After spending so many days on the beach, we were itching for a change of scenery. I had promised my Mom before we even booked our trip to Hawaii that we would see lots of wonderful waterfalls and I felt guilty that here we were four days into Maui and we hadn’t seen a single waterfall.
With the road to Hana still days ahead of us (it was scheduled to rain there for several more days), I scoured our travel book to find another option—Iao Valley State Park. While Iao Valley didn’t have the towering waterfalls that have made Hana so famous, it had enough baby waterfalls to curb my Mom’s appetite (for the time being anyway). So we packed into the car and drove to central Maui.
Iao Valley State Park is 4,000 acre park home to one of Maui’s most famous landmarks, the towering foliage covered rock called the Iao Needle. After paying the $5 entrance fee to park, we walked along a paved pedestrian path up to the valley.
Along the way up to the needle, we had plenty of great opportunities to take pictures of some of Maui’s iconic lush green valleys.
Aside from its breathtaking scenery, the Valley has historical importance for the Hawaiians. Many significant battles took place in this valleyand warriors would use the needle as a lookout point. In 1790, King Kamehameha I won his battle against the Maui forces in this valley, leading, for the first time, to the unification of the Hawaiian Islands. This ground was considered to be so revered by the Hawaiian people that many chiefs requested to be buried in the valley.
At the top of the trail, you are given a gorgeous view of the Iao Needle (also called Kuka’emoku—everything in Hawaii has at least two names). The needle juts 2,250 feet into the air. Like everything else on the island, the needle is made out of basaltic core, a hard, dense volcanic rock, that has been covered in greenery. The needle shape emerged as natural erosion from the surrounding streams and rain broke down the sides of the rock.
Iao means cloud supreme which is apropos considering the valley is typically covered by a bank of clouds. This is the second wettest place in Hawaii, receiving an average of one inch of rain per day. So make sure you pack a poncho or an umbrella. It sprinkled a little while we were here but nothing that warranted any protection.
Once we finished with our dorky pictures with the needle, we headed down to the Iao Stream to fulfill my Mom’s waterfall wishes.
And I finally put my photography knowledge to work.
Awesome effect created by a super long exposure and a large aperture.
Once we finished with the trail, we walked down to the botanical garden. The garden featured plants brought to the Iao Valley by native Hawaiians pre contact. While we were exploring this area, a group of school age kids (who I would surmise were on a field trip) gathered under the tent and started singing Hawaiian songs. It was an experience that highlighted the cultural and spiritual significance of this beautiful landmark to the Hawaiian people.
Even though we explored the Iao Valley in a relatively short period of time, I would definitely recommend stopping here if you want to do an easy hike on Maui or if you are looking for a quick day trip.
The path was paved and very easy to follow but be warned that there are a lot of stairs. So if you have people in your party that have issues with stairs, this is not a good trail for them. Even if you don’t like to hike, you can still get a great view of the valley and the needle from the parking lot and the beginning portions of the trail before the stairs come into play.
