Big Island Hawaii

Ranch Land on North Side

Waterfall on West Side

 The Big Island is one of the most diverse island you will ever find. The east side is the dry side and gets an average of 12 inches a year while on the west side Hilo gets around 157 inches of rain. The north side has a lot of green ranch land. Even ancient craters are covered with green grass. The south side is dominated by the volcano and lava flows.

  The island is composed of two Volcanos. Mauna Kea on the north side is 13,796 feet tall and last erupted in 2460 BC. The active Volcano is Mauna Loa on the south side which is 13,678 feet high

Abandoned Resort

 This resort at the black sand beach in Punaluu was destroyed by a tsunami in 1975.

Black Sand Beach

Looking across Pond to Black sand Beach

 At the south end of the island there is a black sand beach which once had a large resort on this fish pond. The resort was damaged in a tsunami in 1975 and only ruins remain.

Road to Mauna Kea

Looking Back to the Saddle Road between the two Volcanos

Near the Top

Two of the several telescopes on the Summit

 From sea level in Hilo it is only a couple hours to you reach the top of Mauna Kea at 13,796. On jeep trails in Colorado we routinely go over 13,000 feet but there we never start from sea level. The last 9 miles or so are dirt and 4WD is advised but the little rental car did fine going up. Unfortunately it would not shift into a lower gear going down making for a slow trip and hot brakes going down.

More from the Red Road

  There are Several Tree Tunnels along the Red Road

Thermal Hot Pool at Oceans Edge

Painted Church near end of Road

The scenery and vegetation makes the Red Road one of my favorite drives. There is also a park with a large hot pool. Some of the ocean waves break into the pool keeping it from being too hot. The Painted Church is near the end of the road where it had been moved too to avoid flowing lava in 1990.

The Red Road

 South of Hilo there is a great drive along the coast. It is or was called the Red Road as one time it was paved with red cinders but now it has been blacktopped. These two photos were at sunrise.