Mauna Loa Climber's Log
|
|
[ Sign the Climber's Log ]
|
| Fletch | observatory trail  Date Climbed: Jul 24, 2012 | |
| pretty good little hike when you're hungover... | |
| Posted Dec 28, 2012 5:03 pm | ||
| utclimber | Observatory Trail Date Climbed: Nov 13, 2012 | |
| Very unique place, with an unbelievably large crater. Round trip time was 5 hours, 10 minutes from the car. | ||
| Posted Dec 3, 2012 10:57 pm | ||
| MikeyB | Observatory Trail Date Climbed: Jul 8, 2011 | |
| Very cool hike over lots of old lava flows. Getting above the clouds was a sureal experience. Had the mountain and route to my self. | |
| Posted Aug 17, 2011 11:21 pm | ||
| Dennis Poulin | Observatory Trail Date Climbed: Dec 6, 2010 | |
| Nice hike. I was alone on the mountain today. It took longer than I thought it would. Lots of rock hopping. Beautiful day. | |
| Posted Dec 18, 2010 8:01 pm | ||
| LakesideHiker | Observatory Trail Date Climbed: Jun 1, 1979 | |
| Left Kona on a Friday night and camped at the Observation Trailhead. Went to the top the next day. Altitude sickness was the order of the day and night. Great view and hike. | |
| Posted Jan 31, 2010 4:46 pm | ||
| Jesus Malverde | Observatory Trail Date Climbed: Dec 16, 2009 | |
| An ono pupu for the the peak bagging g-spot of your soul. Recommend sleeping higher up to acclimatize for this one. I slept at the radio transmitter towers at 8900 feet (more privacy and off the road). Taking 4 liters of water is recommended as well. 7 hours 20 minutes round trip in a bizarre and very interesting place. Enjoy! | |
| Posted Dec 17, 2009 11:07 am | ||
| boisedoc | observatory trail Date Climbed: Mar 27, 2009 | |
| hiked up the lava fields from the Observatory. Pretty barren. Hiked on snow for the last 2.5 miles about 13000 feet, resulting in a sunburn on the back of the knees that I had not expected. Coming up from sea level in one day, this is a good way to see if you are prone to mountain sickness | |
| Posted Mar 31, 2009 10:58 pm | ||
| farrisgl | Camped just below the summit Date Climbed: Aug 10, 1992 | |
| Took the observation trail, camping just below the summit. What a spectacular night view of the star. Appeared so close you could almost touch them. Received light snow in the middle of the night as well. I need to go back some day in the near future and climb via the Mauna Loa Trail and again camp out on or near the summit. I highly recommend this mountain. | |
| Posted Mar 21, 2009 2:46 pm | ||
| Bob Bolton | Mauna Loa Trail Date Climbed: Dec 31, 2008 | |
| During a week of unsettled weather on the Big Island, my buddy Duane and I felt rather lucky to attempt this one when the mountain was bathed in sunshine while Mauna Kea was covered with clouds. The snow line was just below the weather observatory, but we were able to drive all the way to the parking lot. The "trail" lived up to its reputation of being difficult due to the lava, but the snow seemed to make it even more difficult. The GPS guided us to the summit, although it was impossible to tell from the view. It got dark about 30 minutes before we were able to get back to the car, so we had to find it in the dark. Thank goodness for GPS! Tough day! | |
| Posted Jan 2, 2009 1:47 am | ||
| Niederbayer | April 2000 - Mauna Loa Trail | |
| made it to rim of caldera - feels like walking on Mars - no vegetation, no birds or insects, just rocks and no other sound except the wind - unfortunately clouds blocked views | |
| Posted Feb 23, 2007 7:53 pm | ||
| Dan the Jones | Never made it Date Climbed: Jan 23, 2005 | |
| What a geologic feast. Had to turn back due to time restrictions, but want to go again. | |
| Posted Sep 19, 2006 3:41 am | ||
| NanitaD | Trail from the weather observatory Date Climbed: Feb 22, 1998 | |
| Amazing, spectacular and unusual peak. My new tennis shoes were shredded on the sides from the sharp volcanic rocks. | |
| Posted Apr 1, 2006 1:44 pm | ||
| fieldbio | Simple and Sweet | |
