We booked a pricey tour (a rarity for us). We justified it by recognizing the opportunity to get to the top of Mauna Kea with a guide doing all the driving and narrating, have a dinner on the way, see the sunset from up top, and get a close-up of the night sky through their telescopes (a 7-1/2 hour tour). The cost suddenly seemed worth it.
With great anticipation we met our driver/guide at the tour headquarters in Kona-Kailua. A few others from our tour were also there. We got on our brand new and really comfy14 passenger mini-bus and headed out, with high spirits. We drove about 15 miles -- to pick up more passengers. We drove another few miles -- to pick up our pre-made picnic suppers (BBQ chicken or Tofu wrap). We drove another 30 miles to pick up more passengers. All along the way our guide entertained and educated us with Hawaiian history and lore, geology and culture. Still -- it's a lot of driving and the first hour basically felt like we were getting nowhere as we went out of the way to make stops. No matter I was still so excited!
Our fellow tourists were a fine group. I had already pegged the young couple across the aisle from us as newlyweds, which turned out to be the case as I learned as we all took turns introducing ourselves. The give-away for me was the way the new husband kept fingering and twirling his wedding band. My son did the same when he was first married with a similarly startled, contented, quizzical look while contemplating the ring finger. There was another newlywed couple from Seattle (vintage Mariners T-shirt made us recognize their home town), a middle-aged couple who met on E-Harmony -- he the talkative one from Houston who seemed annoyed that the task of teaching his grandson to hunt deer fell to him since his son refused to do it. Generational clash, I guess. There was a lovely couple from England who asked insightful questions listening carefully and with interest to the answers. I don't recall details about the others, but all seemed very happy to be on the tour and eager for the star experience.
We stopped at the base of the road to the summit of Mauna Kea. An old sheep shearing station, abandoned, provided a picturesque backdrop for our picnic supper set out at tables under a big awning tent. The food was surprising tasty and we enjoyed the time to wander around, shooting photos and starting to acclimate to altitude. We were at 7000 ft. elevation. We were encouraged to drink as much water as possible (they provided souvenir water bottles) to ward off any elevation-related dehydration headaches. I hate headaches. I drank.
Back on the bus we continued up, up, up. At about 8,000 ft. elevation we stopped again to see a huge radio wave receiver just like the ones in that old movie, Contact. Still looking for life in the great beyond. I filled my water bottle and kept drinking.
Up we continued, passing the visitor center at 9000 ft. elevation and venturing onto the 4 mile section of dirt road that is recommended for 4-wheel traffic only. It was a washboard, but not terrible. Plenty of "regular" cars were braving it, but car rental companies probably frowned on the practice.
Finally, we reached the summit. The elevation was just under 14,000 feet. The wind was blowing like crazy. The tour company provided parkas for which I was most grateful. We knew enough to wear long pants and real shoes. I couldn't believe there were people up there in flip-flops, T-shirts and shorts! At top are a variety of observatories housing research telescopes of varying sizes. While they are guarded by park rangers, they are not necessarily staffed by the scientists who study the Universe. Each is hooked to a computer somewhere else and the computer tells the telescope what to look at and remotely aims it in that direction. Arm-chair astronomy! The landscape was stark but hauntingly beautiful.
I would really have enjoyed it a lot more if.....I hadn't followed the hydrating directions to extreme. I got out of the bus and felt the predicted lightheadedness of high altitude, but no headache (yay!). But, the predominant bodily sensation was "I gotta pee so bad!" -- distractingly bad. The two Port-A-Potties were down the hill about a hundred yards. I knew my lightheadedness would make the trek back up the hill more than a little uncomfortable. I noticed the sun beginning to set behind a bank of clouds, but all I could focus on was my brimming bladder. Hub, what a trooper, found a big transformer box at the back of the parking lot and guided me behind it where he stood guard while I dropped trou and squatted. When ya gotta go, ya gotta go.
We rushed back to the western edge of the parking lot and just caught the sun descending into a cloud. It was stunning. And quick. Within a few minutes we were back on the bus heading to the Visitor Center where we'd get to see the majesty of the Galaxy, the Main Event!Except we were no sooner underway when those clouds thickened, darkened, and let fall a dowsing rain that didn't let up and which also provided us a thunder and distant lightning display. We still stopped at the Visitor Center, hopeful the storm would pass. It didn't. No stars. We loaded up again and drove the 40 miles back to where we'd started six hours earlier. The driver was markedly quiet and drove much faster -- like a horse to the barn. I felt it was a long day and a long drive for a picnic and a hurried sunset.
To say we were disappointed is an understatement. So much so that we went back on our own a few days later --not to the top, but to the Visitor Center where the skies were clear but the moon had waxed to half-full and its brightness created a glow that made many of the stars disappear in the moonlight. We did look through the telescopes there and saw craters on the moon, rings around Saturn, and a star cluster. So all was not lost. The tour company gave us a 30% refund and the brownie muffin we had on the way off the mountain was outstanding, so there's that.
What I know now is that the starry night sky in Kalani was the most magnificent sky we would see on the whole trip, planned tour notwithstanding. A good reminder to appreciate what's right in front of me instead of thinking the grass is greener, or the sky is starrier, somewhere else.
At least, that's the view from here... ©
What an interesting side trip, stars or not. But that was a long ride for a sunset and picnic. I like that they're still looking for life in the universe. That song, by the way, is named 'I Only Have Eyes for You" made popular by Frank Sinatra.
ReplyDeleteI would have gone behind the transformer, too, much referring that to a port-a-potty in fact.
Frank! Of course! Yes, my "port" was much nicer than the grossly overused and under serviced "potties" from what I heard!
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