Day 67: Big Island - Beach & Forests

Carlsmith Beach Park

We started our day with a visit to the Carlsmith Beach Park, we missed our snorkeling gear, as this would have been a great spot. So we just chilled a bit and soaked up the beauty of nature.

There we saw a lot of Black Crabs, which are called ‘a’ama by the native people.

Akaka Falls

From there we went on to the Akaka Falls, on the way we found a scenic detour which we took. This led to a short hike to some hidden and beautiful bays.

There was also a botanical garden, but we skipped it as we weren’t sure what to expect and were on the way to the Akaka Falls. This was a quick drive of 20 minutes and we reached the Falls. It was crowded so we had to quickly wait for a free parking spot.

The whole park consists of a ~1km loop, which led to the different falls.

This was the first Fall and even though a bit hidden, the overall view was really nice! But the main attraction was clearly the name giving Akaka Falls itself.

Then we were already back at the parking lot, it’s definitely a beautiful spot but 20$ wasn’t cheap for the overall size.

On the way onward we did a quick stop at “Mr. Ed’s Bakery” and got us some sweet lunch. Which we then ate on the way to Kalopa State Recreation Area.

Kalopa State Recreation Area

Here I spotted a Hike yesterday, which looked interesting as it leads through some rainforests. It was cloudy and we were afraid that it maybe starts raining, but the weather hold up.

There wasn’t much change of the surrounding, but the rainforest was really nice and reminded us of the Hike around Port Renfrew.

One special sight was a tree which had an outgrow on which then some plants were growing.

The Recreation Area was really nice, we only saw 3 people in the beginning of the hike and then it was just us for the next ~2 hours.

Pahoa

Time was running today, it was already 16:30 when we started the 1:30h drive back, we decided to go a little further and pay a quick visit to Pahoa and the Lava Tree State Monument.

The park consists of lava trees which were formed from the lava flow that swept through this forested area and formed around some of the trees.

In Pahoa itself there wasn’t much to see, but we took the opportunity to buy some groceries to cook dinner. Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Onion and Pasta, which made a great dinner. But we got surprised by a Rat during dinner, which led to a bit of a shock… But the landlord will take care of it tomorrow.

Pictures

Activities

Hike: Hiking in Kalopa State Recreation Area