| brian kossen photographer |
| a planet called mauna kea On January 16, 2009 I drove a 4wd vehicle to the summit of 13,796 foot Mauna Kea. My journey is documented here in words and pictures.
The reason for my trek up the mountain this day was twofold—to photograph the trip for Harper Car and Truck Rental who specialize in renting 4wd vehicles on the Big Island of Hawaii. Another reason for my adventure was a personal quest to document the mountain and the space observatories perched on the summit. This was to be my third trip up to the summit of Mauna Kea. I headed out of Hilo town with the stereo blaring and soon found a wide open Saddle road before me, so named because it saddles between the two largest volcanoes in the world. Mauna Loa to the south rises 13,679 feet, just slightly lower than her northern sister Mauna Kea at 13,796 feet. Mauna Loa is much broader and is still considered an active volcano, last erupting in 1984.
I pulled over a few times to take shots of the mountain seen from afar past endless lava fields and native forest. Soon I reached Mauna Kea Access Road where the road rises dramatically up the southern slope of Mauna Kea. The first few miles meander through open pastureland and I crossed a cow catcher grate over the road. I stopped to take a shot and wished a cow would walk into my camera frame. I reached the Visitor Information Station at the 9,000 foot level and stopped for a quick check of the conditions ahead. The fierce winds forced my head down to avoid sand being blown in my face. Outside the front door a lone station attendant gave me a howzit and we chatted about the conditions on the mountain. He warned me to stay in the vehicle as winds were reaching 80 miles per hour on the summit. We were practically screaming to be heard above the howling winds and we laughed.
I continued up the mountain and suddenly my adventure started to get really interesting. Driving up the summit of Mauna Kea is like driving on the surface of Mars. I realize that in all likely hood, not only has no human being ever driven on Mars, but they have also never driven a large white sport utility vehicle on the red planet. But if someone where to attempt such a trek this may be how it would seem. I cranked up the appropriately chosen Pink Floyd and slipped the beast into four-wheel drive.
Snow first appeared on the rocky landscape around the 13,000 foot marker and I noticed it was a little harder to breath due to the lack of oxygen in the atmostphere this far above sea level. I stopped to take photos of the numerous signs scattered along the route remarking on their strange titles. 'No Dogs Allowed For Mammal Hunting. One Pig Per Hunter Per Day. No Limit on Sheep & Goats'. 'Warning: Hazardous Road. Travel At Your Own Risk Beyond This Point'. 'Intense Sun Exposure. High Risk of Sunburn and Eye Damage. Protect Eyes and Skin'. My gosh I thought, I only had a pair of cheap sunglasses and a flimsy hooded sweatshirt. My favorite sign warned 'Cell Phones Disrupt Telescopes. Emergency Use Only'. I quickly turned my cell phone off so as not to interrupt any transmissions. Here I was in perfect isolation miles from another person and completely out of contact with the rest of the world. How many times in our modern day lives does one get to experience something like this? As I reached a sign marking the Mauna Kea Ice Age Reserve I found myself surrounded by snow. Growing up in Michigan I was plenty used to snow but this was something altogether different. Mauna Kea is on a subtropical island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Surely there can't be snow here? Is there snow on Mars I wondered? I glanced over the chasm between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa and noticed a perfect ring of snow crowning the distant summit of Mauna Loa. It was one of the most fantastic sites I've ever seen. The mountain was cast in deep blue created by black rivulets of past lava flows reflecting the pure blue sky. I could barley discern the sliver of the crater at the summit. I envisioned a giant mothership hovering above the mountain. Below my field of vision the snow covered slope of Mauna Kea interrupted the blue beyond and I realized I was on still on planet Earth.
Time was slowing down now. I moved a little slower and urged the vehicle on pushing the pedal to the floor. The engine roared and the vehicle slowed to under 10 miles per hour. Gravity pulled on everything. It was getting harder to lean forward in the cab. I swallowed a jolt of water as I lurched up the black pavement between two snow covered slopes and rounded a corner. The first observatory came into view with the suns rays gleaming off the silver dome. The sun seemed to be just a few miles above the mountain and I remembered something I had read about Mauna Kea being 40% above the surface of the earth. Did that mean I was nearly halfway into the Earths atmosphere? Almost halfway between the earth and outerspace? Wow, I thought as I looked out the windows at the snow swept landscape. I took a moment to ponder how far I had come in such a short time. This morning I had driven, in just under 1 1/2 hours, roughly 43 miles from sea level to the 13,796 foot summit. Mauna Kea is 33,476 feet above its base on the floor of the Pacific Ocean making it the worlds tallest mountain my measure. Taller than Mount Everest! Nowhere else on Earth can you drive such a short distance from sea level to a mountain summit so quickly. Maybe you can on Mars, I wondered?
