Akaka Falls Big Island Ceramic Art Tile
— — the long fall into the green.
Not only on a wall.
“A 442-foot ribbon falling through a tropical gorge on the Hāmākua Coast. The trail is a paved loop through bamboo and tree ferns; the falls appear after a few minutes' walk, seen from a railed overlook across the gorge. Kolekole Stream carries the water from the slopes above and drops it in one unbroken line. A second falls, Kahuna, shows itself across the canyon, almost as tall and half-hidden in green. The whole thing is held inside a 65-acre state park reached by a short road off the highway from Honomu. Most people stop talking when the trees open.
Akaka Falls Big Island Ceramic Art Tile, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.
Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.
The place, in three passes.
The falls sit on the Hāmākua Coast of Hawai'i Island, 14 miles north of Hilo and roughly four miles inland from the village of Honomu. Access is by Highway 220, which climbs west off the Hawai'i Belt Road and ends at a 65-acre state park where Kolekole Stream cuts a steep gorge through the windward slopes of Mauna Kea. The surrounding country is wet tropical forest, fed by the trade-wind rainfall that has shaped the entire northeastern flank of the island. A paved 0.4-mile loop trail descends through wild orchids, bamboo groves, and draping tree ferns to a railed overlook on the far side of the gorge.
Akaka Falls drops 442 feet in a single uninterrupted plunge into a pool fed by Kolekole Stream. The water is the runoff of the windward Hāmākua highlands, channelled by basalt cliffs cut over millennia through Mauna Kea's eastern shoulder. Across the gorge from the main overlook, Kahuna Falls shows itself at 400 feet, nearly the same height, set deeper into the rainforest and most readable when the leaf cover thins. Both falls run continuously, swelling within a few hours of heavy rain above the catchment and easing again within a day. The pool below Akaka is unreachable from the public trail; the official viewpoint is the railed lookout above.
The falls are inside ʻAkaka Falls State Park, open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and managed by the Hawai'i Division of State Parks. Entry is free for Hawai'i residents with state ID; non-residents pay $5 per person plus $10 for parking, both card-only. The loop trail is paved and under half a mile, but includes a long flight of steps and is not wheelchair accessible; most visitors complete the walk in 20 to 30 minutes. The falls run continuously and swell after winter rains. Mid-morning light reads cleanest through the gorge; by early afternoon the canopy throws hard shadows across the overlook. Portable toilets are on site and no food service is available.