November 5-28, 2011
Our first place to visit in Hawaii was the 'Iao Valley. According to our "Maui Revealed" guidebook, this was a sacred burying place for chiefs and the location of Maui's last giant battle for supremacy. In 1790 Kamehameha, the king of the Big Island, decided to invade Maui (again). He killed the leading chief of Maui and then his forces swept into Kahului and Wailuku. Both sides were fairly equal except for a cannon that Kamehameha had nabbed from a raid on a western ship. With this cannon, affectionately nicknamed Lopaka (Robert) and some captured but now compliant westerners as advisors, Kamehameha utterly annihalated the Maui forces. They rolled the cannon into the 'Iao Valley, backing troops into a corner and killing everyone, clogging up the stream. Today 'Iao is a peaceful valley, with short trails looping around the bottom and an Nature Interpretive Center nearby. It is recognized as a very special place for both its spiritual value and spectacular scenery.
The 'Iao Needle is a prominent point sticking up from the valley. It's actually the end of a long, winding knife-edge ridge. It is an erosional remnant of Wailuku basalt flows from the old West Maui caldera. (And yes, we did an earthcache here!)
The photos:
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