Mauna Kea
Today we spent the morning wandering the mall looking for misc(I was looking for an adapter cable to hook either of the MP3 players into the car for the long trip tomorrow and she was just looking). We also checked a Hilo Hatties store just to see what it looked like, hit Borders where we had a run in with a creepy guy, and hit the Evil Place to buy an additional suitcase since we were sitting RIGHT at the 50lb limit on both bags. We also hit a Safeway for some containers for the pineapple we got(sorry, can't take it off the island or it'll be confiscated) and a few odds and ends. We dropped everything at the room and headed to Pescatori's for lunch(and a rather good Italian it was) before we took off.
We took a meandering tour of Rainbow Falls and the Boiling pot(with Pe'epe'e falls seen in the distance) but it was somewhat lackluster due to not a lot of water in the river. Its a rather rugged and jumbled area with lots of "Danger, this place can change in a flash, swim here only if you're an idiot with an up-to-date will" signs all over it.
We headed up the Saddle road after that, which is a twisty curvy "holy crap people drive this when they're NOT in need of a roller coaster?" road right up until you hit the construction and turns into some of the straightest road I've seen here. We had FUN on this road coming back down...even stopped, turned around, went back to redo a section...angie_di loved it and maybe I'm somewhat out of the doghouse now :-)
We hit the Visitor Center on Mauna Kea at about 2:30 or so. I hung out for awhile, watched the videos playing and read all the bulletin boards and then went and woke angie_di from her nap so she'd be awake at altitude and could adjust some(the VC is at 9200 feet and its STRONGLY recommended that you spend AT LEAST half an hour there acclimating). All total I think we were there about 2 hours, and I could feel the out of breath even there.
We headed up the last 10 miles(it goes from 9200 to 13500 feet in 10 miles of road) and it took about 45 minutes to do with a few stops for the car to cool off. I wanted to walk to Lake Wai-au(one of the highest lakes in the world at 13,020 feet, and is Permafrost fed) but I was a lot more out of breath and getting light headed just walking so we skipped the 15 minute hike. We drove around a bit up top and ended up at the Keck. Unfortunately its small VC closes at 4 and it was 530 by now so we did not go inside. We were both feeling the altitude at this point and getting a bit irritable and lightheaded. We had a Ranger check on us and see if we were ok, and tell us that you can't see the sunset though the building because its a big wall and we might want to go around, or go back up to the overview. I laughed and told him that we were here because it was cooler in the shade and sitting in the sun was still rather warm even though the air was cool.
We moved back up to the Observation point at about 630 or so and watched a truly amazing sunset dip down into the lower clouds and disappear. There were a lot of tour groups up there, but by the time we left they were almost all gone. The highest point we reached was 13,700 feet and even walking the 30 feet from the car to the outhouse would leave you out of breath and dizzy...I don't know how people work there for extended periods of time because it was kicking my butt.
angie_di showed off and SANG up there...several songs in fact. Showoff.
(she got dizzy when she sat down back at the car though :-)
We headed down at this point because it was dark and we'd been at altitude for 3 hours and the headaches were building. We made it back to the VC(at 9200 feet) and felt a bit better. As penance for dragging her up there I had to get her a glow in the dark Space Jacks set and a hot chocolate. The VC does star viewing every night from 6-10pm and its amazingly crisp and clear there. They had one of their bigger telescopes on a dim cluster and then on M104...neat stuff. The other one though, was on saturn...it was so cool I had to grab angie_di and drag her and her hot chocolate over to see it. It was awesome to see a tiny Saturn floating in the middle of the viewpiece.
We headed home after about 30 minutes of viewing..it was getting late and we have a long day tomorrow. Going to check out and head up to Waimea(Big Island Waimea, not Kauai Waimea) where we're staying our last night, but we're going via the south end of the island...3.5 hour drive, but I'm sure it'll take 5 or 6 for us.
We took a meandering tour of Rainbow Falls and the Boiling pot(with Pe'epe'e falls seen in the distance) but it was somewhat lackluster due to not a lot of water in the river. Its a rather rugged and jumbled area with lots of "Danger, this place can change in a flash, swim here only if you're an idiot with an up-to-date will" signs all over it.
We headed up the Saddle road after that, which is a twisty curvy "holy crap people drive this when they're NOT in need of a roller coaster?" road right up until you hit the construction and turns into some of the straightest road I've seen here. We had FUN on this road coming back down...even stopped, turned around, went back to redo a section...angie_di loved it and maybe I'm somewhat out of the doghouse now :-)
We hit the Visitor Center on Mauna Kea at about 2:30 or so. I hung out for awhile, watched the videos playing and read all the bulletin boards and then went and woke angie_di from her nap so she'd be awake at altitude and could adjust some(the VC is at 9200 feet and its STRONGLY recommended that you spend AT LEAST half an hour there acclimating). All total I think we were there about 2 hours, and I could feel the out of breath even there.
We headed up the last 10 miles(it goes from 9200 to 13500 feet in 10 miles of road) and it took about 45 minutes to do with a few stops for the car to cool off. I wanted to walk to Lake Wai-au(one of the highest lakes in the world at 13,020 feet, and is Permafrost fed) but I was a lot more out of breath and getting light headed just walking so we skipped the 15 minute hike. We drove around a bit up top and ended up at the Keck. Unfortunately its small VC closes at 4 and it was 530 by now so we did not go inside. We were both feeling the altitude at this point and getting a bit irritable and lightheaded. We had a Ranger check on us and see if we were ok, and tell us that you can't see the sunset though the building because its a big wall and we might want to go around, or go back up to the overview. I laughed and told him that we were here because it was cooler in the shade and sitting in the sun was still rather warm even though the air was cool.
We moved back up to the Observation point at about 630 or so and watched a truly amazing sunset dip down into the lower clouds and disappear. There were a lot of tour groups up there, but by the time we left they were almost all gone. The highest point we reached was 13,700 feet and even walking the 30 feet from the car to the outhouse would leave you out of breath and dizzy...I don't know how people work there for extended periods of time because it was kicking my butt.
angie_di showed off and SANG up there...several songs in fact. Showoff.
(she got dizzy when she sat down back at the car though :-)
We headed down at this point because it was dark and we'd been at altitude for 3 hours and the headaches were building. We made it back to the VC(at 9200 feet) and felt a bit better. As penance for dragging her up there I had to get her a glow in the dark Space Jacks set and a hot chocolate. The VC does star viewing every night from 6-10pm and its amazingly crisp and clear there. They had one of their bigger telescopes on a dim cluster and then on M104...neat stuff. The other one though, was on saturn...it was so cool I had to grab angie_di and drag her and her hot chocolate over to see it. It was awesome to see a tiny Saturn floating in the middle of the viewpiece.
We headed home after about 30 minutes of viewing..it was getting late and we have a long day tomorrow. Going to check out and head up to Waimea(Big Island Waimea, not Kauai Waimea) where we're staying our last night, but we're going via the south end of the island...3.5 hour drive, but I'm sure it'll take 5 or 6 for us.