Mauna Kea Death March!

By Beth

Jump back a couple weeks in Martin’s blog entries and you’ll find something about the Daniels brothers coming to visit.  While they were here in Kona town, I was mostly working (Boo).  But… we did also have a sweet road trip adventure to Volcano and beyond.  Martin, unfortunately had to work, and couldn’t join us on the trip, and has asked me to put up a post about our ascent of Mauna Kea in particular.

 SO…here it is!  Introducing the main characters: 

Pete!

 Will? 

Beth.

These photo gems, along with others in this post, have shamelessly been stolen from Will’s Picasa album entitled “Hawaii Road Trip 2011!! Woot Woot,”  and Pete’s Picasa album called “Volcano National Park and South Point.” Check them out here: https://picasaweb.google.com/william.c.daniels and here https://picasaweb.google.com/pdaniels99

We started our morning at ~25 feet above sea level in Hilo with three oatmeal packets apiece for breakfast (barf).  It rained ominously during the 45 minute drive to the Mauna Kea access road, but as we neared the visitor center at 9,000 something feet, the clouds started to clear out.  We were so stoked we started juggling rambutans and doing the Will dance!  If you don’t know what rambutans or the Will dance are you can look the former up on the internet.  To view the latter however, you’ll have to stalk Will on facebook.

The trail from the visitor center is 7 miles long and gains a little over 4000’ in elevation.  Sadly, not long after we began our hike/trek/slog (or whatever you want to call it), the clouds closed back in and, instead of a potentially spectacular view of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, we mostly saw rain, mist, sleet(!), and even snow(!!) during the rest of the climb.

View Du Jour

Snow seemed appropriate?

It was cold and breathtakingly uphill with the elevation, but we did make it to the adze quarry, the permafrost-fed lake that Hawaiians throw babies’ umbilical cords into to give them Mountain Power, the observatories, and, last but not least, the summit!  Ta-da!

Umbilical Cords Live Here

Keck Observatory

Summit in site!

Here we are, grinning through the altitude headaches and wooziness.  Fortunately we had pop tarts, snicker bars and a gigantic block of cheese to get us back down the mountain.  Not much of a view from the top that day.  I guess Will and Pete will just have to come on back for a second summit on a sunnier day!

P.S. If you’re not tired of perusing photos yet, I also have a Picasa album featuring Will and Pete's adventures in Hawaii.  You can find it here: https://picasaweb.google.com/beth.bernhardt