Akaka Falls State Park is a state park on Hawaii Island, in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The park is about north of Hilo, west of Honomà « off the Hawaii Belt Road (Route 19) at the end of Hawaii Route 220. It includes its namesake Akaka Falls, a tall waterfall. Akaka is named after Chief 'Akaka-o-ka-në'au-oi'o-i-ka-wao, grandson of Kà «lanikapele and Këakalohia. 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 Kahà «nàFalls, a tall waterfall, and several smaller cascades.
Local folklore describes a stone here called Pà Âhaku a Pele that, when struck by a branch of lehua ÃÂpane, will call the sky to darken and rain to fall. Lehua ÃÂpane or à Âhia ÃÂpane is an à Âhia tree (Metrosideros polymorpha) with dark red blossoms.
Akaka Falls is located on Kolekole Stream. A large stone in the stream about upstream of the falls is called PÃ Âhaku o KÃÂloa.
The oopu alamoo is an endemic Hawaiian species of goby fish that spawns in stream above the waterfall, but matures in the sea. These fish have a suction disk on their bellies that allows them to cling to the wet rocks behind and adjacent to the waterfall. Using this disk, they climb back up to the stream when it is time to spawn. A shrimp called the à Âpaekalaole has also evolved to climb Akaka Falls and live in Kolekole Stream.