• HAMAKUA COAST

Hamakua is the lush, coastal region of the Big Island, featuring the tallest waterfall in the state and breathtaking valleys and seascapes. It is also the home of the sugar industry with cane fields you traverse when driving north from Hilo on Highway 19 to the plantation towns of Pauka‘a and Papa‘ikou.

Take the scenic route from 19 to the former sugar port Onomea Bay and Hawai‘i Tropical Botanical Garden. The road meanders along the coast, crossing one-lane bridges and returns to the main highway where you can soon take a left on Highway 220 to ‘Akaka Falls State Park (photo left)–its namesake is the tallest straight drop of water in all the islands. Prepare for a pleasant, but sometimes wet, walk on a paved loop trail to view 400-foot Kapuna Falls, 420-foot ‘Akaka Falls and Kolekole Stream. There are restrooms, picnic facilities and parking.

Kolekole Beach Park is reached from the main highway as are Waikaumalo Park and Laupahoehoe Park, after the towns of Honohina and Papa'aloa.

Laupahoehoe Point is known for the tidal wave of 1946 that killed almost two dozen people, during the days before tsunami warning systems. This part of the Hamakua Coast is resplendent in curving shorelines, coves and such landforms as Maulua and Ka‘aweliweli Gulches hidden under thick vegetation.

Another sugar town, Pu‘uilo, has its own mill which is located on its own road. Farther north is Kalopa State Recreation Area with its trails into the rainforest.