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We woke up early to try to catch sunrise on Hawaii’s highest peak. With the observatories up there, there was a road that we could take. However, they are very cautious about who get’s to drive up there. At the visitor’s center there was somebody posted at 5:30 AM to make sure anyone going up had 4x4 and encouraged us to “acclimatize” for 30 minutes before continuing to the 13000ft peak. After declining his offer, he asked us if we had more than half a tank of gas and then made sure we understood how to use our engine breaks before allowing us to continue to the summit.

The road steepish, but certainly did not need 4x4. Not even high clearance. There were patches of snow up there, so I guess it could have gotten gnarly, but we were totally fine. We got to the summit right as the sun was rising. Unforunatley, it was so windy that we had to shelter in the car for the view.

This was the windiest weather I had ever experienced. I later looked it up and it said it was around 75 MPH winds. That combined with the <30 temperature, made it tough to be outside. The road climaxes at the observatories across a crater from the true summit. I opted to try my luck with the elements and scampered the extra half mile round trip to the true summit. It may sound short and easy, but I felt like I was fighting for my life to get there. The wind was blowing so hard I couldn’t walk. If the wind was blowing across your body it would suck the air out of your lungs making it tough to breath. I did make the summit and fought my way back to the car. I had to carefully step down from the summit, each time I’d extend my foot to take a step, the wind would catch my leg and force it somewhere else.

It was beautiful up there. I’d love to return for a observatory tour.

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