We rose early again feeling refreshed and ready for adventure. We had the last of our leftover malasadas for breakfast before we said goodbye to the Airbnb and headed towards the great Mauna Kea.
On our way, we stopped at Lava Trees State Park to see fossils of ancient Ohi’a lehua trees. In the 1700s, molten lava flowed through this area and coated the trunks of the trees, leaving behind only rock molds of each tree that once stood there. It was like viewing history frozen (or cooled) in time!
As we drove out of the park, we witnessed the changes that recent eruptions (like the Fissue 8 eruption) have caused in the area. In some places we found even more “Dead End” roads from the lava flow.
We knew we’d be spending most of our day on Mauna Kea, so we decided to stop in Hilo to grab some sandwiches to save for our lunch later. We found this small sandwich shop/bakery called Popover and we highly recommend this place. They make delicious and hearty signature sandwiches on freshly baked popover bread! The only other time we’ve ever had popovers was in Maine at the famed Jordan Pond House Restaurant in Acadia National Park.
Before leaving Hilo for Mauna Kea, we quickly popped-over to Rainbow Falls (probably the most famous waterfall on the Big Island and definitely the easiest to access). We arrived pretty early in the day (around 9am), and the short paved walkway and viewing platform area was already pretty crowded. Once we walked over to the falls, we understood why. The best time to view the fall can often be in the early morning hours, because as the sunlight hits the flowing water, a rainbow forms along the aptly named Rainbow Falls.
Just 1-mile down the road from Rainbow Falls is another waterfall called Pe’epe’e Falls, which feeds a series of several pools known as the Boiling Pots. These pools appear to be bubbling like boiling water (hence the name boiling pots), but these strong rapids are actually quite dangerous. There is an abundance of signage warning visitors about the dangers of entering the water in this area (a local tour guide unfortunately informed us that swimmers were recently swept out to sea).
The same tour guide also advised us that we could drive up the road a little more to see yet another waterfall, and a safe local swimming hole.
Just a few minutes away from here we found Kaumana Caves, where you can descend into a series of lava tubes from an 1881 Mauna Loa eruption. There is a steep stairway down to the caves, but be careful! With all the moisture on the windward side of the island, the stairs were pretty slippery.
It was pretty cool to see so many different things in such close proximity in Hilo. We began our drive out of Hilo along Saddle Road, which intersects the island as one of the few east-west routes. Besides being a convenient connection between Hilo on the east and Kona on the west, the Saddle Road brings you to the entrance of Mauna Kea.
Note: Hilo is a great destination for travels looking to explore the Big Island without a car and/or in a short amount of time. There is a wide variety of adventures for the whole family.
As we approached the state park entrance, we were finally able to comprehend just how massive this volcano truly is…snow-capped peaks on Hawai’i?! This incredible landform is also technically the tallest mountain on earth (when measured from the Earth’s crust).
We drove about hallway up the mountain and stopped at the visitor center to get acclimated to the (very quick) elevation gain. Before beginning the drive from the visitor center to the summit, there is a park ranger who logged each car that began the summit drive. He stopped us, made sure our car had 4×4 capability, and advised us to not stay more than 30 minutes at the summit due to altitude sickness.
Note: You cannot drive to the summit (or even past the visitor’s center) if you do not have a 4×4 capable vehicle.
As we approached the summit, we began to notice the numerous observatory telescopes operated by research universities and federal projects alike. Few would discount the contributions this technology has lent to our increasing knowledge of earth and space, but Mauna Kea is also a very sacred site within the native Hawaiian culture. Before ascending up the mountain, we saw many local Hawaiian protestors at the base of the volcano fighting against the (temporarily halted) construction of one of the world’s largest telescopes.
Once at the summit, we both immediately noticed the temperature difference. Soon after we were hit with the lightheadedness. We explored the summit for a bit, and took some time to appreciate the fact that we had just come from the shore of a sea-level tropical island, to the snow-capped peak of the tallest mountain in the world…all in less than an hour.
We ended up spending about 30 minutes at the summit before beginning our descent back to sea level. After our early morning adventures, we worked up a thirst for some local craft beer and decided to make our way to Hilo Brewing!
By the time we were done enjoying our cold brews, we didn’t want the relaxation to end, so we strolled around downtown and explored the different stores and markets of historic Hilo town. We went into an art gallery and picked up a beautiful local painting, and also stopped at Kula Shave Ice for a much-deserved sweet treat!
We checked the radar and saw that there was some heavy rain headed our way, so after enjoying our shave ice (not “shaved” ice), we made our way to the Jeep to get back on the road. We chose to take the scenic route along Pepe’ekeo, also known as the “Four Mile Scenic Drive,” which brings you through winding roads and tree tunnels…the light rain made it feel even more incredible!
We got to our campsite at Laupahoehoe State Park, quickly found a tree-covered spot, backed our car in, and set up with ocean views for the night! The sound of waves crashing against the rocky shore and rain hitting the roof of our popup tent put us to sleep pretty quickly…and it’s a good thing we did, because tomorrow we plan to continue our adventure north to explore the impressive Waipi’o Valley, so stay posted!
