Mauna
Kea: The Tallest Mountain In The World
January 20, 2014
Viewed from the space, the Earth appears as a beautiful
small, fragile marble of water and land with mountains that came from deep
below the earth surface due to volcanoes.
An interesting feature of Hawaii is that the magma thrown from the
volcanic eruptions creates a wider base on the earth which leads to the
formation of the mountains. One of such
mountains is Mauna Kea - the world’s tallest mountain, the world’s tallest
volcano and the world's largest astronomical observatory where the secrets of
the universe are being revealed. The
scenic beauty of the Hawaiian Islands attracts tourists from all over the
world.
On January 20, 2014 I achieved my desire to climb Mauna
Kea, the highest point in the state of Hawaii.
The summit of Mauna Kea is at 13,796 feet in elevation. Mauna Kea trail covers about 7 miles from the
visitor’s information station to the summit with a gain of 4,600 feet
elevation. Mauna Kea is also the world’s
tallest mountain at 33,476 feet when measured from ocean floor to its summit.
Ramesh on Mauna Kea Summit
Mauna Kea means White Mountain. It is usually snow-capped from December to
May. Mauna Kea is considered by many
Hawaiians to be the most sacred place in all the islands. One of the rarest features in all of Hawaii:
a natural, year-round lake, Lake Waiau—tiny but, at 13,020 feet, one of the nation’s
highest lakes is on Mauna Kea. The
ancient Hawaiians believed that Lake Waiau was bottomless, but in fact it’s
very shallow, no more than 10 feet deep.
Hawaiians used to bring the umbilical cords of their babies here and
place them in the lake to give them "the strength of the mountain".
The summit of Mauna Kea is home to world’s sophisticated
collection of astronomical observatories with telescopes operated by
astronomers from eleven countries. Mauna Kea is earth’s connecting point to the
rest of the universe. The mysteries of
the universe reveal themselves through these telescopes. There are higher mountains with dryer
weather, but Mauna Kea is a unique site for astronomy. The atmosphere above Mauna Kea is extremely
stable, dry, cloud free and the proportion of clear nights is among the highest
in the world. This enables viewing of
galaxies at the edge of the universe from the Mauna Kea observatories.
The trailhead for
the Mauna Kea Trail is a hundred yards northwest of Onizuka
Visitor Station. Ellison
Onizuka, a native of the Big Island, was one of the astronauts who died in
the Challenger tragedy. I drove from Kailua-Kona,
to the Onizuka VIS via the Saddle Road on highway 200. There is a sign indicating VIS on the Mauna
Kea Access Road between Saddle Road’s mile-markers, 27 and 28. While on Saddle Road I turned left onto Mauna
Kea Access Road across from the hunter’s check station and followed it uphill
for 6 miles through open range land to VIS.
The VIS, which is at 9200 feet, is the starting point for
Mauna Kea hikers
I reached the Ellison Onizuka VIS at 7am. There were few cars in the VIS parking
lot. The folks in the cars did not look
like they were in for the hike. I did
see a few trucks pull into the VIS parking lot. Folks in the trucks may have
been hunters just stopped to use the facilities. Hunting is allowed and is common outside the
Mauna Kea Ice Age Natural Reserve.
Rangers at VIS do ask you fill out a visitor information
sheet and drop it in a box next to the phone.
They will only use this information in case of an emergency. Other than the registration form no permits
are required to hike. I completed the
Mauna Kea hiker registration form and dropped it in a box next to the phone as
the VIS was closed.
Mauna Kea Trail
The Mauna Kea Trail,
also known as the Humuula Trail, is the standard route for hiking Mauna Kea.
The trail starts a few hundred feet north of the VIS. A mere 10 minute walk and about 150 feet of
elevation gain took me to the trail head.
There is an official hiking trail sign directing you up the Humuula
trail. The Humuula trail is very visible
and you cannot miss it. The Humu’ula
trail to the summit is of a high quality, and makes the otherwise daunting
4,600 foot elevation gain pass that much faster.
The Humuula Trail Head
I got off to an early 7:30am start for this long and
demanding hike. Do not to attempt this
hike in poor weather conditions. Wintry weather can shut down Mauna Kea summit
road. High winds can whip Mauna Kea and summit
road can be closed due to sustained winds in the 60 to 70 mile per hour
range. Check the Mauna Kea Summit road
conditions. Today,
the weather was perfect. I was feeling
pretty good. I gained about 1,000 feet
in the first mile which brought me close to the second bend in the road. The second mile continues up the steep slope
to the base of the black hill “pu’u Keonehehe’e”, visible from the VIS. The
trail is well-maintained and marked with tall iron poles every 500 feet or so,
making it nearly impossible to lose the trail during the day. Continuing on the trail I saw a large
rock with A&B painted on its southern exposure. The large A&B rock was a good spot and I
took a short break. I enjoyed the beautiful
views of Mauna Loa and the saddle area as I have ascended 1,000 feet from the
second bend. The current elevation is about
11,000 feet.
