ʻAkaka Falls State Park

ʻAkaka Falls State Park is a state park on Hawaiʻi Island, in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The park is about 11 miles north of Hilo, west of Honomū off the Hawaii Belt Road at the end of Hawaii Route 220. It includes its namesake ʻAkaka Falls, a 442-foot tall waterfall. ʻAkaka is named after Chief 'Akaka-o-ka-nī'au-oi'o-i-ka-wao, grandson of Kūlanikapele and Kīakalohia. The accessible portion of the park lies high on the right shoulder of the deep gorge into which the waterfall plunges, and the falls can be viewed from several points along a loop trail through the park. Also visible from this trail is Kahūnā Falls, a 300-foot tall waterfall, and several smaller cascades.

Local folklore describes a stone here called Pōhaku a Pele that, when struck by a branch of lehua ʻāpane, will call the sky to darken and rain to fall. Lehua ʻāpane or ʻōhiʻa ʻāpane is an ʻōhiʻa tree with dark red blossoms.