Saturday, March 7, 2020
Friends and family,
This late Friday afternoon finds us in our happy place. After three nights in Hilo, where we enjoyed cozy nights of rain and drove out of the rain to enjoy sunny adventures north and south of Hilo, we decided to uproot and return to the spot where we spent our first night here, on the Kona side of the island. This is supposed to be the “dry side” of the island…but the rains seems to have followed us, and it is pouring down. No matter. We are happily ensconced on the front porch, listening to the rain, smelling the sweet sounds of so many things blooming in the yard/garden around us, and catching glimpses of the tropical birds that are perched in the trees around us. Instead of the ocean view, we can see over the top of a lemon tree to a place where the sun is creating strange shapes of illuminated cloud. Slowly, over time, the cloud disappears and there is the sea.
The most exciting highlight of today was climbing Mauna Kea (part-way up, in a car). Mauna Kea, at 13,802 feet above sea level and near the center of the Big Island, is one of the best places on earth from which to view the stars on a clear night. The summit is unreachable without a 4W drive vehicle with high clearance, a long hike (5 hours one way) in fairly extreme conditions, or a guided tour, which we had opted not to do given the cloudy skies while we were here. Our plan was to drive to the visitor’s center, altitude 9200 ft, in the early morning when we had heard we would have the greatest chances of a view before the clouds set in, and to learn more about the volcano.
We drove out of the Hilo rain into patches of sunlight above the clouds as we climbed upward off the Saddle Road. A rainbow greeted us as soon as we left Hilo, and two other rainbows arched over the loamy pastureland on either side of the road as we drove switchbacks on the road toward Mauna Kea. As with other places on the island, we were surprised by the low level of commercial activity at the visitor’s center, which turned out to be not much more than a safety warning station where a ranger politely but unenthusiastically answered questions about the volcano. When I asked if there was a trail where we could enjoy more of the views at the 9200 foot level, she simply said, “we are not a park.” Fortunately, we were able to find a wonderful short hike up a nearby summit – we climbed up what amounted to a huge mound of red lava rock, past a woman who was praying in a rock cairn at the top, to a place where the views were spectacular. Looking down toward Hilo, we saw a bank of clouds below us – ahead of us were craters where smaller volcanoes had caved in after erupting. Above the craters rose Mauna Loa, the shorter but more massive volcano neighboring Mauna Kea. To the west, we saw the valley floor with patterns of light and dark from the different lava flows that have covered the valley floor, overlaid with the shadows of clouds. Ahhhh.
Tonight, as we sit at our table on the porch, we begin to hear the sounds of the coqui frogs, an evening chorus that is both exotic and familiar, as it reminds me of the spring peepers in Virginia. The coqui frogs are native to Puerto Rico and came to Hawaii accidentally in 1988. Despite their charm, some people consider them invasive pests, and I’ve read they are eating beneficial insects on the island. Mostly they have invaded the Big Island, but there are some communities on Maui. Since I probably won’t hear them on Kauai, where we are headed tomorrow, I am savoring their sounds tonight. The “Ko-Kee” sound is made by the males only – the first sound of the call “Ko” is to keep other males away, and the second sound “Kee” is to attract females. You can check it out here.
Erin left it to me to mention that we also lunched at Kona Brewery where I took it upon myself to investigate a goodly variety of their offerings. Plus, lunch was preceded by a stop at the Puna Chocolate Company store where we sampled some of their native grown light and dark chocolate, then bought more than we sampled.
By now the clouds have cleared and the sun is setting through the clouds. The sea is calm, with blues and greys passing across the misty water. It’s good to be back where we started on the Big Island. Tomorrow: Kauai.
Aloha,
Erin & Dave
