Main event on Day 3 was the escorted 4x4 safari to the summit of Mauna Kea – as luck would have it our friends have a 4x4. We took a morning drive up-country from Hilo, to see their house in a state of refurbishment, and then went back to Hilo to get picnic ingredients. We had a surprise extra “sight” when we found a vintage car rally going on in the car park!
Picnic ingredients secured we drove up Saddle Road and stopped when we got to the Mauna Kea visitor centre. Sorry, center. You have to stay there an hour to acclimatise to avoid getting the bends – going from sea level to 14,000 feet in an hour and a half would not be good for you! We put the time to good use eating our picnic on one of the tables outside, before being called in for the video. I presume they use this as a means to make sure you have the necessary time to acclimatise, but unfortunately it went on way too long to be interesting. There were great bits in it, but they could have said them in 20 minutes, and people were yawning everywhere. I can’t see why they couldn’t have a system where you had to sign in for the summit tour an hour before it leaves, and they could then have a shorter film.
Gripe over. There were five or six cars in our convoy, with a ranger at front and back. Most of the cars seemed pretty full, and though people have suggested that those without 4x4s might try to hitch a ride, you could well go up to the visitor centre for nothing.
Admittedly I wasn’t driving, but the road didn’t seem nearly as bad as some people have made out. Yes it’s mainly gravel, and steep, and has a lot of switchbacks, but our driver is hardly a 4x4 expert and he had no trouble.
When you get to the top the views are amazing. The observatories themselves look so weird in the otherwise completely barren landscape, and you get fantastic views of Mauna Loa (above the inbetween clouds when we were there) and of the mountains on Maui. The talk from the ranger was good, though it was a shame that you couldn’t really see much in the one observatory we were allowed into.
After the official “tour” you’re on your own, and can go down whenever you want. We were tempted to wait till sunset, not least in the hopes of seeing the shadow of Mauna Kea on the clouds to the east, but it would have meant a three hour or more wait, and while not below freezing (as it often is) it was still pretty chilly, so we contented ourselves with a half mile hike down to a beautiful little lake and back up again.
If I were going again (and had a confident driver!) I’d go later than the convoy and aim to arrive an hour or so before sunset. That would give time for a hike/wander around in the light, and then a chance to see a beautiful sunset.
We drove back down on our own, but uneventfully, and ended the day with a really good dinner at the Hilo Bay Café.
On day 4 we were back in our hire car, aiming to see a bit of the east coast. We started at Rainbow Falls, where we were lucky enough to see quite a good rainbow, and also lucky enough to have someone tell us about the optical illusion that the guide books hadn’t mentioned. If you stare at the mid part of the top of the falls for a minute, and then look at the valley walls, all the trees and rocks seem to move in front of and behind each other. Weird but very interesting.
We then headed up to Akaka Falls and Kahuna Falls. Some of the trails were close for resurfacing (the recurring theme of our whole trip!) but we still got to see both falls, and they’re worth it.
Driving up the coast we managed to find the scenic drive, which is much more enjoyable than the main road, and also led us past a good place to buy a take-out lunch. The wind was quite high, so when we got to Laupahoehoe Park we were able to admire not just the lava formations, but also the winds crashing against them. It’s a nice park with several picnic tables, and was ideal for us to have our lunch, just by the memorial to the tsunami victims.
We couldn’t park at Kolekole Beach Park, so drove up the hills to Kalopa Native Forest State Park, to try out their easy one mile nature trail. Easy it may have been, but well signposted it wasn’t. We missed the point where we should have turned left on the loop, and went way further along a straight trail. It was all very pretty but after another mile or so we had to retrace our steps all the way back to the start
We drove up as far as the Waipi’o Lookout, but contented ourselves with doing no more than look down into the valley – our rental car wouldn’t cut it, and we didn’t fancy the walk back up! We stopped in Honoka’a for yet more water, and spent a pleasant half hour admiring the beautiful 1920s buildings along the main street.
The main regret of the day was that by the time we got back to the scenic drive turn-off we were too late to buy the hot chocolate we had been looking forward to all day from the much recommended stand whose name unfortunately now escapes me.
We had a simple but good dinner at the Café Pesto, and were in bed early for our early morning flight to Kauai.
There will shortly be a separate Kauai report, and here are the photos from this report.
bigislandtripreportpart2.shutterfly.com/
Big Island trip report part 2
Thank you for the pictures! It brings back fond memories.....
Big Island trip report part 2
Thanks for posting your info and pictures. They were stunning.
