Maunakea
At 13,796ft in the air, you are above 40% of the atmosphere and 90% of its water vapor – apparently perfect conditions for growing the giant mushroom-like…
Saddle Road
You won't find much on the grassy lava-strewn plains between the massive shoulders of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, except for overwhelming scenery and an acute sense of your own insignificance.
Attractions
Must-see attractions
Maunakea
On an island with a conspicuous dearth of surface water, tiny Lake Waiʻau's existence on a porous lava mountain is something of an enigma. Hawaiian…
Maunakea
Quarries scattered over 7.5 sq miles produced tons of exceptionally dense and fine-grained basalt (dubbed Hawaiʻiite) used to make a tool similar to an ax…
Maunakea
When it came online in 1999, Japan's 26.9ft Subaru Telescope was the most expensive observatory ever constructed. The 22-ton mirror is one of the largest…
Maunakea
Mirrors larger than 26.2ft are so heavy that gravity distorts them as they move. Keck's breakthrough design overcame that limitation in 1993 by using a…
Gilbert Kahele Recreation Area
Saddle Road
The only public facilities along Saddle Road make for an altogether pleasant stop. Clean restrooms and a playground with plenty of ropes to climb mean it…
Saddle Road
The weather measurements made here are so sensitive that when the observatory was built in 1956 scientists asked the national park to ban stoves at the…
Thirty Meter Telescope (planned)
Maunakea
Walk behind the Keck Twins and look northwest and you'll see...nothing. Down there is the ideal location for the TMT, which supersizes Keck's many-small…
Guidebooks
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