Rope Lava

We drove back down the never-ending road, watching the sun set, till we got back to the Saddle Road. Then we went up the road to Mauna Kea. We stopped at the visitor center at 9,300 feet, where they have a bunch of little telescopes for people to look through. We saw Saturn and its rings, but there was a cluster of people waiting to look through the other ones. We also each took a long drink from the water fountains.

Then we continued up the dirt road to the top. It says you have to have a 4WD vehicle to go up, but you don't really. The road to the top is graded and wide, though really washboarded. At the top are the observatories. We admired the stars in the freezing wind and then drove back down.

We stopped in Hilo for supper and got a Big Plate of Chinese short ribs, teriyaki beef, skewered chicken, fried tuna, macaroni salad, and noodles. Berck ate the fish but didn't like anything else.

Then we had the long trip back to our free campsite. Sticky and exhausted, we collapsed onto our bedrolls and went to sleep.