 |
| Standing on the summit, 13,796ft, with the telescopes in the background |
It's no joke that on April 1, 2016 we summited Mauna Kea, the highest point in Hawai'i and #37 of 49 on our list! It is a dormant volcano which last erupted around 4,500 years ago.
We started at 6:30am at the Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station at 9,200ft and 5 hours and 6 miles later were standing on top at 13,796ft. Although you can drive to the top that would be cheating on our endeavor of bagging the state high points. It was a long day but a very beautiful hike. On top of Mauna Kea is a little observatory "town" with many telescopes run by different facilities.
 |
| our 6:30am start |
 |
| Mauna Loa in the background - almost as tall as Mauna Kea |
 |
Lake Wai'au - a sacred lake near the top.
They used to take their newborn umbilical cords here and place them in the lake to give them "the strength of the mountain" |
 |
| looking down over the trail around one of the cinder cones |
 |
| our first view of the telescopes - only another mile to go! |
 |
| listing of all the telescopes on top |
 |
| panoramic view from the top |
 |
| I just love hiking above the clouds! |
 |
| Tom's a happy boy - we're on our way down with another high point checked off! |
The hike down took only 3 hours as we quickly descended back into the clouds. Successful day!
Til next time...Happy Trails!
No comments:
Post a Comment