June hike up Mauna Loa

This is the journal from my hike up the volcano Mauna Loa in June of 2002. This trip was partly to celebrate my 55th birthday, and partly volunteer work for the USGS mapping division (I ground verify satellite-created maps) of the Department of the Interior.

Mauna Loa is the largest volcano in the world. In fact, it is the largest projected land mass between the sun and Mars -- over 10,000 cubic miles in bulk! From the base, it is over 33,000 feet in height, with about 13,700 of that above the water. It either shrinks (due to its awesome weight upon the earth's crust) or grows (due to volcanic activity) in height every day.

I planned to stay six days in all, two at a base-camp at the weather station (~11,000') and two in a National Park cabin at the caldera, but for a number of unexpected reasons came back after two. I did make it to the summit of Mauna Loa (~13,679') and succeeded in the re-mapping of the entire North side of the North Pit caldera at the summit.

To begin at the begin, I left home about 7am on June 5th and drove the 2 hours North along the coast of Hawaii and then inland, up and between the two largest volcanoes (Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea) on Saddle Road. In the valley between is Mauna Kea Park, a secluded and neglected cabin park. You can stay in the cabins here for a fee, although few do. The only other facilities here are a seldom used Army helicopter base and troops and weapons training area. Before leaving the Park I discovered my water container had leaked almost all the water out -- and there is no water around here or at my destination! I back-tracked to the Pohakulo Army Base and was able to fill my container at the DOD (Dept of Defense) Security Office.

The "breast-plate" plain between the volcaoes is flat, barren and scattered with lava cones. I soon was at the turnoff to the 19 mile pot-holed road to the Mauna Loa Weather Station. The seemingly endless road winds up the side of Mauna Loa, soon leaving the clouds and all evidence of plant or animal life, to be replaced by flowing fields of various types of lava. This next picture is the last of the surviving plants before only grey moss can survive.

Arrived at the "weather station" (~11,400') about 10am and Alan the site supervisor allowed me to camp on a graded pad used by the USGS for seismic studies. One of the technicians, Darrell showed me around his observatory (1 of about 15 there) which visually tracks changes on the sun (solar flares, events, storms, frequency, corona, etc.). The numerious computer monitors displayed amazing color displays of activity on the sun -- while watching I "discovered" a new flare on the surface that just occurred. Other buildings track ozone, carbon dioxide, atmospheric chemistry and even weather patterns. There are usually 2-3 personel manning the station weekdays and sometimes one person on the weekend.

I setup camp and hiked down to the trailhead to read all the notices, as the copy I was supposed to get when I registered my permit (all access requires permits) never showed up. The warnings were quite upsetting: this is the most difficult climb in Hawaii; there are no support facilities of any kind; there are a number of physical conditions that can affect you adversely; etc. -- they did everything but say, "Stay the Hell outta here if your smart". One of the ones that concerned me was what's called "HAPE", which is the worst case senerio of oxgyen deprivation. That was because I already had several of the symptoms: headache, dry cough and fatique.

Back at my "base camp" I watched the staff (about 3 scientists) leave at 3pm and then it was just me, the silent domed-metal science buildings connected together by wood paths (to avoid walking on the sharp lava) and the constant wind. Only a few flies seemed to exist here -- no other plant or animal life even seemed possible here.

I started a fire in a washing machine tub I brought for that purpose and settled down in a chair next to the wind-wipped fire. The sun was going down turning all the clouds below and Mauna Kea across from me an errie reddish-orange. No sounds but the wind as the sun set -- yet it did not get dark. The departed sun, now lighting another part of the world, still sent enough orange glow from the horizon to match the light of a full moon.

I was settling into a kind of spiritual coma when all of a sudden a large exposion under the wash tub fire sent pounds of very small metallic dust over twenty feet into the air! The exposion scared the Hell out of me and I rolled off the chair away from the fire -- while the dust went flying up and out all over (and into -- tent flaps and truck windows were open) my tent, truck, camp supplies and me! Apparently I had heated up a volcanic rock with highly volatile gases in it ... lucky me (I moved the fire a good 10 feet from anything of value).

When I retired, the first of several equipment failures resigned me to a nearly sleepless night: the air pad which protected me from the sharp lava rock lost all its air and I could not find the leak. I spent the night turning to a new position every 30 minutes as the side down would become totally numb. During one of my manuevers I put my hand on the tent floor for leverage -- and sparks shot-out in all directions from my finger tips! I rubbed my hand along the tent floor and new sparks would shoot-out about 2 inches from my finger tips under the tent floor (it seemed to be under the tent floor). Eventually from use, they stopped appearing and I opted for my next 30 minutes of rest.

I went outside about 3am and the sky was crystal-clear with the Milky Way a band of hazy light across the sky. Shooting stars appeared about every minute.

Click here for day two...

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