Iao Valley

ʻĪao Valley, a lush stream-cut valley in the West Maui Mountains west of Wailuku, is one of Maui’s best-known inland landscapes and a place of deep cultural importance. Shaped by water and the remnants of an extinct volcano, it includes the ʻĪao Needle, a vegetation-covered lava ridge preserved within ʻĪao Valley State Monument. The valley is exceptionally wet, feeding ʻĪao Stream and supporting native cloud forest and birds at higher elevations. In Hawaiian tradition it is linked to Kāne and Kanaloa, served as an aliʻi burial ground, and in 1790 was the site of the Battle of Kepaniwai during Kamehameha the Great’s campaign to unify the islands.

Waikapu, Hawaii · United States