2nd day in paradise! Today's program is Waipi'o and Mauna Kea. Procrastination cost us here. It's a remote valley north of the big island and it's difficult to access. Most of it is private property and everything we read told us that it would be much easier to go with a tour of some sort. We're thinking horseback riding but everything is fully booked... We drive there to check it out and we'll decide on the spot whether we hike down or not. The road down is for 4*4 only since it's extremely steep (25%). The view from the overlook is clearly nice and it's tempting to attempt the hike. My travel partner is worried about her knees but she has walking poles so we decide to give it a try. The way down is tough, our legs burn but we're rewarded with gorgeous views of the valley. We reach the bottom in 20 minutes. Here we have two options, right to what seems to be a private property or left to keep going on the road. We make the mistake to go left... We walk past fenced properties with signs all over the place and arrive at a ford. After a brief hesitation we decide to cross. I try it goat style with my hiking boots and almost succeed. I'll put one foot in the water. My partner does is bare foot and keep her shoes dry ;) We walk a bit more, pass a banana plantation and reach another ford, much bigger and much deeper than the previous one. It also seems to be the end of the public road. We decide to turn back and ask the guys working in the plantation about the road and how to get to the beach. As we guessed it's the end of the public road and we should have taken right when we reached the bottom. We cross the ford again and get back to the fork. Upon closer inspection, the private property sign is placed to confuse people. It'll be the one thing that will prevent me from enjoying this beautiful place. The people living there are too busy placing signs to warn people to place useful signs about where the beach is, how far, etc.. what's accessible to the public in a word. There's such a obsession with private property here that even on the signs at the overlook, they start by talking about that before explaining anything about the valley... sad mentality.
The road to the beach is along the cliff and we can see cars crashed in the trees. Some people didn't take the warning seriously! We finally arrive at the beach. It's black sand and gorgeous. We spend some time there relaxing and take a dip before continuing all the way to the other side of the valley. There we know there's a trail leading to a fall but once again it lacks any indication of distance or time. We talk to two other tourists that are coming back from the falls but when they tell us how far it is, we decide to turn around and leave the valley. The way up will be very very tough. It'll take us 45 min to cover 1km.... a serious work-out. We leave the valley with mixed feelings; we could clearly have planned better but everything is done down there to dissuade people and keep that treasure hidden.
We go to Waimea for a delicious burger and some grocery shopping and then head south to Mauna Kea. The road to the observatory is on the south slope so we have to go around the volcano. The road leading us around even has a name – saddle road, and it's a highlight of the big island. With the sun starting to set, the colors in the sky changing, it's quite a nice drive. It feels like the Shire in Middle Earth with small green hills all over the place. I would not be surprise to come across hobbits here. We finally reach the road going up the mountain and it's about time, the sun is setting. On the way up we can see from up close the clouds stuck on the mountain, an impressive sight. We finally reach the observatory, ditch the car, put on every layer we have at hand and take the quick hike to one of the spots where we can see the sunset. It's cold and windy up there and waiting for us at the spot is a giant group of Japanese tourists all dressed in orange coverall, a weird sight. The soil is red and we feel like being on Mars. Sadly for us we have clouds blocking the view, we can see some of it but not that much. We don't stay out too long, the sun gone, the temperature is dropping. We take shelter in the visitor center nearby and wait for the astronomy session to begin. You can hike or hire a 4*4 to go to the summit but we'll learn that during our stay, the temperature at the summit is ridiculously low with a wind so strong it 's close, too dangerous. It's so cold outside that everyone is crowded in the visitor center. When the astronomy session finally starts, we'll wait a bit for the crowd to try the telescope before heading out. With most of the crowd gone, the wait time to have a peak is rather short but with the conditions outside, it's still too long. One telescope is pointed at the moon and it's incredible to see all these details. Others are pointed at different stars.. less impressive ;) One of theses starts is one of the oldest one we can see from Hawaii. It's just 8:30pm when we leave Mauna Kea and go back home... we're adjusting to the local time :D