Denise's Hawaii - Day 14 - Mauna Kea

Wednesday was allllll about the mountain!

We drove the 2 hours to the Onizuka Visitor's Center via Hwy 11 and Saddle Road. The visitor's center sits at 9200 feet, and this is where you have to stop to acclimate to the higher elevation before going the rest of the way.

The peak of Mauna Kea sits at 13,976 and without proper preparation altitude sickness can be a real problem. Even with proper preparation it can.

You have to spend a minimum of 30 minutes at Onizuka before proceeding up to the top. So we wandered the store, asked questions, and read and re-read all the rules about continuing on. It's scary to read the warnings, but we made sure we had everything in place. Sunglasses, sunscreen, at least two layers of clothing, plus more available, food and water (lots of water), 4 wheel drive, and we had checked the weather beforehand, we were both over 16, and neither of us had medical conditions like heart problems or respiratory illnes. We were ready. So, when we got to the visitor’s center we did a final check. We asked him the weather at the top. In Celsius – 7 degrees, with just 5 mph winds. Hah! That’s shorts weather! But, at least we could say we didn’t take it lightly, we were ready for anything.

We were there an hour and then started up. It really didn’t seem that steep a road, but coming down could be hard on the brakes which is why you should do it in 4-wheel. It was rough though; the first half was gravel and it was ALL washboard. Further up it’s paved, but by then the vibrations had gone on for so long you thought you could still feel them!

The speed limit is 25mph, but we went 20. First, to make sure we didn’t shake the Jeep apart! But also, to make sure the climb was slow enough to try to reduce our chances of altitude sickness.

We got some amazing shots along the way of other peaks including Mauna Loa. It was cool, as always, to be above the clouds. And we even passed “Moon Valley”, where Apollo astronauts practiced driving the lunar rover. But the coolest thing was after 12000 feet. We turned a corner and the sun was behind us and lighting up everything in front and it looked to weird. The light was actually different up there. The blue of the sky, the light that hit the rocks in front of us. I can’t even describe it, but it was like it was brighter. But not just brighter, sort of, whiter. Sort of. I can’t find the right words and the pictures don’t do it justice, but it was cool. I often have the window seat when we’re flying and I’ve never noticed anything like this.

It takes 20 to 30 minutes to go up and then all of sudden there they are! There are more than a dozen observatories up there, but you can only see the inside of one, the WM Keck Observatories. I’m not sure if we visited Observatory 1 or Obervatory 2, but they have two identical ones and they can actually be used together, as one. Very cool.

There are also two that are joint efforts that Canada is part of. There’s the CFHT (Canada France Hawaii Telescope) and the James Clerk Maxwell. There are also telescopes by Caltech, University of Hawaii, NASA and others. There’s also the Smithsonian Submillimeter Array.

Once we got to the top, there is a small observing room where you can see inside the dome!

Unfortunately, it was at that point that we started to feel the altitude sickness. The only cure is to head back down to a lower elevation. If you ignore the symptoms, it could kill you, so no messing around. We snapped a couple photos and got right back in the Jeep. It’s too bad though, because the observatories aren’t quite at the peak. You need to go up a steep 200 yard trail to reach the actual summit. But, since we were both feeling ill, we had to leave immediately. Oh well, we were still over 13,000 feet!

The drive down is definitely hard on the vehicle, but we made it safe and sound and headed the two hours back to the hotel.

(Was having trouble loading pictures again the past couple days. I was finally able to add some more to days 12 & 13, even if they aren't in the right place!)

Denise's Hawaii - Day 12-13 Hilo to Kailua Kona

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Yesterday was another driving day. We travelled up the way up the windward coast to the end of the road. Then turned around and came back. You'd be surprised how often you have to do that on the Big Island! Between valleys, volcanoes and ocean, there's a lot of dead ends. But there's always enough on the route to make it worthwhile.

We enjoyed numerous valleys, waterfalls, a couple of short treks and some shopping in Hilo. We enjoyed getting off the highway a couple times for beautiful detours through forests where the trees grow right over the road and block out the sun. Gorgeous!

At the end of the road was an overlook with an amazing view of sea cliffs, a lush valley

We packed a lunch and took off around 10. It was a nice, easy day, and no new sunburns.

Today we packed up and moved from the place we were staying in the Kapoho area to Keahou outside Kailua-Kona. So the morning got off to a late start while we packed up, cleaned up, fed the fish in the pond, and did double, triple and quadruple checks to make sure we hadn't left anything behind!

We were originally going to drive all over Puna checking out things around us and down the coast, but we realized we were low on gas. The nearest station was in the opposite direction of most of what we wanted to check out so we forfeited a few sites to fill the tank.

We did get to see one thing we’d wanted to check out. The neighbourhood we were in was called Kapoho, named after a town that was wiped out in 1960. Kapoho Point is the eastern-most spot on the Big Island. We could see it from our place but had never been there. It’s mostly ‘a’a (sharp, rough lava) with some pahoehoe (smooth) but it’s all tough-going for vehicles. The road to get there is a couple miles of washboard, and then it ends at some sort of tower. To get to the edge you need to off-road. The ocean is all around so you can choose almost any direction from the road. We decided to go straight ahead, which ended up being the best possible viewpoint.

