Hawaii suggestions

[nyker]

Soooo, finally might make it there this winter!

I wanted to pick your collective brains and see what current suggestions anyone might have. I say "current" since conditions and closures have changed over the last year or two given the volcanic activity.

We'll likely be in Maui and the Big Island/Hawaii most of the time.

Has anyone climbed Mauna Kea or Mauna Loa recently? The main questions I had were route suggestions, if there are options and acclimatization strategy, since I don't know if we'll be staying too high above sea level.

Looks like the places to see on Maui include Haleakala and then of course Volcanoes on the Big Island.

Any other suggestions anyone has (particularly to avoid tourist masses), "must-do" hikes, drives, wildlife areas, etc., would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

[davebobk47]

Check out the west side of Maui. Everyone talks about the Road to Hana but the loop around the westside is really cool and not crowded at all. The entire loop plus a few side trips can be done in 1/2 - 3/4 of a day. Check out the Maui Revealed (blue book) for info on some cool hikes on the west side. Haleakala is a must- I'd recommend driving up before sunset (allow 2 hour drive time). If you are looking to do a longer hike you could drive up in the morning and hike down into the crater; something I've always wanted to do. As far as the Big Island I wouldn't spend more than a day at Volcanoes NP. Mauna Kea is a drive up (i abused my rental Dodge Caliber all the way up and down) but Mauna Loa might be a cool hike (never done it so I don't know). I didn't have time but would have liked to checked out the NE part of the big island more.

[JimR]

I was in Hawaii this past July, one week in Honolulu and one week on the Big Island. While on the Big Island I went up Mauna Kea. You can drive up almost to the top, if you're so inclined, but there is a good trail up Mauna Kea starting from the Onizuka Visitor Center, the Humuula Trail. It stays away from the road for the most part, except for the final mile, which is on the road. It's a rather barren, dry area, but a good hike--14 miles round trip, about 4800' elevation gain, summit is at 13,796'. Considering the length and elevation gain, I was surprised that it didn't feel harder. I think it seems relatively easy (considering length and el. gain) because it is mostly just a long, gradual incline--or maybe I just had a good day. There was really only one somewhat steep section that I remember, near the start. Anyway, I had been at sea level for a week and a half when I climbed it, and I didn't experience any problems with the altitude. I also didn't see another person on the trail. It's far enough away from the current volcanic activity that it shouldn't be affected. There are a couple good trip reports on this site, and I found them helpful for planning. Have fun.

[TravelingMatt]

I did Mauna Kea in February, waking up in Hilo. You can either hike the trail or go up the road; I went up the trail and down (mostly) the road, taking a couple shortcuts on the way down. Stats were 14 miles and 4700' of gain. Once on top I wandered around a bit to check out the buildings and such on the summit.

I do believe it's possible to camp up high (somewhere between the turnoff from the saddle road and the TH), but if you don't have gear you're starting from sea level. It shouldn't be that big a deal if you're used to hiking 14ers a couple days after arriving in CO from sea level. The difficulty of the trail was similar to any number of peaks in the Sawatch, although the terrain is of course vastly different. I certainly slowed down the higher I got, to a greater extent than I used to in Colorado.

The dirt road to the summit is drivable in any kind of car you'd get from a rental agency, and the saddle road is a mostly modern, well-graded highway nowadays. Before a couple years ago, most rental agencies banned people from the saddle road, but no longer.

Elsewhere on the Big Island, there are a lot of shortish hikes you can do but not much that really requires a full day's commitment. I did the Waipio Trail on the north side the day before Mauna Kea -- it's worth doing if you're in the area but wouldn't put it in "can't miss" category. Definitely hit the national park, but you don't need more than 1½ days there. Otherwise, get away from Kona and try to drive around a bit.

[ontopoftheworld]

I went to the big island last year with my wife. We didn't do any intense hiking, but here are my thoughts...

Obviously, most people hang out on the west side of the island where all of the resorts are. I actually spent most of my time on the rainy, east side just because there's so much more to explore over there, and there are a lot less people. That sounds like it might be up your alley If you want a quiet place to watch waves crash against the rocks, Lapahoehoe Point is amazing. Akaka Falls was a very cool waterfall. I'm glad I checked it out, but it's probably not a "must see". Waipio Valley was very cool - a steep hike down into a beautiful valley.

On the west side, when it's time to hit the beach, there's no better place than Hapuna Beach state park. I was there during the week, and it was not crowded, but I hear on the weekends and even late afternoons, it can get a bit crowded. I went to South Point just to say that I was there, but my wife and I ended up sitting there alone on the rocks for what seemed like hours just watching the waves crash in. We wanted to check out the green sand beach, but we didn't realize it was a short hike to get there, and we didn't get there until sundown. With some flashlights, we still could have made it, but we were just unprepared. I would imagine that would be a pretty quiet area. The black sand beach was kinda cool to see if you happen to be in the area but definitely not quiet or secluded.

And I saved my best tip for last... if you go to Volcanoes on a Wednesday, you should do the secret lava tubes tour. It's free and very cool. You're only allowed to go if you go with a park ranger. They only take a group there once a week on Wednesdays and only 12 people are allowed to go. You have to call 1 week in advance at 7:45am (Hawaii time) to sign up, and if you're even 20 minutes late calling, you probably won't get a spot. I got busy and forgot to call until 8:15 - they were already filled up. We got incredibly lucky when we just happened to call back a few days later and two people had dropped out. You would need to contact Kilauea Visitor Center. A quick google search says the phone # is 808-985-6017, but I can't guarantee that's correct.

