Pololu Valley

Although it has been months since our trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, I still have more photos to share. My goal has been to space out the posts so they don’t become overwhelming. Compared to the other Hawaiian islands, the Big Island is quite large (hence its name). In fact, if you combined Rhode Island and Delaware into one land mass, the Big Island would still be about 1,000 square miles bigger.

We stayed in Waikoloa Beach Resort on the west side of the island. If you drive an hour along the western coastal road up to the northern tip, the road dead ends at Pololu Valley. Although it’s a main highway, it’s also a residential street, and parking is limited, but the view from the lookout point is more than worth waiting for a spot. There are no large centers along the northern side of the island, but there are several small towns that are just darling. The nearby towns of Hawi and Kawaihae have great art galleries, ice cream and smoothie parlors, and coffee shops.

If you have your walking shoes or sandals, you can hike 20 minutes down to the black sand beach. The path was steep and a little muddy, but we took it slow and snapped lots of pictures along the way.

Pololu Valley is the first of seven valleys along the Big Island’s northern coast. The seventh is Waipi’o, which has a history even richer than its lush, green vegetation (photos of that one coming later). There is a long hiking trail that connects all seven valleys, but it is an overnight trail that is known for being treacherous.

The view along the shore is gorgeous, but the view behind the beach (towards the south) is even more breathtaking.

When we arrived at the bottom, we walked around a little to take in the scenery.

The black sand beach is beautiful, but the water is rough, and swimming would be dangerous. Mr. Handsome enjoyed sitting on a log and watching the waves crash along the rocky shore.

To give you a better idea of the Pololu Valley landscape, below is a video that I filmed from the bottom of the trail.