| nice hike, amazing landscape | |
| Posted Mar 24, 2006 10:56 pm | ||
| Mountain Jim | Very interesting mountain Date Climbed: Feb 27, 1998 | |
| Via Observatory Trail. From a geology standpoint this is one of the most interesting mountains anywhere ... a raw, unfettered volcanic landscape. | |
| Posted Mar 11, 2006 4:22 am | ||
| Kalama | Red Hill and Observatory January 26th, 2006 Date Climbed: Jan 26, 2006 | |
| First went solo Red Hill route. Raining horizontally + 30 mph wind. Retreated and drove to Observatory route. TONS of snow starting at 12,000 ft. 23 degrees inside summit cabin. Nalgenes frozen in morning. FUN!!! Aloha!! Paul Kaye | |
| Posted Feb 14, 2006 9:15 am | ||
| SkydiveKen | Route Climbed: Observatory trail Date Climbed: December 5,2005 | |
| Sunday morning to the cabin, low water at the hole but clear water in the tank. Awesome sun rise on Monday. Very cold hike to the summit. Gloves and a hat the whole way. This is a very big and lonely place to have all to oneself for two days. I will come back some day to explore the crater and maybe hike all the way arround it. | |
| Posted Dec 7, 2005 2:13 am | ||
| shknbke | Route Climbed: Observatory trail Date Climbed: July 26, 2005 | |
| Took the easy dayhike from the weather observatory at 11K. Distance can be covered quickly, but it takes quite awhile to gain elevation as it is very gradual. A 2.8 mile hike still remains after you reach the rim at ~13K'. The crater is awesome. | |
| Posted Jul 31, 2005 9:36 pm | ||
| nvllified | Route Climbed: The traditional route Date Climbed: October 2003 and 2004 | |
| I've hiked Mouna Loa twice with my father. The first time was our second backpacking trip. It was freezing in the early morning (well, freezing for a person who lives in hawaii) I climbed up read hill the first day in 2003 to take sunrise pictures (it was windy and cold!) perfect weather that trip. The second time we wanted to descend via the Ainapo trail... but at the summit we experiance hail and thunder so we decided to decend a more familiar route. Mouna Loa will always remain my favorite mountain, and my time spent there charished. Mouna Loa has always captivated me as a child... the start of my obsesion of gaining altitude! If you go to hawaii do Mouna Loa and call me! because I want to come too! p.s. For those of you who've done the Mouna Loa aren't those 20 miles from the caldera lip to the cabin the longest twenty miles of your life! (well... 2 miles actually.. for those who've not yet experianced the distortion in time and space) | ||
| Posted Jul 8, 2005 8:29 pm | ||
| SkydiveKen | Route Climbed: Observatory Trail Date Climbed: August 2 2004 | |
| Only went to the cabin. Rained from 3pm til late the next day. Truly an erie expierence in the rain and fog. Shared the cabinthat night with an altitude sick hiker who came in late and soaked to the bone. Talked him into returning with us and gave him a ride around the island to his car. | |
| Posted Jul 4, 2005 1:30 am | ||
| fortaz107 | Route Climbed: Observatory Trail Date Climbed: May 2001 | |
| I'm not one to wear sunscreen but I brought plenty of it as the sun was very strong this time of year and it was cloudless. Otheriwse I would have been burnt to a crisp. Was slow going from the high altitude having been at sea level just a few hours before. It's a pretty barren trail over lava with very little vegetation. The trail pretty much goes straight up from the observatory at 11,000 ft to the summit. I lost the trail at some point just before the summit, but its pretty easy hiking off the trail. Theres a pretty big crater on the top but since the mountain rises so gradually, theres not any view at the top except for Mauna Kea. Im pretty sure I made it to the summit despite losing the trail. I got altitude sickness at the summit but I improved when I eventually found the trail again and started to descend. | ||
| Posted Jun 24, 2005 1:00 pm | ||
|