Caitlin and Mark

Big Island Day 2

Day two started with another lovely breakfast at My Island. we got off to an early start cause we had another full day ahead of us. but instead of walking the other 11.2 miles of our marathon weekend, we drove to Mauna Kea. This is the tallest point in Hawai'i at 13,780 ft or something like that. it was high. this was one of the main reasons we rented the jeep, even though the rental company said we were not allowed to a.) drive on the road to get to Mauna Kea (Saddle Road) and b.) drive on the Mauna Kea access road. They tell you not to go on Saddle road because it's too dangerous and that it is a long stretch of road and there are no gas stations. of course we paid no regard to either of these warnings and headed out. well, it's not exactly the worst road i've ever been on, and it's not that bad as long as you fill up before heading out. we figure they tell you this because they don't want to pay for a tow truck if you get stuck out there. the landscape around saddle road is pretty barren. lots of old lava flows, very little vegitation, but a spectacular view of both Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.

so we get to Mauna Kea access road and start climbing. it's was actually really fun driving up the 16% slope to the visitors center.

we took a 5 minute break half way (6000 ft or so) up to get adjusted to the altitude. The visitor center is where anyone without a 4 wheel drive vehicle has to stop at. we stopped to grab some pamphlets and headed up the last 3000ft to the summit. This road was not paved the whole way and was quite steep and bumpy. pretty awesome if you ask me.

The summit is littered with like 13 different telescopes run by organizations from all over the world. This is known as one of the best places for observations of planetary and star research, and you can see why since you are above the clouds and in the middle of the pacific ocean.

even though we are in the tropics, it was in the mid 40's up that high... and windy. we parked our trusty jeep and had a quick lunch that we brought. we then looked around and did a quick hike to the real summit where they have an offering shrine, and a benchmark signifying the summit. just that little 1/4 mile hike was laboring though. at that elevation the lack of oxygen definitely hits you. but well worth it. this was actually my highlight of the trip, just looking over everything and seeing the landscape.

on the drive down, it was a little more treacherous. you have to drive in 1st so you don't pick up too much speed or overheat your brakes. lots of fun though.

after our amazing morning, we didn't have much enthusiasm to go hiking or anything, so we went to the zoo. it was a pretty run down zoo, but they did have a spectacular tiger.

we still had a little daylight left, so we decided to go back into volcanoes national park to see the petroglyphs and the sunset. a great day with lots of pictures

-Mark

Posted by Mark at September 12, 2006 3:52 PM