Day 18: Waimea & Mauna Kea Observatory

Today we decided to explore the interior of the Big Island with a trip to cattle country, the Hamakua coast and the observatory on Mauna Kea.

The geography of the Big Island is dominated by five volcanoes: Hualalai near Kona, Kohala in the north, the active Kilaeau in the east and the two biggest in the middle, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea.

We drove north around Hualalai to get to cattle country at Waimea also called Kamuela.  This town is right between the windward and leeward sides of the island.  Approaching the town from the leeward side is very brown and dry.  On the windward side is very green and wet.  The weather depends on what part of town you live in.  In the middle is a mixture.  We stopped at the Parker ranch mall in the middle and had misty showers with the sun shining.  The high plains around Waimea resembles Arizona or Montana.  You can tell you are in cattle country when the stop signs say Whoa!

We had an excellent local beef burger for lunch and set out for the Hamakua coast on the windward (north-east) coast.  The drive down to the coast takes you through rain forest and forests of tall trees.  The Waipio valley is a pristine valley that has sheer cliffs on each side.  The lookout has a "road" that goes down to the valley floor that only 4-wheel drive vehicles can take.  Fools sometimes take their rental cars down the road but need to be towed back up as their expense.

View from lookout

People live in the valley

Black sand beach

Flowers growing next to the road at the lookout

Traveling back through Waimea we took the saddle road through the high plains to get to the Mauna Kea observatory.  The road is named as it traverses the saddle between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea.  It was built in the 40's and until recently rental companies forbad their cars from traveling it.  There are no services and the road has one lane bridges, blind corners and you feel like you are on a roller coaster.  Kind of like the Forks of the Credit road but longer.  The government is upgrading the road as it is only way to get the the observatory and it is a direct route across the island to Hilo.  The middle part that goes through a military reserve has been upgraded as was the best road we've driven on the island.

Mauna Loa from Saddle Road

The road into the observatory takes you from 4000 feet above sea level to 9000 feet above sea level in only 6 miles.  Mauna Kea is the best location on Earth to see stars.  It has mostly clear nights (since it is above the clouds) and nearly no light pollution.  We arrived about an hour before sunset and got a quick orientation at Visitor Center.  We got on our cool weather clothes and took a short but steep hike to a cinder cone to have a picnic and watch the sunset.  We were likely the only people eating hard-cooked eggs and California rolls on top of a mountain in the world!  The views speak for themselves.

Road to Mauna Kea Observatory

Road to 13000 foot summit.  Dust trails are vehicles on ascent.

The drive back was long but uneventful as we were in a convoy of cars back to Kona.  The road was twisty but the roads have great reflectors for night-time drivers.