The first trip we took together as a couple was to the Big Island of Hawai‘i. Andy’s paralegal, Marja, kindly loaned us her condo for the week we were there. It was a beautiful place with a nice pool and a gorgeous beach area right across the street that had the most amazing sunsets!
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| Beach across the street from the condo |
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| Beach sunset |
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| At one point Andy found a coconut on the beach. |
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| And then had to use a hammer to open it |
The condo also had more than enough wildlife right outside the back door, including mongoose, geckos, wild pigs, and tons of ferrel cats. Oh and these:
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| Marja: Watch out for cane spiders Andy: How will we know if it’s a cane spider? Marja: Oh, you’ll know |
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| Find the gecko! |
The first day of our Big Island Trip took us to Volcanoes National Park, an International Biosphere Reserve as well as a World Heritage Site; established in 1916, the park includes two active volcanoes, Kīlauea and Mauna Loa (world’s largest sub-aerial volcano). Walking around the park, you can see volcanic fumes rising from the rocks and volcanic inlets. Indeed, they warn you as you enter the park.
The park is about 323,431 acres and features a variety of different ecosystems, including tropical rain forest areas, to lifeless deserts, to the peak of Mauna Loa (13,677 feet). There are two main active eruption areas, Kīlauea and Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.
We elected to take a popular day hike along the Kīlauea Iki trail, which starts within a wet rain forest that spits you out onto the floor of the Kīlauea Iki Crater lava lake where you can take a peek at a vent right below the Pu‘u Pua‘i cinder cone that erupted in 1959.
We ended the day by driving (yes, driving), to the highest peak of the State of Hawaii‘i, Mauna Kea. Mauna Kea is a dormant volcano that sits at 13, 796 feet above sea level. The above sea level language is the most important; a majority of the mountain is below sea level in the ocean; if one was to measure the entirety of the mountain’s height it would be over 33,000 feet tall, well over the height of Mount Everest. It is listed as 8th of the world’s most isolated peaks, 2nd of the United State’s most prominent peaks, and the 6th highest state high point in the country.
Unlike Everest, which requires thousands of dollars, sherpas, expert-level gear, and a somewhat-borderline suicide wish, “climbing” Mauna Kea is significantly simpler, but not without its risks. The summit of Mauna Kea is one of the only places in the world where you can actually drive to the summit (sea level to 14,000 feet in about 2 hours). It’s critical to have a 4 wheel drive vehicle with low range travel.
The Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station website advises to stop first at the Visitor Information Station at 9,200 feet to get weather and safety information and ask any questions you may have. They do not recommend pregnant women, those in poor health, individuals under the age of 16, or people with heart or respiratory problems attempt to summit Mauna Kea due to the intense increase in elevation in a short period of time. They also highly advise to not scuba dive and drive to the summit of Mauna Kea in the same day.
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| You’ll be driving above the clouds! |
Visiting hours are from a half hour before sunrise until a half hour after sunrise and while you do not need a ticket to visit the summit, you will need a Special Use Permit if you are going with groups of 10 or more. The other really cool thing to check out when you get up there is the Mauna Kea Observatories, the largest observatory for optical, infrared, and sub millimeter astronomy in the world.
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| Observatories |
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| Made it to the top! |
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| SNOWY peak! |
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| USGS Mark on the summit |
