Location Maui, Hawaiʻi, U.S. Age of rock <1.3 Mega-annum Elevation 1,764 m Easiest route Hiking | Topo map USGS Lahaina Mountain type Eroded shield volcano Prominence 1,728 m Parent range Hawaiian Islands | |
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Listing US most prominent peaks 81st Volcanic arc/belt Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain Similar West Maui Mountains, Mount Waialeale, Kamakou, Haleakalā, Kawaikini | ||
Puʻu Kukui is a mountain peak in Hawaiʻi. It is the highest peak of Mauna Kahalawai (the West Maui Mountains). The 1,764-metre (5,787 ft) summit rises above the Puʻu Kukui Watershed Management Area, an 8,661-acre (35.05 km2) private nature preserve maintained by the Maui Land & Pineapple Company. The peak was formed by a volcano whose caldera eroded into what is now Īʻao Valley.
Map of Puu Kukui, Hawaii 96793, USA
Puʻu Kukui is one of the wettest spots on Earth and the second wettest in the state after Mount Waiʻaleʻale, receiving an average of 386.5 inches (9,820 mm) of rain a year. Rainwater unable to drain away flows into a bog. The soil is dense, deep, and acidic.
Puʻu Kukui is home to many endemic plants, insects, and birds, including the greensword (Argyroxiphium grayanum), a distinctive bog variety of ʻōhiʻa lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha var. pseudorugosa) and many lobelioid species. Due to the mountain peak's extreme climate and peat soil, many species, such as the ʻōhiʻa, are represented as dwarfs. Access to the area is restricted to researchers and conservationists.