We had some time in the morning before our flight from Maui to the big island of Hawaii, so we made a side trip up into Iao Valley.

It's not far off the main road and it's a beautiful place.

It's even a state park.

ʻĪao Valley is covered in dense rainforest, most of which consists of introduced vegetation on the valley floor. The Puʻu Kukui summit area at the valley's head receives an average 386 inches of rainfall per year, making it the state's second wettest location after Mount Waiʻaleʻale.  Much of this rainfall ends up flowing into the ʻĪao Stream. Trails in the State Park run alongside ʻĪao Stream and through the forest.

You have to pay to park and the restroom is chained shut, but the porta-potties are very nice if you like porta-potties.

And the view is quite nice too.

The ʻĪao Needle (Kūkaemoku) is a famous landmark in the state park, a vegetation-covered lava remnant rising 1,200 feet from the valley floor or 2,250 feet when measured from sea level. The needle is surrounded by the cliffs of the West Maui Mountains, an extinct volcano.

You can read all about it here.

Actually it's a steep little hike up to a small shed with a nice view of the needle.

Huff.  Puff.

But the view of the needle is worth it.

There are even some nice gardens.

But we didn't huff and puff our way down there.  We had a plane to catch.

So we said goodbye to Iao Needle and to the beautiful island of Maui.