This past weekend I got a radical reminder of the fact that I live on a giant volcano in the middle of the ocean. I went with some friends to the top of Mauna Kea, the tallest mountain in the world (13,796 feet from sea level). I know, you thought it was Mount Everest, but Mauna Kea is only the highest if you start measuring from the sea floor (33,476 feet), which I guess is kind of cheating since no one will actually start climbing from the sea floor, but it's still pretty cool. Mauna Kea is one of five volcanoes that form the Hawaiian island archipelago. It's no longer active, though there are still active peaks on the south side of the Big Island; both Mauna Loa and Kilauea still erupt regularly.
On our drive there I was picturing a more mountainy mountain, but it was really just a big pile of red dust. Not that is wasn't amazing. The peak sits above the cloud line, making it a totally surreal experience, like being in an airplane. And it is a major astronomical observatory, so there were lots of spherical telescopes on the mountain top. It felt like being on Mars, with all the red earth and sci-fi architecture. And it was really cold. It was about 50 degrees on the mountain top and about 90 at the ocean. Since it's still summer there was no snow, but the mountain regularly has a white layer. (The mountain is named for its regular snow cap--kea is Hawaiian for white.) Sometimes I forget that I live on an active volcano 2000 miles from the nearest continent where you can snowboard and sit on a black sand beach all in the same day. Shit howdy, this place is awesome!
On our drive there I was picturing a more mountainy mountain, but it was really just a big pile of red dust. Not that is wasn't amazing. The peak sits above the cloud line, making it a totally surreal experience, like being in an airplane. And it is a major astronomical observatory, so there were lots of spherical telescopes on the mountain top. It felt like being on Mars, with all the red earth and sci-fi architecture. And it was really cold. It was about 50 degrees on the mountain top and about 90 at the ocean. Since it's still summer there was no snow, but the mountain regularly has a white layer. (The mountain is named for its regular snow cap--kea is Hawaiian for white.) Sometimes I forget that I live on an active volcano 2000 miles from the nearest continent where you can snowboard and sit on a black sand beach all in the same day. Shit howdy, this place is awesome!
As we found our way back down the mountain, listening to some horrible Hawaiian radio, we all felt a little euphoric from the gorgeousness of the mountain top. It was getting late so we stayed at a friend's beach house in Puoko, a tiny beach community in South Kohala. It was a cute little bungalow on the water and we played Scrabble, listened to the waves and woke up to sea turtles sunning on the rocky shore.
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