One of many
trip reports under the
SilGro home page for Alan Silverstein and Cathie
Grow.
Email me at
ajs@frii.com.
Last update: July 26, 2024
(Previous trip report: 1988_1008_CrosierMtn.htm)
First of all, to dispel the myth: You can [or at least could] drive to the top of Mauna Kea in a regular car! It was a great side trip, if you're ever lucky enough to be in Hawaii...
So there we were, Bob Lenk and me, at Onekahakaha Beach Park east of Hilo, on the Big Island, watching darkness fall. It was the third evening of our get-away adventure following a week of POSIX meetings in Honolulu. We intended to camp in the park for the night, as we'd done at two other beach parks the previous nights. Being close to town though, the park was crowded with wildlife of the human variety. It was hot, noisy, and unappealing.
We'd thought about climbing Mauna Kea. If it was to happen before I left for home a day later, it would have to be tonight.
Now you see, Hilo was at sea level. The two big mountains of the Big Island rose to nearly 14000', just 20-30 miles away, in a fairly smooth slope. Climbing Mauna Loa required starting from either of two points quite distant from the summit (12-18 miles) and gaining at least 6000'. [Learned later that there was a shorter route, from the weather observatory, and hiked it from there in 1991.] Mauna Kea, on the other hand, had a road to the top -- to support the eight astronomical observatories arrayed on its summit.
The rental car agencies frowned on taking this road. In fact they were firm about not even driving the "Saddle Road" north out of Hilo, which crossed between the two volcanoes. We'd heard the road was narrow, maybe even unpaved, and that the side road up Mauna Kea was nothing but a rugged jeep trail (false!)
We called around to see if we could rent a 4WD vehicle for 24 hours. It was possible... For about $70 a day... But you couldn't take them off road! Seriously. "People rent them just for looks", I was told. A local confirmed it. The car rental agencies often removed the front drive shafts! How bizarre.
We had daypacks and camping gear and were prepared to do a bit of hiking if necessary. We checked our adventure quotients, decided we'd eat the tow charges if stranded, and took off for the high country. We turned onto the Saddle Road (#200) in town at 1915, well after sunset. We started climbing... Steadily... With few dips, all the way to the summit about two and a half hours later!
Eleven miles from town, the nice two-lane road became a one-lane strip of pavement with a center divider and wide, bumpy, previously-paved shoulders. No problem. We reached the turnoff to Mauna Kea at 2020, 28.3 miles from town, near the top of the broad saddle at 6758' (an average 4.5% grade). We were already well above the jungle line, in cool conditions, under dark skies full of stars. We had the good luck to pick a very clear night.
Wondering when, or even if, the pavement was going to run out, we continued another 6.6 miles east, up more steeply now (8% grade) to about 9500'. Here, at 2045, we found a visitor center (closed), a complex of buildings (Hale Pohaku) which supported astronomers, and the end of the asphalt. A sign ominously warned "4WD vehicles only beyond this point". We feared the worst, but according to a map of the island, it was 6.6 miles more to the summit -- a rather long night hike! Might as well keep exploring, we figured...
Lo and behold, a very nice gravel road continued all the way to the summit, another 8.4 miles and 4300' of gain (nearly a 10% grade!) I had to use first gear for the last half. There were obvious signs of road construction in progress. Apparently a major renovation project began a couple of years earlier, but the car rental folks didn't spread the news.
Approaching the top, we couldn't believe our good fortune. No hiking tonight! Just as well, because it was cold and bitterly windy. I expected to at any moment see a sign warning, "observatories, turn off headlights". To my amazement, no such warning. We rounded a curve at about 2130 and oh no -- kill the lights! Another surprise; nobody shot at us, or came out to chase us off.
The road crested a high point on the irregular, rounded summit crater rim, passing three observatories of varying sizes. It continued down to some others, and a side road reached a few more. In the dark we couldn't see all that, only that there was a slightly higher hump east, and had no idea how far away it was. After digging out warm clothing, we rolled back (by dim flashlight), rounded a curve, and found a place to pull off about 1/4 mile and 500' below the summit, out of sight.
It was too bitter, windy, and dusty to make camp. Instead we parked facing uphill, chocked the wheels, reclined seats, and crawled into sleeping bags right there in the car.
What a view! Far, far below and distant, the orange speckles of Hilo. I was struck by the vast expansiveness of the darkness. Cloud tops perhaps 6000' lower, crept in from the ocean and between the Maunas. There were lots of meteors -- one so bright I thought there had been a bolt of lightning, as the ground around us lit up. An orange moon, past full, rose out of the distant, invisible sea.
An hour before sunrise we drove quietly back up to the top, and parked at the edge of a broad, flat (bulldozed) area east of a big dome. This was a marvelous place to watch the sun rise at 0617 above puffy little cloud tops out over the ocean. The shadow of the mountain was the biggest and sharpest I've ever witnessed -- no wonder!
We picked out Hilo Bay, way, way out, nearly three miles below us and 26 miles distant down the infinite slope. South, the huge, grey, rounded, nearly featureless dome of Mauna Loa, equally distant, belied its massiveness. Northwest, the high points of Molokai, the next island, between clouds. And all around the summit, seemingly innumerable small cinder cones dotted the flanks of Mauna Kea.
We hiked down a trail perhaps 150' to a saddle in the old crater rim, and back up to the true summit of the mountain. It was a wide, nearly featureless knob of red cinders with a USGS marker on it. We stood on top of Hawaii! It was the highest point for about 2000 miles in any direction.
The round trip to the top took a half hour. We returned to Hilo from 0735 to about 1000, with a long stop at the visitor center. It was still closed, but nicely enough, the public restrooms were unlocked. (There were no public facilities on the summit.)
The contrast between sea level and nearly 14000' was phenomenal. If you drove quickly with no stops, you could probably reach the summit in only 90 minutes, gaining at least 13700' enroute. As was so often the case in Hawaii, the relevant word was... wow.
(Next trip report: 1989_0506-20_Spring1989.htm)