The Tallest Mountain In The World
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. One such mountain 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 revealed.
Mauna Kea
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.
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.
Mauna Kea Observatories from Mauna Kea summit
Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station [VIS]
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.
There is a wealth of information at the VIS website http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/vis/
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.
Ramesh on Mauna Kea summit.
Here is a link to more pictures of my Mauna Kea hike.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/+RameshChamala/albums/5988964058260930001
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.
