Day 1 - Volcano Rush
Tuesday, June 6, 2017 - 11:50pm HST
I must be out of my mind. I had forgotten how traveling solo unshackles you to set your own pace, but in my case that just accelerates speed-run tendencies. I'm instinctively cramming more things in than ever before.
Now aware of the extended driving times on this island, I left Pahoa rather early (7:45am) to get started, stopping by a local attraction a few miles down the road, the Lava Trees State Park/Monument. This was a short loop showcasing dozens of trees burned and filled with upheaving lava from the 1700s, now rotted away and leaving only a column of lava rock behind. It's rather fascinating to view these all over the place, as if ancient statues. Good place for a quickie. Didn't want to doddle too much so only spent 25 minutes here.
Lava Tree State Monument, HI (Big Island) - Lava rose
from the deep in the 1700s, burning trees as they go and
using the hollowed out trunks to mold these lava stumps.
Next up was one of the bigger items, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Hwy 11 was once again the artery of the day. Happening upon the entrance, I coughed up $30 for the Tri-Peaks pass, seeing as how I'll be visiting Haleakala later on and would save some cash this way. Next came the obligatory "Visitor Center/Watch Video/Figure Out Where to Go" business. I jumped in my car and headed to the point nearest the steaming Halema'uma'u crater, which would be Jaggar Museum. Unfortunately there are no clear shots of lava from these viewpoints, although the vast landscape was still a treat.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, HI (Big Island) -
I'll accept forgiveness for thinking you were on Mars.
After this I rebounded back near the entrance and diverged south on the Chain of Craters Road. Now here you get to have a little more fun. There's multitudes of stopping points, mostly for lava craters, or lava flows coming from either Mauna Loa or breaking through the surface. As my mom used to say when she visited here years ago, it looks like you're on another planet.
Down I descended to near the ocean, not stopping until a "Road Closed" at the 20-mile marker prevented further passage. I saw farther on down the road steaming columns coming from the ocean edge, and I knew that's where lava was currently dumping into the ocean. Unfortunately it was a 10-mile round-trip hike, and in this sticky weather that's a "hell no" in my book. I made conversation with one of the rangers at that point, where she guided me to Holei Sea Arch jutting out from the cliffs there. The wind was picking up something fierce so I kept my visit brief.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, HI (Big Island) - Holei Sea Arch
was made over 500 years ago, but it's only a matter of time before it
gets pummeled by forces of the sea.
I had skipped a lot of the viewpoints on the way down, but hit a number of them coming back up. (I don't know why that seems more efficient to me.) Plenty of pictures were taken of the lava grounds, craters, and distant views of the steam columns from the ocean.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, HI (Big Island) - In the
distance, lava flowing into the ocean creates columns of steam.
It was almost noon at this point and I had to be on the other side of the island in 4 hours. I raced back up and out of Hawaii Volcanoes, but not before stopping at the Volcano House gift shop for the MSP (Magnet/Shotglass/Postcard) and even a new shirt, which I don't purchase very often.
Shortly after 1:30pm I was on my way to the east side of the island. Hilo seemed like a decent place to stop for a bite, so I found a deli and chomped the local food/salad bar while ordering a meat sandwich for later. It wasn't long before I headed away from Hilo using Hwy 2000 west to run into Hwy 200, all uphill at this point.
What's out here? Let me tell you, dear. Something you should do yourself should the time be presented to you. I stopped at the Mauna Kea Recreation Area at 3:45pm and regrouped while waiting for a shuttle to pick me up, and so it did, the Mauna Kea Summit Adventures. I was the last and only one at this pick-up point so got to ride shotgun in the shuttle (very lucky for me!) I know it's a tour group and it sounds kinda hokey, but it really is one of the best ways to get up to the summit of Mauna Kea without attempting to do it yourself. There were two shuttles with two very knowledgable hosts, talking up everything about the mountain.
But first, in order to acclimate to the higher elevation we stopped 9200 ft (2800 m) up at the Visitor Information Center, where we all de-boarded with an included meal (or someone like me who opted out of that and munched the deli sandwich from earlier). A gift shop and some various other things occupied here, but nothing that caught my attention.
Mauna Kea, HI (Big Island) - Time to head to the highest
point of Hawaii. Here's the visitor center where you must
acclimate for a bit before the full ascension to the peak.
At 5:50pm sharp, both shuttles began heading up to the summit. The first half of the road isn't paved so a bit of bumping and thrashing was at play. The last half, however, was smooth sailing all the way to the top at 13,803 feet. Here there are 13 super large observatories that make use of the clear skies almost every night. While waiting for the sun to set, one of the guides explained the history (and possible fate) of each one. They're all for different countries, which is a cool thing as far as assisting world exploration.
Shortly after 7:09pm, the vast amounts of clouds gave way to the satisfying oranges and reds accompanying such a spectacle. My camera batteries must have been screaming something fierce with all the pics I was taking. It lasted a good 30 minutes or so.
Mauna Kea, HI (Big Island) -
It's so pretty... oh so pretty...
After that we left the observatories and scaled down the mountain a ways around 12,000 feet to find a space for the sky gazing part. They had a pair of 11" Celestron (read: super expensive) telescopes, where we took turns looking at stars, nebulas, planets, all the good stuff. In between that I'm trying to get in my own time lapse images of the stars, with a little success but hoping I have better pics than I think I do.
After 2 hours of that, back down the mountain we came. Luckily I was the first one to be dropped off, so I threw all my stuff in the car and continued west using Hwys 200/190 to the outskirts of Kona to my next AirBnB destination. A lot of downhill driving from this point!
That's all for the Big Island! Time to head to the next destination. I don't think there will be any empty plates on deck. (Good!)
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Roadtrip #8A: The Hawaiian Islands and Back
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