Mauna Kea

Sunday we walked down to the marathon route but only saw 1 racer run past. Closing roads over a marathon course on the island is more difficult than at home given few alternative choices. This problem was solved by 'coning' a track along the shoulder of the main road.

With another beautiful, sunny day, we took advantage of the clear skies to check out Mauna Kea and the observatories.  Unfortunately, being a Sunday, there wold be no observatory tours (which require reservations).  Checking on the internet, there were no openings available in March.  Guess we needed to plan further ahead!

Our trip got off to a less than start - Leonard apparently had not put his finger on the correct spot on Google maps for our route, and after driving a few miles out of our way we realized we were headed to the wrong peak!  That mistake corrected, we were on our way.

Leonard had read the Saddle Road over to Kona had been recently resurfaced and was one of the smoothest on the island.  It was, except for the 6 miles that were in the process of being 'straightened', giving us a tooth chattering  ride.

We reached the visitor information center a few minutes before noon, when it opened, so we took advantage of the picnic tables to eat lunch before catching the information video covering the various observatories and the significance of the mountain means to the native Hawaiians, one of the most sacred places.  We received the rangers blessing to drive the 8 miles to the observatories having a 4 wheel drive vehicle to handle the 25 grade pitch of the road and the advice to stay in low gear both ways.  We had neither the time or the stamina to do the 10 hour round trip hike from 9,000 - 14,000 feet,  After doing a short nature trail to see some of the plants that grew abundantly before cattle and goats were introduced, we started up the mountain.

Flowers blooming in the lava field, one of the first plants to establish after a flow

Silver Spikes - once common on the volcanoes, and prime food for cattle and sheep, only a few remain behind a protective fence 

The pavement ended almost immediately, and if we thought the 6 miles on Saddle Road had been rough, this was worse since tires seem to hit the same dips in the road, making for some extreme washboard conditions.  We didn't see how anyone could drive the 25 mph speed limit - we were doing less than half that much of the way!  About half way up, we met a bicycle headed down, with the hard work behind him.   The views from the top were worth the effort.

Some of the Observatories on Mauna Kea  (Click Here and zoom to full vertical screen)

The trail to the peak  and Mauna Loa in the far distance  (Click Here and zoom to full vertical screen)

Although we'd brought along gear to hike the to the highest point (another 200 ft in elevation and 0.8 miles), we opted out.  It's a sacred area to the natives, and a sign was posted requesting folks to respect their beliefs and abstain from hiking trail.  Both of us were feeling the altitude - from sea level to 13,500', with little time to adapt. At 13,796' Mauna Kea claims to be the higher than Mount Everest since the base of the mountain starts deep in the Pacific.

We saw this interesting red cone not far from us 

Looking down to the VIS from about half way down

As we headed down a young hiker, waved for us to stop.  He'd made the hike up, but was feeling the altitude and was tired and cold and wanted a lift down to his car at the VIS station.  We were glad to oblige.  He had just finished his residency in gastroenterology at Yale and was taking a well deserved vacation before the next stage in his career. Before we got down, a number of emergency vehicles and an ambulance were stopped on the road.  We inquired if they needed a doctor (they didn't) and learned the biker we'd seen had crashed.  Down at the VIS, we heard he'd lost control on one of the long steep grades - we hope he's doing okay.  It's a long drive to get emergency folks up and then back to the nearest hospital in Hilo.

With good weather forecast for the week, we'll spend at least a day at the National Volcano Park on Mauna Loa, and would like to visit the museum at the University of Hawaii, Hilo to see the exhibit on the observatories.  We drove past a cave on the way into town that looked interesting- only a few of the possible choices easier to visit while we're on this side of the island.