"Io Needle"
© 2012 Ben Babusis
ID # 739

West Maui, Hawaii

1200 foot Io Needle catches sunlight during a brief break in clouds in the West Maui Mountains. The needle was once used as a lookout and was the site of a vicious battle in 1790 in which Kamehameha the Great defeated Kalanikūpule and the Maui army during his campaign to unify the islands. The battle was said to be so bloody that dead bodies blocked Iao Stream, and the battle site was named Kepaniwai ("the damming of the waters").