Mauna Kea - Hawai

had to at least climb the high point while i'm out here.
got up and from the end of the road scott lives on, could see the summit and observatories for the first time since in 3 days. so off i went, took awhile to get there, hilo does have rush hour traffic. bumper to bumper for 10 miles into hilo. then up the saddle road i went, nice views along the way. finally up to the visitors center at 9000 ft. here is where the Humu'ula trail starts. from here it is 6 miles up with a climb of 4600 ft. trail is mostly sand and gravel, not the easiest walking, up higher some rocky stretches. for the whole climb you could look ahead and see the trail stretch out before you. on the way up clouds moved in, which was a very good thing, it gets hot out in the open sun when you're up that high. the summit was in and out of the clouds on the way up.
finally reached the road, which i had to walk for the last mile, then about 5 minute walk from the road to the summit. nice survey marker on top.
very clear skies when i got there, but the flies came out, no wind up there.
4 1/2 hrs. up, 2 1/2 hrs. down.

You should have bushwhacked it. Funny how a dot on the map island has mountains twice as high as anything in the NE.

I copied this stuff of a high point website, sounds
Indeed Mauna Kea has more world-class claims than any other state highpoint -- including Alaska's McKinley:

* It is the highest in the Pacific (more than 1,000 feet higher than Mount Fuji).
* It is the world's highest mountain from base to summit (it rises more than 33,000 feet from the ocean floor -- Everest's height is 29,000 feet).
* It -- along with the rest of Hawaiian islands -- are the most remote places on earth -- nearly 2,500 miles from the closest continent.
* The telescopes on its summit are among the most sophisticated in the world. The space exploration phase were underscored by the fact that a Challenger astronaut was from here and astronauts trained here in preparation for the lunar landing.
* The mountain which on one side climbs up a desert and other a jungle it encompasses most of the planet's ecosystems -- from plains to arctic tundra.

bushwhack

well, i thought about it, but there weren't any bushes, and those sandy slopes didn't look inviting. could have headed straight up, but probably would have caused a slide, and been buried! so stuck to the trail. did do a couple of other bumps on the way up though, just to explore.

ColdRiverRun said:

You should have bushwhacked it.

Click to expand...

Or waited a few Month's and gone Skiing

Carrying skis up would have done me in. That was the highest altitude I have been at but as an aspiring 50 state highpionter I will be higher. 26/50

You're in Hawaii and no calls????

Are you guys still here?

Aloha

- darren

pics

sorry darren, almost called you.
but i'm back home now.
by the way pictures are up now on my site.