Kipolo Bay to Mauna Lea Summit

Last post, I mentioned that I would find some rambutan and lychee pics......

 If you were a fuzzy furry (pile Velcro) wandering  animal, these giant burr-like seeds (hook Velcro) would love to use you for seed dispersal 

 

They peel and taste about the same as lychees, (longan)

Travelling companions sometimes reveal their alien tendencies

So many choices, so little time
Planning for  Mauna Kea summit at sunset, we were left with the morning free for exploration. Hours of discussion over MaiTai’s and wine last night led us to choose the Kipolo Bay area. Turns out that today is the first day of the Kipolo Bay State Park re-opening after a several month closure for renovations, and a ranger met us at the entrance with a map and info. The beach is beautiful, with rocky areas reminiscent of Hornby Island’s rock shelves, only made of black lava looking like it was just poured over the area, as well as black beach pebbles and grey sand. The ancients (again, those busy Menehune’s) built a huge breakwater to create a lagoon for the king’s fishing. The lagoon is fed by the freshwater ponds found here. Sadly, a later volcanic eruption destroyed some of the breakwater, so now the lagoon has a sizeable opening. The cold fresh water enters the lagoon and sits on top of the warmer sea water. Sea turtles swim up the man-made canals to rest at night in the ponds, and also crawl onto the rocks to warm up during the day. Unfortunately we didn’t know to look for them and so only saw a couple.  Mike and I carried our snorkel gear all the way, but ended up with not enough time to swim. (Took a wrong turn on the way out to the lagoon and ended up up walking across an old lava flow in the mid day sun for about an hour).  The walk back to the parking area along the beach took  another hour, and we were late enough to worry Trevor and Michele, who had stayed to snorkel closer to the park entrance. They said the water was murky and there were no fish.  And still they were in a good mood; what great friends.

Bath reserved for the queen (ali'i nui).  If you tried this as a commoner in the old days, it would be off to the sacrificial stone for you.



I tried to flip this cocnut past the surf to see if it'd 'Wilson' out to sea, no luck.

Home made hawaiian beach god

Yellow-billed cardinal - an easy lifer 

 Local fishers

The King's fish ponds

On the way back from 'lost on the lava' we see where we could've veered off to the lagoon

From sea to summit, bathing suits to toques, 0 to 13,796 feet in about an hour and a half. Mauna Kea is so high that ears pop and heads spin. The visitor centre, at 9,000 feet. is a good place to hang out for at least a ½ hour to (somewhat) acclimatize before heading the rest of the way up. Also, a good place to pull out all our sweaters, gloves and toques. Astronomers from all over the world live in this area and then in one of the more unusual commutes, drive up to the office each night for work.  The temperatures in the telescope buildings is kept cold to reduce distortion.  A little walk through the Silversword garden there was nice. These plants live up to 50 years, throw up a three-foot flower spike once, and then die!

Started out in clouds but it cleared as we got above 11,000 feet 

Click to see silverbrows among the silverswords

Good to have our 4X4 Jeep, ‘cause you’re not allowed up this road without a 4X4.  Jeep does a good business on the island, supplying the rental companies. The road has  been recently upgraded to really quite good but there's a bit of  Malahat fever (substitute underlined part with Coquihalla, Groat Road Hill, Cochrane's Big Hill, Vancouver street with snowflake on it, or other local overblown driving hazard).  Great views on the way up, including the area where astronauts trained for their moon missions. We left the clouds below and were amazed at the transition to High Def vision due to the dryness and thinness of the air. Very futuristic landscape with many observatories dotted around the summit. Trevor and Michele and Mike gasped up the short but steep hike to the absolute summit. Susan was feeling a bit dizzy, so stayed behind and documented their ascent from below. As sunset approached, many vehicles and even a tour bus of Japanese in their matchy-poo parkas gathered to watch the sun drop below the clouds, accompanied by the recently-learned ukulele playing of a Norwegian tourist next to us.

Reaching the road summit

Our red Jeep at the end of the road

This is what air feels like at 13,000+ feet

The summit trail  

Another cinder cone (hopefully dormant) beside the summit 

Susan's water bottle at 13,800 '

Offerings to the summit gods were all over this cairn

Sunset at Mauna Kea summit

Not bad for only a few days on the uke.

Our final adventure of the day was worrying about running out of gas! On our way up the hill the computer estimated that at current usage rate we would run out long before we got home.Tilting of the tank sensor caused  a  misreading.  Of course, once Trevor coasted his way down hill and almost back to the Hula Girl, the computer said “Ha ha, just fooling…. You’re good for another 35 miles.  In the meantime, conversation in the car had been very focussed on possible outcomes and plans of action.



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