Hawaii: Mauna Kea

On one of our first days in Hawaii, my family went up Mauna Kea, which is the tallest mountain in Hawaii.

Fortunately, Mauna Kea is accessible by car.

I actually only went to the observation deck at around 15,000ish feet. My aunt and I decided we didn't feel well enough to go all the way to the summit (my heart condition was probably a good factor in NOT going to the top, duh), so I only got photos from about 3 miles high. Oh well.

We went at sunset so we could stargaze. From Mauna Kea, you can actually see 100% of the stars in the northern sky and 85% of the stars in the southern sky because Hawaii is so close to the equator. It was pretty freaking awesome.

This is the view near sunset above the clouds. Very weird to be above them, don't ya think?

In this picture below you can see the shadow of the summit of the mountain... that little bump in the pink part of the sky. Very cool.


Unfortunately, my aunt and I were to busy (loudly!) chatting in the visitor center (yes, we got in trouble) to notice we were a short hike to a mini-mountain where we could watch the sun set. So we got there but not early enough in time for great pictures. Oh well.

We did still get this shot.

Invisible cows. Now I've really seen everthing

The next morning at sunrise, I snapped this photo of the sun rising over the mountain.

Not my best shot... but damn, that is a big mountain. Just sayin.

I'm glad I could sit in the back of a nice jacked-up van to get there instead of climbing with my feet. Definitely would have missed sunset otherwise.

Happy Wednesday!