A day of volcanoes, Part II

As our little group departed Volcanoes National Park, a new sign was letting visitors know that the area we'd visited in the morning (and been choked out of at the end) had been closed until further notice because of poisonous gases. Good thing we hit it early!

Under another sunny sky our trekking led us into the small port town of Hilo, where The C had lived a couple years back. A quaint little town, with not much to do, but neat. Candace took us to a cheap and tasty sushi joint and I took us to the Salvation Army. When packing for this trip, something led me to believe that 4 t-shirts would suffice for 3 months. What I'd neglected to ponder was the farm labor that would render each shirt unwearable more than a day in a row. Two days if the first entailed picking coffee. I now find myself short on shirts, shirts which have begun to unravel, tear and not come clean from constant use. I'd hoped to find an extra or two. Instead I found shirts that ranged from XL to XXXL. Desperation remains at bay and I left empty handed. Since we'd not been over to Hilo yet, we needed to stop by The C's old house to visit her ex-roommate.

This house is amazing. I won't go so far as to call it perfect, but it's damn close in my opinion. Up on the mountain above town, the house sits off on a small dead-end street that ends at a grove of massive trees. From the house you can sea the ocean and Mauna Kea (good selling points, even if the views are not sweeping). A huge front porch sits half a dozen steps above street level. Large windows set in every wall let in loads of light. The combination of the windows and a good floor plan make the inside feel very open and roomy.  The backyard houses fruit tree, bushes, pepper plants and lava rock. I love the house, even though I've never lived there. To top it off, the Cat of the House, Chongo, is friendly and loves to play tag (I've never played tag with an animal before, but he loves it. And he's much better at it than I.).

After a spot of tea and rambling conversations we left the house and dashed up Saddle Road trying to make sunset from the observatory on Mauna Kea. The curving winding road did not slow the Civic, her low-slung body gripping the curves and fine shocks absorbing the rolling asphalt. The landscape around us began tropical and steamy. As we climbed the plant life slowly thinned, the lava rock becoming more and more prominent. Up on the saddle between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea (a very wide saddle) a fine view of both peaks popped into view and of course we stopped for pictures. Up on the saddle it is pretty easy to see the different lava flows, some dark black others a lighter brown, always fascinating to me. Back in the 40s, I believe, the Army bombed a flow that coursed its way across this saddle, in an effort to divert it from the town of Hilo. Volcanoes are such an uncontrollable force that bombing lava to stop it seems akin to sending a gnat to harass an elephant out of one's corn. Maybe the bombing worked, I need to look it up. To me it's a reminder that we (humans) don't and can't control nature. We're part of nature, yes, and should act accordingly rather than exerting non-existent control. But I digress.

On the climb from Saddle Road up towards the observatory the air thinned and this did slow us down. As we climbed up to the observatory (9,200 feet) our speed dropped and the engine's pep took a break. On the last steep incline, the car moving at maybe 25mph my foot on the floor unable to trick car into dropping into a lower gear, I bemoaned the lack of a manual transmission. We made it to the parking lot of the ranger station, grabbed our jackets and cameras and took off running. Yup, coming up from sea level to over 9000 feet, we still took off running. Off to the south of the station is a small hill from the top of which an amazing view of sunset presents itself. Because we'd gotten up late time did not exist to dawdle, or walk, on our way to the top. The sun was falling below the clouds and the colors had begun to streak across the sky and we wanted a good view of it all. Unfortunately, weeks without cardiovascular exercise and being 9000 feet above our standard elevation conspired against us in our dash to higher elevations. After a quick, relatively flat 200 yards or so all three of us gasped and choked and coughed and sputtered to a near halt before moving off again. Finally we gained the windy summit and stood, taking pictures until the cold and lack of light forced us off the mountain top. The hike down did not take a toll on our lungs but there may have been a much higher incidence of tripping and stumbling.

Sunset did not mark the end of our adventures on Mauna Kea. Back down at the ranger station a video on the history of the o bservatories kept us entertained until all sunlight had left the sky and the many telescopes had been turned skyward: Jupiter and her moons, various stars and in the case of those set up by untrained tourists, the blackness of deep space. One of the employees gave a talk about the night sky, making use of the coolest hand-held laser I've ever seen. Jon munched astronaut ice cream and the three of us gazed through the telescopes when the people stopped ignoring our status as "in line" and cutting in front of us moved off. Eventually the cold got to be too much (so did the crowds, to be honest) and we headed back down the mountain.

If you've not been on Saddle Road let me tell you about it. Much of it has been improved in recent years, but too many miles on the west side still retain the character of the original road. It is narrow, technically wide enough for 2 cars. Rolling doesn't quite describe the hills-approaching the crests is much like a game of chicken, you hoping that the road continues in the same direction on the far side of the hill as on the near side because you can't see diddly. Much needed reflectors mark some of the center line, none of the edge line. One lane bridges pop up now and then with just enough warning for you to stop your car before crashing into someone coming in the opposite direction. Much of the time the road is fog or cloud bound, reducing already compromised visibility. Fatal crashes are by no means uncommon. It's a dicey road. After a long day of looking and not napping, eyes red and fuzzy after ingesting unhealthy amounts of toxic fumes, the drive is exhilarating. While my car mates some how slept I whipped the Civic around the curves, up and down the hills until finally we made the main highway and cruised on home.