I reached another sign that appeared to be instructions for an alien race with arrows and short abbreviations. I suddenly realized these were the names of observatories. I got out to take a photo of this sign and could barely push the door open because of the wind. I stepped out in to a hail of howling winds and bone chilling cold. I could only concentrate on the shot for a few seconds before the freezing cold chased me back to my lunar rover. As I continued I stopped a few times to take unobstructed photographs of the observatories. Each time I rolled down the window tiny particles of dirt blasted my face. At times I was forced to jump out of the truck to get the best camera angles. With my hood bundled over my head I shot quickly in the biting cold. Dirt pelted the open skin of my face and hands and I wondered about the safety of my camera. Each time I leaped back into the truck I felt light headed, my vision blurry for a moment. I was giddy and laughing as I stained to pull the door shut through the treacherous wind. By now my hands and face had become very dry and I felt my skin cracking. My lips were severely chapped and my fingers hurt when I exposed them to the elements. The spacey music added a surreal dimension to the experience. I took a drink of water, relaxing for a moment and warming my hands. I cranked the heater up, something I never thought I'd do in the state of Hawaii. I thought I left those days back in Michigan?
I circled strange looking telescopes gleaming white and silver in the blue sky. The scientists who operate these observatories were most likely at the base station down by the Visitor Station. The telescopes are only used under the cover of darkness and what a spectacular time that must be on the summit under a billion stars. Galaxies and nebulas, supernovas and quasars, planets and black holes all being peaked at from the summit of Mauna Kea. Just then I spotted a women dressed in a huge winter coat a few hundred yards away, scurrying from one observatory to another. Her face barely visible behind a ring of a fur lined hood. She waved as I snapped a few shots of a strange array of satellite dishes. I waved back and laughed to myself. I would not see another human being until I reached the Visitor Station back at the base of the mountain. The human contact assured me I was back on Earth and not really on Mars. I knew I had a limited time on the mountain yet time seemed to stand still. I had to be back in Hilo at some point to shoot a few vehicles and meet friends flying in from Honolulu. I wanted to stay on the summit all day. This journey was just too fantastic to end. I slowly drove around snapping as many photographs as possible. Every view was unbelievable. Every scene was a beautiful shot. Small whiffs of clouds flew past just out of my reach and I worried about more clouds coming to obscure the views. I checked the time and reluctantly decided to wrap up my time on the summit and began to circle back to the main road.
After drinking a bottle of water I had to use the loo and noticed a ridiculous set of port-o-johns lashed to a guard rail with bungy cords. The winds were rocking the entire apparatus and I thought about whipping it out in the open. But what if the gal I had seen suddenly drove past at that moment? The wind was getting more unpredictable sending a hail of sand pepples in my face. What would the wind do if I did whip it out in the open? I pried open a door and it was clean as whistle inside. Of course I thought use these things way up here? A strong gust of wind struck the entire structure as I struggled to keep my footing. I tried to hurry. Why the heck did I drink the entire bottle of water? Just then a terrible thought entered my mind: what if the wind ripped this baby from it's moorings and rolled down the snowy slopes with me inside it? What a mess! If I survived and managed to get out could I make it back up the slope? I might be covered in frozen who-knows-what and would have to drive back to town in fairly horrible shape. Harpers may never trust me with one of their vehicles again, once they could stop laughing.
Back in the truck I sadly made for the exit road stopping to snap another strange scene. Here a million miles from any traffic stood a stop sign floating in space in front of the mammoth facade of distant Mauna Loa and I took my last shot on the summit. I slowly descended the mountain in low gear, applying the brakes at times to slow my decent. Snow disappeared to become rocky terrain and then sporadic plants until finally, golden grassy hills. When I reached the visitor station a police vehicle had to move so I could pass by. He waved and I noticed a sign blocking the way up the mountain that said the road was closed due to inclement weather. In no time I was back at sea level and the tropical climate of Hilo town. I made my rendezvous with long tales of my strange adventure to another planet. A planet called Mauna Kea.
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