Exploring Mauna Kea on Hawaii's Big Island

February 06, 2022

Exploring Mauna Kea on Hawaii's Big Island

As I began researching for our trip to Hawaii I kept seeing information for Mauna Kea and at first I was like "what's the big deal?" After watching the sunset at the summit I can say it was one of the highlights of our trip and I would highly recommend it- as long as you are prepared for it.

Facts about Mauna Kea

- It is a dormant volcano that is the highest point on the big island of Hawaii. It is the only part of the Hawaiian islands that gets snow

- Mauna Kea is 33,500 feet tall which makes it technically taller than Mt Everest ( 29,029 feet), however the base begins below sea level so Mt Everest is taller in the sky than Mauna Kea

- It is considered one of the best places to watch the sunset and star gaze.

- It is located in the middle of the big island about and hour drive from Hilo and an hour drive from Kona.

What you need to know before you go- really before you leave for Hawaii

1. It is cold up there. Check the weather depending on what time of year you are going and plan clothing accordingly. We went up there in January 2022 and it was 30 degrees and there was snow! I looked and even in July the hottest it gets is 54 degrees so you should at least bring a jacket.

2. You NEED a four wheel drive vehicle to be allowed to go up the mountain. They literally stop everyone at the visitor center and check that they have four wheel drive in the car and know how to use it. This is because apparently if your car is not in 4 wheel drive on the way down the brakes will catch on fire (sounds pretty legit to me). Make sure you make arrangements with the rental car company for four wheel drive.

3. You should not do this if you have respiratory issues. The air up there is very thin- specifically there is 40% less oxygen in the air compared to the rest of the island. Just walking back to the car left us gasping for air.

4. Check ahead of time what time the sunset is so that you can plan accordingly (you can google the time of the sunset at a specific location in case you never knew). We headed up the mountain from the visitor center roughly 45 minutes before sunset and that was honestly plenty of time for us. You really don't want to be up there for too long because you will start to get altitude sick- plus it was cold.

5. They do not let you stay up on the summit past sunset for stargazing. This was a big disappointment for us because they have giant telescopes and my husband is obsessed with star gazing in places with high visibility but a park ranger comes and kicks each vehicle out pretty quickly after sunset.

Information about the visitor center

The visitor center is small center with information, bathrooms and small gift shop. Most of it was shut down while we were there because of covid. We stopped here to go the bathroom before going up the mountain and to change into warmer clothes- you can start to feel the drop in temperature here. To proceed up the mountain you have to get in line to get checked for 4 wheel drive. Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to sit in line and get up the mountain.

The road up the mountain

I had heard the road up the mountain was paved and I was surprised. My thought was "why do we need 4 wheel drive if the road is paved?" The truth is the road is partially paved the first part is paved and the last part is paved but the middle part is NOT paved. It is quite bumpy so be prepared. Also make sure you have sunglasses because once you get above the clouds that sun gets real bright! The max speed on the road is 25mph so be prepared to take it slow. The views are breathtaking though so we enjoyed it!

The Summit

Once we got to the summit we parked our car (there is designated pull off areas). We immediately got out and enjoyed the view.

If you look to the Northwest (remember the sun sets in the west if you are directionally challenged like me) you can actually see Haleakala- the volcano on Maui in the distance. It is by some of the telescopes out there. You will see a lot of telescopes all over. This is a great place to study the stars!

If you look in the space between the square telescope and the two round telescopes you will see a darker part out in the distance. That is the volcano Haleakala on Maui

Photography Tips

We found it hard to take pictures up there because the brightness of the sunset made it difficult to see peoples faces. Also its pretty windy up there as you can see my hair has a mind of its own. Whenever I have a situation like this photographically I have someone take a picture of us looking out onto to it so that its less obvious that we struggled to get our faces visible.

My friend Miranda took this photo and she got a cool solar flare from the sun on my shoulder. Example of a looking out shot instead of a looking at the camera and not being able to see our faces.

I was just playing around with my camera and I found that if you didn't point the camera directly at the sun you got a cool shot of the things around you. I set up this cool side shot of my friend and I clutching each other for warmth (my husband actually took it I just told him what I wanted). This ended up being one of my favorite shots from our whole trip. So if your looking for more ideas this is another suggestion.

Pro tip:

I wish I would've thought about this! While we were up there someone had set up an iphone in their car on the time lapse setting. They were able to record the sunsetting so it could be watched in a manageable time frame. I so wish I would've thought about this. If I ever go back I will totally do this because I think it would be so cool.

Enjoy the view! How often in your life do you get to slow down and just enjoy a beautiful sunset. Sometimes the simplest things are the most amazing. I am so glad that we got to do this!