Mauna Kea Summit Trail, Mauna Kea (503901) (21770618626)

The Mauna Kea Trail, also known as the Humuʻula Trail,"Self-Guided Tours: Humuʻula, the Mauna Kea Summit Trail"archive
. ''lonelyplanet.com''.

Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History Early years Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embarked ...

. Retrieved February 15, 2019. is a hiking route leading from the

Onizuka Center for International Astronomy The Onizuka Center for International Astronomy, also known as Hale Pōhaku, is a complex of support facilities for the telescopes and other instruments that comprise the Mauna Kea Observatory atop Mauna Kea, on Hawaii island. History A few rusti ...

to the summit of

Mauna Kea Mauna Kea ( or ; ; abbreviation for ''Mauna a Wākea''); is a dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii. Its peak is above sea level, making it the highest point in the state of Hawaii and second-highest peak of an island on Earth. The peak is ...

, the highest volcano on the

island of Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii ) is the largest island in the United States, located in the state of Hawaii. It is the southeasternmost of the Hawaiian Islands, a chain of volcanic islands in the North Pacific Ocean. With an area of , it has 63% of th ...

Description

The trail is a long, unmaintained dirt and

scree Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. Talus deposits typically ha ...

path with two short road sections, about at the beginning and about near the summit."Hiking to the Summit"
. ''ifa.hawaii.edu''. Mauna Kea Support Services / Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station. Retrieved February 15, 2019.

Cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...

s and reflective posts mark the route above . The summit region is typically very cold, and winter storms can deposit up to of snow in January and February. Astronomical instruments are located near the summit since the atmosphere is substantially thinner at higher elevations than at sea level.

Mauna Loa Mauna Loa ( or ; Hawaiian: ; en, Long Mountain) is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The largest subaerial volcano (as opposed to subaqueous volcanoes) in both mass and ...

is visible on clear days from the summit area, as well as along most of the trail. Mauna Loa (5826069415)

The trailhead is located at the Visitor Information Station of the Onizuka Center at (). The center is accessible by car from the

Saddle Road Route 200, known locally as Saddle Road, traverses the width of the Island of Hawaii, from downtown Hilo to its junction with Hawaii Route 190 near Waimea. The road was once considered one of the most dangerous paved roads in the state, with ...

(Hawaii Route 200) and then north on the Mauna Kea Access Road. Registration is requested and a drop box is available for hikers who start before the visitor center opens. The first of the trail is on the Mauna Kea Access Road after which the trail goes left onto a dirt path. From the path consists of scree. From the area is predominantly

a'a Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

lava flows and is not as steep. At the road forks, with one path going to

Lake Waiau Lake Waiau is a high-elevation lake located at above sea level on Mauna Kea, on the island of Hawaiʻi. It is arguably one of the highest lakes in the United States. After the evaporation of Ka Wai o Pele in 2018 and the short-lived lake in Hal ...

and the other fork to the summit. At , the trail intersects and follows the Mauna Kea Access Road, including two switchbacks, to the

Mauna Kea Observatories The Mauna Kea Observatories (MKO) are a group of independent astronomical research facilities and large telescope observatories that are located at the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi, United States. The facilities are located ...

at . A final trail segment leads to the summit. Since the mountain is considered sacred to the

Native Hawaiians Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii ...

, a sign is posted asking visitors to not access the summit

cinder cone A cinder cone (or scoria cone) is a steep conical hill of loose pyroclastic fragments, such as volcanic clinkers, volcanic ash, or scoria that has been built around a volcanic vent. The pyroclastic fragments are formed by explosive eruptions o ...

, which is named Puʻu Wekiu. The sign reads:

References

External links

Maunakea Observatories
Institute for Astronomy,

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

Mauna Kea

Global Volcanism Program The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program (GVP) documents Earth's volcanoes and their eruptive history over the past 10,000 years. The mission of the GVP is to document, understand, and disseminate information about global volcanic a ...

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

{{coord, 19, 47, 22, N, 155, 27, 48, W, display=title Hiking trails in Hawaii Protected areas of Hawaii (island)