Hawaii Day 5

So we're a day behind but I'm going to try to catch up now. Yesterday, we spent the morning on the beach before we had to meet up with our guide from Hawaii Forest & Trail for our Mauna Kea Summit & Stars tour.

At about 3:30pm, we began our slow climb up a very rough Saddle Road. They call it Saddle Rd. because it's between the slopes of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa so the valley in between is like a saddle. We stopped about halfway at an old sheep camp, which looked like the perfect setting for a slasher film. We spent about an hour there eating dinner and getting a little more used to the altitude--we were at about 8,000 or so feet.

Finally we began our even slower climb up an even rougher road to the summit of Mauna Kea at about 13,796 ft. above sea level. Our guide had armed us with giant parkas in expectation of below freezing temperatures with even more severe wind chills at the top. The summit of Mauna Kea hosts many different telescopes from all over the world. Scientists determined that the darkness, dry air, and the nearness to the equator made this the most perfect location in the world for stargazing.

We reached our destination about 20 minutes before sunset and had time to visit a very cold port-o-potty and practice our high altitude breathing. We found a perfect spot and watched the most amazingly beautiful sunset and tried to take some decent pictures in spite of the fact that we were shivering and our hands were completely numb. I'm sure the pictures can't compare to how stunning it was in person.

Frozen to the bone, we headed back down to about 10,000 ft. for the astronomy portion of the night--complete with hot cocoa and cookies. First of all, I have never seen so many stars in my life. Second, our guide was really great and knew so much about the constellations and where to point things out. I learned about finding the ecliptic--which is the path all planets in our solar system travel and got to see some constellations I've never seen before. Apparently we enjoyed a rare treat--we saw both the North Star and the Southern Cross at the same time. We also got to see Mars & Saturn (complete with rings) through the guide's telescope.

All in all, it was a great experience and I'd highly recommend it. Just be sure to bring gloves and maybe some long johns & wool socks if you ever do.