Mauna Kea

This morning I got up even earlier than yesterday and went to the hostel to catch some people there. I met a couple that was going on a tour and joined them for the day. The weather was really sunny again today, no rain in sight. First we drove north of Hilo to Akaka Falls. With 420 feet this was probably the biggest waterfall I've seen in Hawaii yet. From there we continued to Laupahoehoe point where you had a nice view of the coastline. Part of the drive reminded me of the road to Hana, with it's lush vegetation and narrow roads. Afterwards we drove north to the Waipi'o valley viewpoint with a great view into the valley and along the coast. We didn't go into the valley as the road goes down in a 45° angle and a normal car can't make it.
From there we drove through Waimea and the high plains to the other side of the Mauna Kea volcano where we took the road up to the summit. Mauna Kea with almost 14,000 feet (4200m) is even higher than Haleakela on Maui. You really feel kind of dizzy up there. On top of the mountain it looks like the moon; there is no life at all. They actually used the grounds for training the Apollo astronauts. We were lucky that it wasn't that cold. There was only a little snow left. From up there you could see the fumes from where the lava from Kilauea hits the see. On top of Mauna Kea you have all those telescopes because the air is to clear and there's relatively few light pollution from below.
We were kind of short on gas and actually didn't know if we would make it back all the way to Hilo, but luckily everything went fine.