Hawaii Travelogue: Akaka Falls
Posted on October 9, 2007
Filed Under Personal |
The Hawaiian Islands lie directly in the pathway of the Pacific trade winds, which are saturated with moisture. It is not surprising, then, to find that the wettest spot on the face of the earth can be found here–specifically, on Mount Waialeale, on the island of Kauai. Because the islands are literally volcanic mountains, much of the terrain is extremely steep. When you mix the high volume of rainfall with this steep, rocky landscape, you get some spectacular waterfalls.
In Maui, we drove the “Road to Hana” and saw a ton of them, each with their own unique beauty. In Kauai, we saw them plummeting down the steep emerald cliffs of Na Pali. But my favorite was Akaka Falls, on the Big Island (Hawai’i). What a sight!
From Hilo, we drove north about 15 miles to Honomu and then 3 miles east on road 220. 
After a short ¼ mile hike through a thick tropical forest with bamboo, banana plants, and flowers of purple and yellow and orange, we began to hear the deep roar that told us we were getting close. We finally broke through the thick foliage onto the edge of a cliff and then we saw her—Hawaii’s highest waterfall, plunging in a 420 foot freefall.
I tried to count the seconds it took for the water to reach the bottom, but couldn’t because it eventually disappeared into a cloud of mist created by the tremendous force of the water hitting the pool below. It created a deep percussion that is hard to describe, but it gave me the uneasy feeling that anything venturing under it would be crushed.
It was hard to leave this sight. The beauty of the green, lush growth on the jet black volcanic rock; the water plunging down and down and down, almost in slow motion; the boiling cloud; the roar…it is impossible to describe.
Things like this always turn my thoughts toward the grandeur of God. His handiwork is merely a finite reflection of His glory—a mere speck, naked to the visible eye, in comparison to the magnificence of its Creator.
I had goosebumps…and it was 86 degrees.
(My photos don’t do it justice. It is much, much bigger in real life.)
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Dr. Del Tackett is president of the Focus on the Family Institute and Senior Vice President to Focus on the Family. He is also the architect and chief spokesperson for Focus on the Family's The Truth Project--a nationwide initiative designed to bring the Christian worldview to the body of Christ.
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When I experience the roar of Akaka Falls, spot the insistent branches of bougainvillea bursting out of the black a’a lava fields or snorkel at Kealakekua Bay and see the sleek grey bodies of a pod of dolphins lift up from the blue depths underneath me, it brings to my mind the refrain from Brian Doerksen’s song: “How can I say there is no God, when all around creation calls?” God’s glory is manifest throughout the earth–but there’s nothing like a visit to Hawaii to be hit with it as decisively as a coconut on top of the head!
Dr. Tackett,
Glad to hear you enjoyed time in Hawaii. It is so beautiful, and so powerfully evokes what CS Lewis described as one form of worship, that is the tendency to turn to the one beside you and say “Look at that… look what God made over there. Isn’t that amazing!” Visits to such places tend, for me, to “stick to the spiritual ribs’ as it were, and sustain me for sometime afterward.
By the way, just saw the comment on your blog regarding the aircraft carrier. Politics and theology aside, the bottom line… that’s one beautiful ship. Rather like addressing the appeal of Delilah: her physical beauty was independent of her scruples and motives. We just have to trust Sampson who clearly thought she was a knock out. Same goes for the aircraft carrier -a thing of beautfy.
Regards,
CPT Talley
Beautiful pictures Del. I’m glad you guys were able to get away and relax!
By the end of this Travelogue, we will have our bags packed and one foot out the door for some “mental health” days off. Did I say that out loud?