After the snorkel cruise, we came back, showered and got our stuff together for freezing temperatures.
First we went downtown for sushi, which was closed. It was 3pm and we were trying to get some food in us before we started the long drive to the mountain. Ended up eating at Thai Rin instead, which was good food but less than stellar service.
Drove along highway 190, also called the Hawaii Belt Road. This was a long and straight road, and well maintained. 5
2kms (Siri tells me) later, we turned right onto Saddle Road. This road has a lot of bad press. Apparently it was originally built by the military, and so was very poorly maintained for many years. As well, it rises 6,500kms in total and drives between both Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. Coming from Kona, the first bit of it was a little dodgy. As Miranda commented “we only have the budget to re-pave half the road, so we’ll do the middle”. About 20 minutes later though, it turns into a lovely well maintained highway. That happens to go up and down like a rollercoaster. Put your hands up, it’s more fun! (At one point on our way back we both had a moment – “why is the road on our left…” *panic* no, it’s ok, it just swerves sharply left…)
40kms later, we turned left onto Mauna Kea Access Rd. 6 miles later…we’re at the Visitor Information Center at 9,000 feet elevation. Despite the weather forecast, there are clouds. We get directed to a small trail that leads to a decent sunset location and start the hike up.
This was the most brutal hike I’ve ever been on. Not because it was steep or rocky, but because of the altitude. It was somewhat steep, and a little rocky, but we had to stop every 20 feet and let my poor heart and lungs catch up. Very strange feeling. We made it to the top and it was completely socked in. That’s 0 for 2, Hawaiian mountains…
Hung out for a bit hoping, but eventually walked back down to the VIS. Sat in the car and played Carcassonne for a bit while true dark set in and we tried to get some good star photos. The best spot, however, was partially being faced by the parking lot so we kept getting car headlights and people and it wasn’t great.
We drove back down the mountain, saying that we’d stop and find a place to take some more. We found a decent spot, turned off the highway, got out of the car and started setting up when we heard a cough near us, in the pitch black. Miranda says “Hello?”. We decided later that it was probably just a goat. But at the time we both opened the nearest car door, got in, locked it and drove away as quickly as we could!
We stopped for some munchies in Waikoloa but otherwise, drove straight back to Kailua-Kona.
Today is our last stay at the luxurious Dolphin View. We somehow have to clean up our mess and take off for the Sheraton down the road – Miranda wanted to stay somewhere nice for our last night, so there we are. 🙂 Nothing much planned for the next day and a bit, some water, some shopping, we’ll see what we get up to.