[climbing_rob]

Others have Mauna Kea well covered, but I'll say we really enjoyed it this last January. We drove to the Onizuka center at 1-2pm, planning on finding a place to crash and hit the ascent trail the next morning. the weather was so perfect we said what the he|| and left the car at 2:30pm or so, summitted (via trail) just before sunset, caught the excellent sunset and descended the trail in the dark. Take lots of warm clothes if you want to spend time on the summit that time of day! We had lightweight down jackets and hard-shells over that. It was very windy, but clear as a bell. You won't be alone, except on the true summit which few of the tourons visit.

Take a GPS track on the way up to aid the descent in the dark if you do it this way. Or you could just hike the road down, but that pavement gets HARD on a descent. I much prefer a dirt trail. The 4700' seemed easier than 4700' (to 13,700') in Colorado. A bit thicker air at those latitudes I suppose.

They have star parties at the Onizuka center every night. Pretty cool stuff.

But: I think the highlight of our trip was climbing Mauna Loa from the saddle road trailhead (see summitpost.org). Easy hike on hardened lava, very interesting terrain. the climb is so gradual, at times its hard to believe you're actually climbing a mountain. The coolest part was sleeping in the "Summit" cabin. Wow. Talk about great Star gazing that night. I put "summit" in quotes because the "summit" cabin is not on the summit, but a 5-mile stroll around the summit crater from the true summit. We did actually summit the next morning, then descended. Maybe a total of 16 miles car-to-car.

By the way: apparently Mauna Loa is the largest (volume) mountain on the planet. 10,000 cubic miles. You can put 100 Mount Rainier's inside of Mauna Loa. The mind boggles.

[nyker]

Thanks guys, this is all real helpful.

So, it sounds like other than the climbs of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea and the park, is there enough to do to fill up a week
on the Big Island at the expense of perhaps spending more time elsewhere, possibly Oahu or Molakai?

In January, would you think that the snow on Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea warrant the use of ice axe and crampons?

[climbing_rob]

Thanks guys, this is all real helpful.

So, it sounds like other than the climbs of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea and the park, is there enough to do to fill up a week
on the Big Island at the expense of perhaps spending more time elsewhere, possibly Oahu or Molakai?

In January, would you think that the snow on Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea warrant the use of ice axe and crampons?

The conditions vary greatly, we had ZERO snow anywhere on either mountain in early January. You could easily have a lot of snow, or not. An ice axe would be useless, even with snow. Nothing is steep. Trekking poles are nice. Crampons could possible be useful, or other traction devices (micro-spikes, yak traks) if there is hard-packed snow. You'll just have to check on conditions by calling the NPS for Mauna Loa which is inside of Volcanoes NP; Mauna Kea should be similar.

We spent a week on the Big Island, perfect amount of time; 3-4 days climbing mountains, 2-3 days trekking around other areas, and a solid day on a beach north of Kona sipping Mai Tais and checking out gorgeous women in bikinis. Then we went to Kauai for another week. Perfect.

No idea about Oahu or Molakai, but Kauai is sure nice, in particular the Napali coast hike or Waimea canyon. On Maui, If you drive up Haleakala, be sure to take a nice, long hike down into the crater.

Funny story: I asked a ranger-lady on the Haleakala summit ranger station what a good hike into the crater would be. The summit is around 10,000'. the ranger lady said back to me: "You don't want to hike very far if at all down into the crater; if you do, the extreme altitude will make getting back up nearly impossible". I said back to her: Lady, where I normally hike, you have to DIG to get to these paltry altitudes. She looked at me funny and never got it. Anyway, there is a gorgeous hike way down into the crater, get a map at the summit. We went about 5 miles down. There is a cabin somewhere down there, and you can actually spend the night I believe.

[Scott P]

So, it sounds like other than the climbs of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea and the park, is there enough to do to fill up a week
on the Big Island at the expense of perhaps spending more time elsewhere, possibly Oahu or Molakai?

There is enough to keep you busy at least a few hikes, even if just hiking.

The best hike we did on the big island was the Waipio and Wamu Valleys. It's like the Napali Coast without the crowds.

I'd say that places like Kilauea, Waipo and Wamu Valleys are far more interesting than Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, though as mentioned the star gazing is good.

In January, would you think that the snow on Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea warrant the use of ice axe and crampons?

As mentioned there isn't hardly anything steep enough there to use one.

[nyker]

Hmmm, all good suggestions!

The crater story is funny

Kauai looks pretty wild, esp. the Na Pali Coast-very wild looking.

So, not having been there, I am trying to gauge distances etc..we'll have just over two weeks ideally start to finish. Maui and the Big Island seem to have plenty to do;

I think the flight from the LAX has to go into Oahu (HNL)...would it be rushing it trying to add on Kauai in such a schedule? The inter-island flights seem pretty short.

[Nelson]

I climbed both Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa in April, 2010. I thought they were pretty neat climbs and camping on Mauna Loa was the high light of the trip. I put up a trip report which you might want to check out:

http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepor ... m=tripuser" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[nyker]

Cool report Nelson. The scenery in your photos of the hikes reminds me a little of White Mountain in Eastern California.