New plan was to just head down highway 11 to Kona (3 hour drive) with a few stops along the way. But, as we got closer to Volcanoes National Park we decided to drop in and see if there had been any changes. Turns out they had just opened the remainder of Chain of Craters Road today. So, we headed down the road to catch the 14 miles we had missed on Sunday.

You’d think it would get boring looking at lava for 20 miles… but it really doesn’t. Every time you turn a corner there’s something new in the lava to look at. Small caves, arches, sharp lava, smooth lava, thin covering or 8 feet deep. It never gets old. Plus, at the end of the road you get great sea cliff views and great pics of the Holei Sea Arch.

We also noticed a lot of smoke coming over the hills behind us and we assumed it was from Halema'uma'u Crater since earlier on the road there was a warning along one section not to open your windows or get out of the car and you should only use recirculated air conditioning. Turns out they were two separate things. The warning about high sulfur dioxide levels was exactly what we thought it was. But the smoke we saw at the end of CoC Road was a forest fire apparently. One of the park rangers said that there was a forest fire raging over the hill that had been ignited by the latest flow of lava.

After we left the park we headed to Volcano Winery for a tour and a couple bottles for home. NOPE. Turns out they only offer one tour a day at 10am. Oops. And Darrin went to a wine tasting and said none of it was worth writing home about. So we left there quickly, and empty handed.

Next was Mauna Loa Road, which I accidentally confused with Mauna Loa Observatory Road on the complete opposite side of the mountain! But, we did get to see lava tree molds, so the drive was worth it. The molds were formed when a lava flow passed through the rainforest. The trees were so wet that the lava didn’t burn them immediately, instead, as they dried out the lava cooled around them. Then when the trees finally burned up, the lava had already hardened and left six-foot deep tubes where the trees had stood.

Our last stop before losing the sunlight was at Punalu’u Black Sand Beach. It was amazing to see 4 giant turtles resting on the beach. It was horrifying to see all the people walking up, patting them tapping them, snapping photos in their face. These guys are critically endangered and they should NOT be disturbed. Some people just don’t get it.

The rest of the drive was around the mountain. The speed limit was usually 35 or 45. For me it was like a roller coaster ride in the dark. For Darrin it was an exhausting night drive, with blind corners, hairpin turns and unmarked sections. There were no street lights (it’s rural) and minimum speeds are posted so you have to move quickly. Especially since locals who are familiar with the road start lining up behind you and can’t pass on the two-lane road around the entire volcano. That’s 30 miles of anxious cars riding up on your back to try to speed you up.

Now we’ve checked in at the Sheraton Keahou (it’s huge, we got lost trying to find our room) and tomorrow we start early.

Denise's Hawaii - Day 11 - Volcanoes

Oops. Got a nasty burn today. We were driving around Volcanoes National Park and didn’t have too many plans to get out of the car today. But it didn’t even occur to me that I should have put on sunscreen to block the rays coming through the window. Burned to a crisp!


But it was a really great day.

We drove the 45 minutes to Volcanoes Park, stopping first to top up the gas tank in the village of Volcano. Gas in Hilo is $4 – at Volcano it was something like $4.50. Figures!

We started at the Visitor’s Centre to pick up the most recent park map. A large section of Crater Rim Drive has been closed for a few years due to noxious fumes streaming from the Halema’uma’u Crater.

They also advised that on Chain of Craters Road only 6 miles are open, and only from 11am-5pm. This is because of the recent activity in Pu’u O’o crater. They don’t know what it will do next or when, so they keep the public far away by closing the roads and hiking trails until it slows down. Especially after the lava fountains last week, they can’t take the chance of having people near it if it explodes again. Initially they had closed it because of air quality issues, they went from 350ppm of sulfur dioxide to over 10,000ppm when the fissure first erupted. But now the gasses have dissapated so their only worry is possible lava eruptions.

So, we grabbed our map and set out to take in everything we could around Kilauea Caldera.

First we hit the steam vents. Sometimes there are holes in the ground, and sometimes the steam escapes right through the rock. It also offered our first look at the size of Kilauea Caldera and the Halema’uma’u Crater.

Next we continued on to Kilauea Overlook. It offered views of the same, but from a different perspective, so still totally cool, and worth turning off the road for a couple minute detour.

Last on this section of road was the Jagger Museum overlook. We didn’t take advantage of the museum, but we certainly enjoyed the view. This is as close as you are allowed to get to the venting crater. This is where they closed Crater Rim Drive, and as you follow it from the overlook you can see it gets right up to the rim, so that's why the fumes are an issue.

At the museum you need to turn around and drive back to the Visitor’s Centre to check out the lower portion of Crater Rim, which also leads to Chain of Craters Road.

On the second leg, our first stop was the Kilauea Iki overlook. From this viewpoint you can start at the parking lot and hike four miles roundtrip across the crater floor. Just getting down there and back up through switchbacks and stairs is equivalent to climbing a forty storey building up and down. Then there’s the hike across an open crater, where it can get to one hundred degrees and more.

Needless to say, it wasn’t in our plans for a driving day! Darrin smashed his knee getting in the Jeep yesterday so only easy hikes for now.

After leaving the overlook, just down the road, is the Thurston Lava Tube. VERY cool.

You walk an easy path down through an ohia forest, maybe two minutes, and come to the entrance of the lava tube. It has to be 15 feet high. The first section is well-lit and full of people, but it’s cool to say you were inside a lava tube. But the best part comes after you leave that section of the tube. At the end of the first section you climb down some rocks to start the 900 foot unlit section. This one is most definitely not full of people.

We had our flashlights in hand and away we went. There was a family in front of us for a while, but as they got deeper their son got a little freaked out and they turned back once we got into the deep dark.

I knew there were people behind us, but you can’t really turn around to look, one: because it’s dark so you wouldn't see anything anyway, unless you flashed your light in their eyes, and two: because if you do you’re likely to trip or smash your head. The surface is cooled lava, so not exactly smooth as a paved road.

After a while we reached a point where there had been a ceiling collapse and it looked like we couldn’t pass further. But one guy in the group that was behind us decided to see if it really was the end. He took his iPhone for illumination and scrambled over the rocks to see if it was passable. We shone our flashlights in his path until he disappeared around a pile of rocks about 30 feet away. He called to his family once and then didn’t answer anymore. His wife sounded worried but his son seemed amused when he stopped answering them. Finally after about a minute he came back around and we all set out to cross the cavern and rejoin him in the next section of the tube.

Once we all joined up again Darrin and I somehow took the lead again and away we went. We came to another cavern but this time we decided it was probably an illusion and crossed, where we found the path continued around a corner. After a while people in back would ask occasionally if we could see the end. Sometimes it looked like the hike was over, only to find an opening. And then, we turned one corner and there it was! We all took photos, there was some little cheers, and we all joked about finally being able to say “we did it”.

Once we all helped each other take photos, we headed back out. It went so much faster now that we knew the way. Once we exited the couple behind us thanked us for sharing our light and being so helpful. Turns out we were the only ones with flashlights, just Darrin and I. That’s why they kept letting us lead!

It was so much fun, and so cool, it’s likely to be the highlight of the trip.

After Thurston Lava Tube we continued on Crater Rim and then Chain of Craters. We stopped at a ton of overlooks on the way and saw craters, different types of lava, and just all kinds of cool stuff. One dead end road had a field of lava that was caused by two different eruptions, including one fissure eruption. Sections of the fissure are still there. Of course it’s closed to the flow, it’s not live anymore, but there are places that are still several feet deep, and trees and plants grow in them now.

By this time I realized I had burned through the window and we called it a day. We were at the end of the road, so we turned around and headed home.

Denise's Hawaii - Day 10 Aerial Tour

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Today started with a 5am wake up call so we could get to the airport for 7:15. It’s time for our helicopter flight!

It was Darrin’s first ever, so he was pretty stoked! He had an amazing time and shot lots of video. Unfortunately I was on the still camera and my motion sickness set in about half way through so not as many photos as I would have liked.

We started by flying over Hilo and checking out Rainbow Falls and following the Wailuku River and falls for a short way. Then we headed over to the Pu’u O’o crater to check out the latest activity. Unfortunately the lava fountain in the latest fissure eruption stopped suddenly on Thursday afternoon (which might be what caused the large series of earthquakes on Kilauea that night. But we were still able to see the vent steaming, and see where the floor of the crater had dropped that caused the latest eruption. The floor dropped something like 300 feet suddenly last week and sent a huge ash cloud up in the air. Luckily the tradewinds blow most of it out to sea so it doesn’t travel or hover populated areas too much.

After that we viewed recent and old lava flows and two really interesting neighbourhoods. One subdivision was wiped out over a period of 2 years. During that time they tried to divert it using a few different methods but they didn’t have success and over 130 homes were lost. They’ve since rebuilt some of them on top of the lava.

Another subdivision was almost completely destroyed, except for a few stands of trees, a couple sections of road, and one man’s house on a hill. He has a little oasis of about an acre, but no way in or out. He gets all his supplies by helicopter. He also turned his house into a fly-in B&B, but I’m sure it’s pricey. I wonder if the nightly charge includes the helicopter flight?!

From the airport we went to the Pan’aewa Rainforest Zoo. It’s a small zoo, with free admission, but it’s very well done. The animals are well cared for, the signs are up-to-date and most of the enclosures are a very good size. They also have a pretty good mix of birds, it’s definitely their specialty.

Then we travelled down the highway a bit to the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut factory. Wow what a disappointment! The “tour” is walking by the windows of the factory and watching the employees work. There’s nobody explaining what you see, nobody to answer questions, and tour buses of people jammed around the window. The worst part? The factory is closed on weekends! We just stared through windows at a bunch of idle equipment. There’s a million mac nut farms around, so we’ll find another one to enjoy. Just need to pick one and we can get a real experience!

On the way home we were going to pop into the Lava Tree State Park but it turns out it closes at 5pm. We missed it by thaaaat much.

So, we went back home, fed the fish in the pond and chilled the rest of the night.