Large A&B Rock is the only place on Humuula Trail
where I found some shade
From 10,000 to 11,000
feet, the hike is rather steep over scree.
The next couple of miles from 11,000 to around 12,800 feet the trail's ascent lessens somewhat,
and the rock type becomes "a'a" lava rocks.
After about 4 miles or so I started getting nervous as I
did not see anyone on the mountain. The
road was not visible from the trail either.
Thoughts of turning back did cross my mind. I took another short break as symptoms of
altitude sickness were setting in. But I
continued on the trail and finally I saw the views of the summit road to my
right. I did see a few cars pulling in
and out of the parking area #2. I also
saw two hikers leaving the parking area #2.
They were hiking towards the Humuula trail I was on. Now my confidence grew with other hikers
visible. These two hikers were hiking to
Lake Waiau.
Another short, but a steep
ascent took me from 12,800 to 13,100 feet, at which point I was on a spur trail
from the summit road. Soon after, the trail forks; the left fork leads to Lake
Waiau (13,020 feet). Take the left fork to see the lake, a short detour
from the main trail to the ridge overlooking the lake. I read few posts and they all recommend
hiking up to the lake. A hike to the
lake involves 30 minute trip with few hundred feet elevation gain. But I was focused in conserving all my energy
to reach the summit. Looking back, I think
this may have been a mistake. I should
have taken the left fork, hike to the lake, taken a short break and continue on
to the summit.
Lake Waiau, Pu’u Hau
Kea and Mauna Kea Observatories
The prominent cone to
the east is the 13,441 foot Pu'u Hau Kea.
I took the right fork
and continued to hike up along the main Humuula trail to reach the summit. Ughh...
after a short hike I got the first views of the observatory
buildings. Another slow descent of over 1/2 mile I reached
the summit road at the Mauna Kea Ice Age Reserve.
First sight of Mauna Kea observatory buildings from the
Humuula trail
Mauna Kea Ice Age Reserve
Mauna Kea Ice Age Reserve is at 13,221 feet in
elevation. I have now hiked about 5 ½
miles. I was familiar with this section
as I drove up the day before to acclimatize and get my body adjusted to the
high altitude. I would strongly recommend
this if you choose to hike the Humu’ula trail.
The summit road is a loop so either way will bring you back to this
spot. There are portable toilets in the
parking area #3. If you take the entire
summit loop there are flush toilets and drinking water at the Keck 1 visitor
gallery. The gallery is usually open
from around 9:30 am until 3:30pm.
From here the rest of the route is along the summit road,
either to the right or to the left. The road
to the left is less steep and provides a great view toward Kawaihae and
Maui. I took the road to the right which
is steeper but shorter to the summit. I walked along the road for the next
mile, taking breaks as often as I needed them until I reached 13,700 feet. Winds
picked up significantly and I started to feel cold. I knew conditions from this point to
the summit will be high winds and cold temperatures. I stopped, put on my parka on top of my wind
jacket, balaclava, and mittens. I was
very comfortable heading up to the summit with this clothing.
As I came to the first small telescope building I saw the
trail to the very top of Mauna Kea. The final summit trail is located on
the right side of the summit road, just before reaching the upper
observatories. There is a sign with a drawing of a hiker on it designating the
start of the trail. The true summit is
separated from the rest of the summit plateau by approximately 1/4 mile and a
small saddle. I left the road and hiked
to the red-tinted summit cinder cone.
The final summit trail
Though it was chilly and windy I was thrilled to reach
the summit and enjoyed the views. There
is no summit register. Mauna Kea is a
great hiking destination. Views of Mauna
Loa from the summit are outstanding. The altitude and the impressive views in
all directions took my breath away. I
was wandering around basking in the views for some more time to enjoy the surreal
land-scape. It was a thrilling
experience in my life. My joy knew no
bounds as I stood on top of the tallest volcano in the world. Mauna Kea summit will always have a special
place in my heart. I hope my journal
will inspire others to take on a similar journey.
Return
Now that I have reached the summit, it was time for me to
head back down. It requires only about
half the time it took to reach the summit.
You can also catch a ride down.
It is possible to drive to the summit, but it is more fun to hike. I was fortunate to have run into two marines
on the summit. They drove up to the
observatories and took the short hike to the Mauna Kea summit. I put my ego aside and asked if I could hitch
a ride back to the VIS. These two
marines were awesome, they readily obliged and I was grateful and the ride down
was enjoyable. I checked in at the
visitor center upon my return. I let
everyone know I was back safe and heading back to Kailua Kona.
Mauna Kea Hiking Gear
Light weight sturdy hiking boots and warm hiking socks
Wind can be up to 60 to 70 mph. The summit temperatures are around plus or
minus 10° F. Dress in layers
Bring enough water and snacks for 6 hours of hiking.
Sunglasses and sunscreen as there is no shade the entire
hike.
Mauna Kea External
Links
Mauna Kea Observatory website, featuring various webcams
on the summit of Mauna Kea: Webcams
Visitor Center Hours: call (808) 961-2180
Current road conditions to the summit: call (808)
969-3218.
