Mauna Loa

Mauna Load (13,679ft)

On the summit

Eric and Katie

December 15-17, 2014

Katie and I were in Hawaii for a week before Christmas when flights were still cheap, and I had a few adventure goals for the trip. My primary goal was to ride a bike from sea level to the summit of Mauna Kea and back, supposedly one of the most difficult bicycle climbs in the world. I had an advantage that I had just finished a 6-week bicycle tour in eastern europe so was in good biking shape. However, I’d read some people attempting the Mauna Kea bike ride got turned around from altitude sickness.

Hiking back down

Thus, I wanted to first make sure I was well-acclimated before the attempt. Nearby Mauna Loa is nearly the same elevation as Mauna Kea and it is possible to sleep up high on the route. This would be an excellent way to acclimate, while also tagging a national park highpoint. Many people day-hike Mauna Loa via the Observatory trail, but that wouldn’t help too much with acclimation. So we decided to hike the longer Mauna Loa trail, a 43 mile round trip hike starting in Volcanoes National Park. We would spread it over three days so we could have two nights sleeping up high.

Katie and I picked up permits at the ranger station and started hiking up Dec 15. The trail started in the forest and gradually ascended above treeline. It was never very steep, and we were the only ones on the route. We eventually reached the Red Hill Cabin around 10,000ft and stayed there for the night.

The next morning we hiked up to tag the summit and saw a few other hikers who had come up from the observatory trail. We hiked back to the cabin and spent another night there before hiking out the next morning.

Our next goal was the bike ride up Mauna Kea, which we were well-acclimated for.