Saturday, April 23

Today was truly a day of contrast - in altitude, temperature, habitiat and sites. We,of course started in Waimaea, and with another lovely day. We had until 3:30 pm, when we needed to be at a pick up point for star gazing expedition, and decided that in that time we could drive to the NE coast to Waipi'oo. Waipi'oo is a valley between two high cliffs ending on a beautiful beach that is a sacred Hawaiian area, and which the residents there have decided to not open up to tourism- no roads, no facilities, etc.  You can drive your 4WD down to the beach on their one road, or you can walk down. You can walk on the road - but are not allowed off the road as all of the land is privately owned, and farmed- taro fields, etc.  So, the valley is quite pristine. So, we walked down 1000 feet ( and yes back up the 1000 feet) - and got to enjoy some very sepectacular scenery that was different than any we had yet seen:. The walking distance was 1 mi, to the bottom so the grade of the road was 25% all of the time.
From the top look out point of the trail/ end of real road:

Then walking on down:

 A view up the valley:

And a view down the valley towards the sea-

Once down in the valley we choose to follow the road towards a water fall, etc-rather than to the beach - and this is what we saw:

 We had instructional signs -

note rock hanging off sign on lower left side- so that we are sure to know what to look for!
The water fall, not running very much this season-

Then there was the stream to ford - we used the rocks-

Note the area that the rocks make a little pool for the children. More sights and then truly the end of the trail for us:

  Time to turn around, enjoy the walk back down the valley -

Then up we went- slowly- but inexorably - up - 45 min non stop - to the top

  safe at last-

Time to drive back to our motel, but first a stop for a great fruit smoothie to sip along the way. We then changed into our warmer clothes to set forth on our star gazing expedition, taking us up to the top of Mona Kea, 13,700. Boy were we glad to be in a 4WD small bus and not  be hiking this one!  The first stop was an early dinner at an old sheepherders station at about 7500 feet:

Then on up to the top of Mona Kea along a dirt road to the top - slowly. We are in awe that they have been able to get the mirrors up there without breaking them.  The driver said that the last one to be driven up took 2 weeks to drive up the dirt road - so that they could run buldozers in front of the truck to smooth the way!!There is talk of the companies who are funding the next large mirror ( 7 segement, 24 meter) actually paving the road before moving the mirror up the mountain. It is way to heavy to helicopeter in to that elevation.
We stopped at about 11,000 feet for some viewing, pictures:

Special note- Neal has on a winter parka!!!!!!(provided by tour company). He even zipped it up later!
Now on to the summit to see the telescopes and the sunset:

 This is only a small sample of the 13 telescopes up there. After sunset we slowly made our way back to the visitors center at about 10, 000 feet. We were amused by the sign, as we are going steeply down hill,that said "HILL". Thanks, we never would have guessed. Once there a telescope was set up and, after chocolate and cookies, we did some star gazing. The sky was brillant with stars/ planets, etc and you could really see everything spectacularly well.  It was very interesting, but not a photo moment.
Then we drove -again down and slowly  - on down and were left off at our car, and we came on home to our moterl and a late ( for us) bedtime.
What a great day-  sea level activity in the morning and being quite warm and then on top of the world and cold in the evening. Truly a land of variety.
So we are now going to leave Waimea, which we have truly enjoyed, - and drive south to the small town of Volcano where we will explore the Volcano and environs. So more later on new developments.
All love to you all. Deb and Neal