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Throughout our tour of Kauai, various guides and signs pointed out Mount Waiʻaleʻale. In the distance and shrouded by a constant cloud cover, it was tough to discern the mountain that includes Kauai’s highest peak, Kawaikini.
Waiʻaleʻale means ‘overflowing water’ in Hawaiian. Its watershed provided the water for the island’s once burgeoning sugar plantations via the irrigation ditches we tubed through during our island tour. At 5148 feet, Waiʻaleʻale receives over 450 inches of rain per year, making it one of the wettest spots on Earth.
The Kauai tourism industry touts it as THE wettest (or the second wettest), but in reality there are a few spots in India and China that get more rain. Regardless, it’s wet and provides much of the life-sustaining water on the island.
Kauai Posts:
- Wailua Falls
- Lihue Plantation Hanama‘ulu Ditch
- ʻŌpaekaʻa Falls
- Wailua River State Park
- Mount Waiʻaleʻale
- Fuji Beach
- Moloa’a Beach
- Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge
- Kīlauea Lighthouse
- Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge
- Wai’oli Hui’ia Church
- NININI POINT LIGHTHOUSE
- Waimea Canyon State Park: Red Dirt Falls
- Waimea Canyon State Park: Waimea Canyon Lookout
- Waimea Canyon State Park: Waipo’o Falls
- Kōkeʻe State Park: Kalalau Lookout
- Kōkeʻe State Park: Pu’u O Kila Lookout
- Russian Fort Elizabeth State Historical Park
- Hanapepe Swinging Bridge
- Spouting Horn
- Koloa Heritage Trail: Spouting Horn
- Koloa Heritage Trail: Keoneloa Bay
- Nā Pali Coast State Wilderness Park
Location: The ‘navel’ of Kauai
Date of my visit: April 18, 2019
