Mauna Kea & Mauna Loa

The last place you'd be on a tropical island: atop a 13,000-feet (4,000m) mountain. There are actually two of them. Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, meaning "White Mountain" and "Long Mountain", respectively.

Mauna Kea is a dormant volcano, with a celestial observatory on the summit.

A plant called "Silversword"


A spiritual hitchhiker we picked up on the way up.

The altitude got the better of me, my brain not getting enough air. You'll feel "high" naturally.

Cool-looking dome. There are 13 telescopes on the summit, each representing a country or a research institution. Japan has one called "Subaru" set up there.



We came back down Mauna Kea and went up Mauna Loa sitting next to Mauna Kea. This one is active. The road to the summit is very rough.

Claw marks of lava fingers all around. So surreal. Last time it erupted was 1984.


The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO).