitude 8.6 earthquake in the Aleutian Islands triggered a massive Pacific-wide tsunami with waves ranging from 45–130 ft. high. Waipi’o Valley was hit by this tsunami, and though no-one was killed, most of the structures in the valley were destroyed. Today, the population is around 50 residents, though many more visit on a daily basis.

Kohala waterfall

Kohala Waterfall

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Photo-editor.’ See more responses here.

A few weeks ago I posted a composite photo of a rainbow here, which would have been a good choice for this challenge. But I also had more recent photos, of a waterfall in the Kohala Mountains, that I wanted to combine.

I couldn’t capture the full drop of this waterfall, probably somewhere between 500 and 1,000 feet, in one image, so I took two photos. This presented a couple of challenges. First was to combine the image of the top of the falls with the one of the bottom of the falls. The second challenge involved dealing with the horizontal offset of these two photos. Since I was in a helicopter at the time, we’d moved forward between shooting the images.

I’m pretty happy with the final image, especially the capture of the mini rainbow at the base of the falls. Anyway, feel free to see if you can spot where the two photos are connected.

Thanks to Sunshine Helicopters for the tour.

Signs: Boiling Pots

Signs-Boiling Pots dangers

Boiling Pots is part of Wailuku River State Park, in Hilo, along with Rainbow Falls. It features a series of small falls and pools. So why the name? When the river runs fast, those pools roil and bubble as if boiling.

The park overlooks these pools and access to the pools is forbidden, hence these signs. However, people go down there all the time and a few die every year. When people do get swept away, rescue divers usually spend 24 to 48 hours searching the river, at some considerable risk to themselves. Sometimes the body turns up several weeks later, swept into some unlikely spot. Sometimes it’s never found.

Rainbow Falls

Rainbow Falls and rainbow

Rainbow Falls and offeringRainbow Falls are located in Wailuku River State Park, in Hilo. They get their name from the fact that, in the mornings, rainbows often form in the mist from the falls (above).

Center, someone left an offering, possibly to Hina, mother of the demigod Maui, who is said to have lived in the cave behind the falls.

And below, someone who has inadvertently walked past the 83,000 ‘Danger’ and ‘Warning’ signs to wander around at the top of the falls. Flash floods occur often and people die here every year.

Rainbow Falls

Onomea waterfalls

The Onomea Waterfalls at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden north of Hilo

This week’s WordPress photo challenge theme is ‘serene,’ and I thought I’d use that as my prompt for the next few posts.

First up are the Onomea Waterfalls at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden north of Hilo. Here, the falls are full with winter rains. In the summer the flow is less. It’s a beautiful, calm setting and, while it’s a popular spot with visitors to the garden, an early arrival should ensure maximum serenity.

For more information about Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, go to htbg.com.