Pali Lookout
Nu’uanu Pali State Park Album
Pali Look out album
Nu’uanu Pali is a section of the windward cliff (pali in Hawaiian) of the Ko’olau mountain located at the head of Nu’uanu Valley on the island of O’ahu. It has a panoramic view of the windward (northeast) coast of O’ahu. The Pali Highway Hawaii State Highway connecting Kailua/Kane’ohe with downtown Honolulu runs through the Nu’uanu Pali Tunnels bored into the cliffside.
The area is also the home of the Nu’uanu Freshwater Fish Refuge[2] and the Nu’uanu Reservoir in the jurisdiction of the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.
The Nu’uanu Pali State Wayside is a lookout above the tunnels where visitors are treated to a panoramic view of the Oahu’s windward side with sweeping views of Kane’ohe, Kane?ohe Bay, and Kailua. It is also well-known for strong Trade winds that blow through the pass (Now bypassed by the Nu’uanu Pali Tunnels), forming a sort of natural wind tunnel.
The Nuuanu Pali has been a vital pass from ancient times to the present because it is a low, traversable section of the Ko’olau mountain range that connects the leeward side of the mountains, Honolulu to the windward side, Kailua and Kane?ohe. The route drew settlers who formed villages in the area and populated Nu’uanu Valley for a thousand years.
The Nu’uanu Pali was the site of the Battle of Nu’uanu, one of the bloodiest battles in Hawaiian history, in which Kamehameha I conquered the island of O’ahu, bringing it under his rule. In 1795 Kamehameha I sailed from his home island of Hawai’i with an army of 10,000 soldiers. After conquering the islands of Maui and Moloka’i, he moved on to O’ahu. The pivotal battle for the island occurred in Nuuanu Valley, where the defenders of O’ahu, led by Kalanikupule, were driven back up into the valley where they were trapped above the cliff. More than 400 of Kalanikupule’s soldiers were driven off the edge of the cliff to their deaths 1,000 feet below.
In 1845 the first road was built over the Nu’uanu Pali to connect Windward Oahu with Honolulu. In 1898 this road was developed into a highway which during construction 800 skulls were found believed to be the remains of the warriors that fell to their deaths from the cliff above. This road was later replaced by the Pali Highway and the Nu’uanu Pali Tunnels in 1959 which is the route used today.
The now extinct O’ahu nukupu’u was last collected in this valley.
Read More from Wikipedia.
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