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Hawaii's High Point - "Mount Kea"
Hawaii's high point is Mount Kea at 13,796 ft. The 6th highest high point in the US, Mount Kea is actually a (currently not active) volcano and is located on Hawaii's Big Island known as Hawaii. Mark and I made our way to Hawaii's Big Island on a trip en-route to Australia, arriving on the 13th June 2009 and staying 5 days in Keauhou Bay's Sheraton (which was great). Given our main reason for coming all the way to Hawaii was to reach the high point, we made sure the very next day we headed up the mountain. Around 3pm on Sunday 14th June 2009, we took the strange drive up from the Kona coast where we were staying. Firstly sunny and hot in the 80's, as we headed inland the weather became cloudy and at one point started to rain! So many climates on the same island! Then as we drove up in elevation and headed above the clouds, the weather was nice again with blue skies and white clouds. It was pretty awesome being above the clouds as we headed up the very bumpy Saddle Road to the top. You actually park near the four large observatories located at the top, and from there you have to climb over the small fence and follow the path down and back up to the high point, which is in fact another summit to the left of the top where the observatories were. While less than a mile to hike, having come up from sea level and hadn't had much time to aclimitize, that short hike felt long especially the way back up. The summit itself was marked with a large pile of rocks and the USGS marker. It was just about sunset when we got to the summit, and it was pretty cold (hence our warm jackets!!). A few photos and we quickly made our way back to the observatories to enjoy the last bits of hawaiian sunset! Aloha!
Hawaii's high point is Mount Kea at 13,796 ft. The 6th highest high point in the US, Mount Kea is actually a (currently not active) volcano and is located on Hawaii's Big Island known as Hawaii. Mark and I made our way to Hawaii's Big Island on a trip en-route to Australia, arriving on the 13th June 2009 and staying 5 days in Keauhou Bay's Sheraton (which was great). Given our main reason for coming all the way to Hawaii was to reach the high point, we made sure the very next day we headed up the mountain. Around 3pm on Sunday 14th June 2009, we took the strange drive up from the Kona coast where we were staying. Firstly sunny and hot in the 80's, as we headed inland the weather became cloudy and at one point started to rain! So many climates on the same island! Then as we drove up in elevation and headed above the clouds, the weather was nice again with blue skies and white clouds. It was pretty awesome being above the clouds as we headed up the very bumpy Saddle Road to the top. You actually park near the four large observatories located at the top, and from there you have to climb over the small fence and follow the path down and back up to the high point, which is in fact another summit to the left of the top where the observatories were. While less than a mile to hike, having come up from sea level and hadn't had much time to aclimitize, that short hike felt long especially the way back up. The summit itself was marked with a large pile of rocks and the USGS marker. It was just about sunset when we got to the summit, and it was pretty cold (hence our warm jackets!!). A few photos and we quickly made our way back to the observatories to enjoy the last bits of hawaiian sunset! Aloha!
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