On Friday night we made our way to Waimea, a fairly bustling town a few hours north of Captain Cook. It’s nestled between the hills of the ranchland that comprises much of the interior of north Hawaii. There were rainbows everywhere, cattle grazing in sprawling fields that led down to the cliff-lined coast, and the larger-than-life presence of Mauna Kea.
In just 20 minutes we could drive to the coast, so the next morning we found Hapuna Beach, one of the most popular beaches on the island—and for good reason. It’s long stretch of golden sand continued into the ocean, making it ideal for swimming. Our guide book pointed out that Conde Nast Traveler named Hapuna one of the top ten best beaches in the world. We got there early enough so that we were happy to leave by the time the crowd started to settle in. However, even the most crowded beaches here really aren’t that bad.
From Hapuna we drove north, rounding the tip of the island and continuing over to Hilo, the “big” city on the east side. There’s a road that goes from Hilo to Kailua-Kona that’s known as the Saddle Road. It crosses through the center of the island, where Mauna Kea rises over 14,000 feet, and eventually winds its way to back to Waimea. Taking the Saddle Road, we drove the 30ish miles to the base of Mauna Kea, where we changed into long pants and sweatshirts.
The visitors’ center for the mountain is at 9,000 feet, and when we arrived around 6:00 p.m., it was 56 degrees (it dropped to 42 degrees at the summit). They stop every car at the visitors’ center and require you to acclimatize to the thinner air. They also warn you that they recommend that only four-wheel-drive vehicles drive the eight-mile road to the summit. I was very reluctant given that we are driving a Chevy Cobalt, but Pete convinced me it would be fine.
It turned out that the mostly dirt road was steep and windy, but I’d been on worse roads in Vermont…in the snow. Pete managed the drive easily, and we were at the top just in time to see the sunset. It was indescribably amazing, so I won’t attempt to describe it. As you can see, we were above the clouds.
Once or twice per month, weather permitting, there is a stargazing night where local astronomers and astronomy students bring high-powered telescopes to the visitors’ center and allow people to view the night sky. In fact, Mauna Kea is one of the best stargazing places in the world, and for that reason there is a very large research observatory located on the summit, which is not open to the public. Not only did we happen to stumble onto one of these stargazing nights when the sky was amazingly clear, but it was also a new moon (no light pollution from the moonlight interfered with stargazing), and it was a meteor shower.
I’ve never seen so many stars (with my naked eye) ever before in my life. Not even half as many, even in the fresh air of Vermont on the clearest night. With the telescopes (one of which was so big we had to climb a ladder to look into the eyepiece) we saw galaxies, nebula, and star clusters.
The sting of the cold air, the stars, the clouds, the sunset, the lack of oxygen going to my brain, all contributed to an intense feeling of peace, and a sense that it is the experiences such as this that I’m after—the ones that remind you in the same moment that you’re both very alive and yet just the tiniest fragment of the tiniest fragment of what’s out there. It was an affirmation of all of the reasons that brought me to Hawaii in the first place. It was one of the best Saturday nights of my life.
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