Mauna Kea

Being on top of Mauna Kea was one of the coolest experiences of being on the Big Island, except for maybe Volcano National Park. It is like being on another planet, especially on the drive up with all the frozen lava fields all over the sides of the road. Mauna Kea is nearly 14,000 feet tall, and to get there you drive right from the coastline. I don't know where else you can drive from 0 to 14,000 feet in a few hours. The visitor's center is at about 9,000 feet, and you made it there then you already went up some pretty steep roads. Any vehicle can make it to the visitor's center, but you are not supposed to be able to go any further without 4 wheel drive. We proved them wrong. We drove our rented Chrysler 300 right up the unpaved, super steep road to the summit. Once up there we noticed other cars that had made the trek that probably shouldn't have, so its not that big of a deal. At the summit of Mauna Kea, there was snow everywhere. It was so awesome to see snow while living in Hawaii, its just too strange to be true. It was freezing cold with the wind blowing, and we were not properly dressed for it. There are craters everywhere up top, and with all the snow covering them, they look amazing. You can see the ocean way down below, which really puts into perspective how high up you are. There are a ton of observatories on the summit, and the weirdest part...snowboard and ski tracks everywhere. There are no lifts, but the locals bring their equipment and hike to the peaks and ride down. Snowboarding in Hawaii!!! Crazy. I did a couple of sprints around the area just out of excitement and trying to catch up to the group and nearly fainted cause of the lack of oxygen. Also after doing 4 backflips trying to get the right photo, I thought I would pass out. If your car sits low to the ground ike our rental car did, then be careful on the unpaved road to the top. We ran over a pretty big rock that did not sound too good on the engine, but luckily we had insurance for things like that.