The Boiling Pots

The Wild Water Show

Follow the path of Māui and Kuna 1.5 miles upstream. Turn from Waianuenue Avenue onto Peʻepeʻe Falls Road. You'll reach the second part of the state park.

From a safe cement overlook, the river shows a completely different face. Deep round pools sit carved in dark volcanic rock. The Wailuku River gets forced through these basins. They connect through waterfalls and underground channels.

Look upstream and left to see Peʻepeʻe Falls. The name means "hiding falls." Tall lava rock often blocks the view.

The gorge walls show amazing six-sided columns of basalt. They look like giant stone honeycomb. These formations frame the wild churning water. Another example of order meeting chaos.

Reading the Rock Story

The Boiling Pots area shows an even more complex rock story than Rainbow Falls. It's like a natural museum. You can see evidence of two different volcanic events thousands of years apart.

The deep bowl-shaped holes are carved from the same 10,500-year-old ʻAnuenue flow that makes Rainbow Falls. For over 7,000 years, the river worked on this hard basalt. Swirling rocks and sand slowly ground out these deep pools.

Then about 3,100 years ago, Mauna Loa erupted again. This time smoother lava called pāhoehoe entered the river channel. This newer Punahoa flow wasn't as big but still changed things. It flowed over and around older gray boulders from the ʻAnuenue flow. Today you can see these older rocks "frozen" inside the younger lava.

The six-sided columns formed when thick lava cooled slowly and evenly. As it cooled, it shrank. Cracks formed in the most efficient pattern. Six-sided shapes spread down through the rock. The result is the stunning wall you see today.

The chase between Māui and Kuna ended here at the Boiling Pots. The moʻo fled upstream and hid in the deep connected pools. He thought he was safe from Māui's reach.

Māui couldn't strike the creature with his spear in the deep dark water. He needed a new plan. He called on his relative Pele, goddess of fire and volcanoes. Pele sent him ʻā. Red-hot lava stones from Kīlauea's fiery heart.

This battle explains the site's name. The "Boiling Pots" aren't just interesting geology. They're the exact pools that Māui and Pele heated with volcanic fire to defeat a monster.

Peʻepeʻe Falls: The Hiding Falls

Look upstream and left from the Boiling Pots overlook to spot Peʻepeʻe Falls. The name means "hiding falls" because tall lava rock formations often block the view. This waterfall adds another layer to the park's geological story.

The falls demonstrate how the Wailuku River continues to shape the landscape. Water finds weakness in the volcanic rock and exploits it over time. What you see today is just one frame in a geological movie that's been playing for thousands of years.