One of my Really Big Plans for coming to Hawaii was to trek it up to the tops of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, and be able to say I stood on the highest points in all of Hawaii.
I did that, sort of.
When I drove up to the Visitor Information Station (and you just try going up 9,200ft in an itty-bitty Chevy Sonic; how that engine struggled touched me and I thought, keep going, little Sonic. You're almost there.), I learned that the trails were closed because they were going to be doing aerial shooting. Apparently, there are more animals than are welcome on Mauna Kea, and they decided the best way to thin the crowd was from a helicopter.
So, I hitched a ride up with the only other people who were in the parking lot with me, and figured I'd walk down. I got tacit permission from the MK guy to cross from the observatory to the true summit, and toodled around up there until the flies got too much. After I headed back to the road, a ranger stopped his vehicle across the street and asked, 'Did you hike up there?' I responded, 'I'm guessing the answer is supposed to be no?' But I learned they'd be culling the mountain's unwelcome pets at 10,000ft and under, so as long as I kept above that I'd be okay. I also took that as a sign of permission to check out Lake Waiau, or what we'd Canadians called "an oversized bathtub".
Side note: before I arrived, I googled the heck out of the mountain to learn everything I could, and one thing I had no idea was altitude sickness. It's different from person to person, and can even be different in the same person. So, I was expecting to feel light-headed, off balance, not hungry or thirsty, and a teeny bit like throwing up. Another guy staying here said he felt that way, as though he'd had 8 beers.
I felt none of that. I remember getting out of the vehicle and thinking, 'Okay, I feel fine, but maybe I should measure it for another 10 minutes.' Ten minutes passed, I still felt fine, so I thought I'd give it a half hour. Still, nothing. The only thing I noticed was when I went up any sort of incline, it felt like doing the 10th staircase from the bottom up. Oh, and it was coupled with an odd feeling of simultaneous lightness and heaviness. Every step I took, my body felt like it wanted to bounce along and float in the air. But my legs felt so heavy! So, not much bouncing along except on the downhill road.
Before the lake, though, the mountain ranger told me there was a visitor gallery at Keck I, so I tramped over to check it out. It's big! There's just no other way of describing this telescope other than to say it's huge.
But my descent awaited, and I figured I'd just walk the 8 miles down to the VIS. I took a couple of shortcuts, mainly to avoid going uphill again. It's not that I have much against inclines, but when every 10 steps calls for a rest, it's pretty hard to get motivated to keep going.
It was also a gorgeous day, with barely a speck of wind and just a bright blue sky enclosing a big sun. It was around 10C or so, so I rolled up my sleeves and tried to get a bit of a tan. I kept doing the arm-poke check (if you press down and the skin's white when you take it away, you're burned) and noticed wherever I poked my arms and the back of my hand was white, and for a long time. It didn't make sense, until I realized it wasn't a sunburn, but peripheral edema.
Time to flag down a car for a ride back to the VIS! I also didn't much feel like walking another 7mi on a paved road, so it was a convenient reason to wave at the first thing that came by. They were a nice couple and we chatted about all things adventurous, and they reminded me a 30-year-older version of myself.
So, tomorrow is Mauna Loa and I think I'll do it later in the day so I can catch their stargazing program.
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