| We decided to take another trip up Mauna Kea to see what it was like in the summer. As you might recall, the last time we went up was on March 30 and there was two feet of snow on the ground and we couldn't see a thing. Above is a map from the Mauna Kea brochure, starting at the Visitor Information Station at 9200 feet and going to the top. CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE |
| This explains why we don't see the mountain a lot from below. |
| Mauna Loa as we approach the turns to Mauna Loa & Mauna Kea (see map page 11) |
| Some posters in the Visitor's Center explaining the cloud conditions. |
| This is something we didn't see at all the last time. You're seeing, from left to right: University of Hawai'i 0.6m Telescope (m is meters), Gemini Northern Telescope (beyond), and University of Hawai'i 2.2m Telescope |
| Looking northeast. The blue is the ocean way, way, way, way down there! |
| This the actual summit of Mauna Kea, (13,796 feet!) off to one side. We couldn't walk there because we were both very out of breath and dizzy from lack of air! |
| Gemini Northern Telescope |
| This is a view to the northwest. From left to right: Subaru Telescope, W.M. Keck Observatory, and the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility. The Keck Observatory is two telescopes linked together to form one big "stereo" telescope. |
| Our trusty Jeep. It's a long hard climb up the mountain and it did good! |
| Looking to the northeast again. You can see a much better delineation between sea and sky. That's a long way away! |
| This is the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope beyond the ones you saw in the previous pictures. This wasn't visible in those views. |
| Heading back down. I don't think there's anything to say about this! |
| I like this sign: "Contact Da Police" |
| It's not every day you see a sign like this by the side of the road. |
| Robin and I decided that since we were halfway across the island, we should finish the trip and visit her son who lives on the other side of the island. The area in the "saddle" between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea is pretty much taken up by a military base. These are some of the signs we saw along the way. |
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Photos 2, page 16
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| September 4, 2006 |
Back to Mauna Kea
| <-- 9/2 3/30 --> |
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