---
template: byway.jade
id: "81481"
name: "Ka'u Scenic Byway - The Slopes of Mauna Loa "
distance: "54"
duration: 1 hour 11 minutes to drive the byway
description: "This byway on the Big Island of Hawaii offers the longest stretches of unspoiled natural scenery to be found anywhere in the Hawaiian Islands, along with the diverse geological and ecological features of Mauna Loa’s slopes, an active volcano rising 13,680 ft. high."
websites: 
  - url: "http://www.hawaiiscenicbyways.org/index.php/byway/kau-scenic-byway-the-slopes-of-mauna-loa"
    name: Kau Scenic Byway
designations: 
  - Hawaii State Scenic Byway
states: 
  - HI

---

The byway on the Big Island of Hawaii offers the longest stretches of unspoiled natural scenery to be found anywhere in the Hawaiian Islands, along with the diverse geological and ecological features of Mauna Loa’s slopes, an active volcano rising 13,680 ft. high. The Kau District has been relatively untouched by development and population growth, so the visitor has an opportunity to experience miles of Hawaii’s coastal, desert and forest environments including long stretches of recent lava flows on either side of the byway. This byway has the unique distinction of being the southernmost byway in the United States.