My flight home was a red-eye, so I had time to explore a little on my last day even though I was pretty tired by then and slept late. However, I didn’t want to go too far in case something went wrong. Continue reading
On my next-to-last day, I decided to circumnavigate the Big Island, with some stops along the way. I decided to go clockwise because it would be a shorter bailout after seeing the nearest attraction from that direction if I wasn’t up for the full drive. Continue reading
I don’t get much peakbagging credit for the main part of this day, but I did reach the summit of Haleakala to finish my three peak Grand Tour. However, I was able to add on a small hiking peak later in the day. Continue reading
It’s pretty popular to drive up Mauna Kea to see the observatories, stargaze, experience snow in Hawai’i in the colder parts of the year, and to feel like a stud for driving up a 4WD road that probably never requires 4WD when dry. Of course, one has to hike about 100 vertical feet to reach the true summit from the road; I’m not sure whether the non-peakbagger crowd does that most of the time or not. Continue reading
I knew Day 3 wouldn’t be a big one after the strenuous hike, but I managed to crawl out of bed at 9:30am, so after a quick snack I decided to do some shopping and sightseeing down the Kona coast. Continue reading
Since it is possible to rent a 4WD vehicle and drive to within 100 vertical feet of the summit of Mauna Kea, I decided to hit Mauna Loa first on the trip. That way if it didn’t go well I might have time for a second chance, or if I summitted and was then too worn out or if one of my various foot/knee/leg issues flared up too badly, I would have plenty of opportunities to be a lazy-ass on Kea. Continue reading
