Qualla: Pools of ʻOheʻo https://qualla.com/pools-of-ohe-o en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:09 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/8/e/9/j/pools-of-ohe-o-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Pools of ʻOheʻo https://qualla.com/pools-of-ohe-o Pools of ʻOheʻo: Introduction https://qualla.com/pools-of-ohe-o/ Photo credit OpenStreetMap contributors, CC BY-SA 2.0. The name is a lie, and a profitable one. In the 1940s, the owner of the Travaasa Hana hotel looked at the chain of freshwater pools cascading through a volcanic gulch on Maui's remote eastern coast and saw a marketing problem: nobody was coming. So he christened them the "Seven Sacred Pools," a name exotic enough to lure tourists down the winding road to Hana. There are not seven pools -- there are far more, tumbling in tiers from the upper slopes of Haleakala down through the 'Ohe'o Gulch to the sea. And they were never sacred to Hawaiian culture. But the name stuck, and the visitors came, and the pools' real story -- one of conservation, friendship, and the tension between preservation and access -- got buried under the branding.

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Image: OpenStreetMap contributors | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/8/e/9/j/pools-of-ohe-o-wp/8e9j-pools-of-ohe-o-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Pools of ʻOheʻo: Something Special in the Gulch https://qualla.com/pools-of-ohe-o/ Photo credit JHill from Philadelphia, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Hawaiian word 'Ohe'o translates to "something special," and the pools earn the description without needing a hotel owner's embellishment. They sit in the Kipahulu section of Haleakala National Park, where Pipiwai Stream tumbles through a series of natural basalt ledges, pooli...

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Image: JHill from Philadelphia, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/8/e/9/j/pools-of-ohe-o-wp/8e9j-pools-of-ohe-o-something-special-in-the-gulch.mp3 0:06 2 full Pools of ʻOheʻo: The Rockefeller Rescue https://qualla.com/pools-of-ohe-o/ Photo credit JHill from Philadelphia, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. By 1960, the pools' growing popularity had locals worried. Among them was Sam Pryor, a retired Pan Am executive who had settled near Hana and recognized that uncontrolled tourism could destroy the very thing tourists came to see. Pryor had a powerful friend: Laurance Rockefeller,...

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Image: JHill from Philadelphia, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/8/e/9/j/pools-of-ohe-o-wp/8e9j-pools-of-ohe-o-the-rockefeller-rescue.mp3 0:06 3 full Pools of ʻOheʻo: Beauty with Teeth https://qualla.com/pools-of-ohe-o/ Photo credit JHill from Philadelphia, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. The pools are not as gentle as they look. Swimming is officially prohibited because the cliff walls above are unstable, and rocks regularly tumble into the water below. Flash floods are a constant threat in the narrow gulch -- rain on Haleakala's upper slopes can send a wall of b...

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Image: JHill from Philadelphia, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/8/e/9/j/pools-of-ohe-o-wp/8e9j-pools-of-ohe-o-beauty-with-teeth.mp3 0:06 4 full Pools of ʻOheʻo: The Road That Delivers You https://qualla.com/pools-of-ohe-o/ Photo credit JHill from Philadelphia, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. Reaching the pools requires driving the Hana Highway, one of the most famous and demanding roads in Hawaii. The route winds along Maui's northern coast through 620 curves and across 59 bridges before arriving at Hana, and the pools lie another ten miles beyond the town in the Kip...

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Image: JHill from Philadelphia, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/8/e/9/j/pools-of-ohe-o-wp/8e9j-pools-of-ohe-o-the-road-that-delivers-you.mp3 0:06 5 full