Hawaii Observing Expedition

Part 4

by Jay Reynolds Freeman


THE SADDLE ROAD

The big island of Hawaii is dominated by two massive, 4 Km high volcanos, the long ridge of Mauna Loa to the south and the rounder summit of Mauna Kea to the north. Hawaii state route 200, the "Saddle Road", traverses the broad, 2 Km high saddle between the two great peaks, from Hilo, on the eastern part of the island, to state route 190, near the northwest coast. At milepost 28, 45 Km west of Hilo, begins the side road that leads north and up to the Onizuka Visitor Center, at an elevation of 2.7 Km, and then beyond, to the Mauna Kea summit itself. These are the routes that astronomically minded visitors to the facilities at Mauna Kea must travel on, and there are things that such visitors should know.

These roads are widely reported to be extremely dangerous. Most car rental companies don't want their vehicles up there -- not even on the Saddle Road, much less at higher places -- and will not honor insurance or provide towing for those locations. I rented from what seemed to be the only agency with no such restrictions -- Harper Truck Rental -- and made the round trip from Hilo to the Visitor Center six times. I hope my report will be useful to other travelers, through I hasten to add that I am by no means an expert on any aspect of vehicles, roads, or driving, and that I did *not* travel on the saddle road west of milepost 28, or on the summit-access road above the Visitor Center.

The good news is, that these roads have been improved recently. A local contact reported that as late as 1999, the eastern Saddle Road was in such sad shape as to be virtually a one-lane road; that is, the pavement edges were so worn that drivers tended to straddle the middle. That is not so any longer. In my opinion, as of mid 2000, the entire route from Hilo to milepost 28, and then to the Visitor Center, had paving, condition, and markings that most Americans would call good to excellent. Shoulders were wide and generous between the periphery of Hilo and milepost 19, but narrower thereafter. The asphalt was new and well maintained. The roads had a yellow centerline of reflective paint, with reflective raised dots, for all their length, and had edge markings of similar quality for most of the way. Sharp and unexpected curves and dips, and other hazards, were well marked.

The bad news is, that the road is twisty and in places very steep, it goes quite high, and it is subject to occasional hazardous weather conditions. Persons from areas where two-lane roads are generally straight, or flat, or at low elevation, may find themselves in difficulty. It is good two-lane blacktop, but it is first and foremost a twisty mountain road. Specifically, the hazards include:

  1. Portions of the grade between milepost 28 and the Visitor Center are as steep as seventeen percent. Wimpy cars may have trouble going up such slopes at high elevation. Drivers not familiar with engine braking may burn their brakes out and kill themselves on the way down.

  2. The Saddle Road follows the lay of the land closely, in the manner of a country road built generations ago, with little budget for straightening kinks and dips. Much of the road might appear safe at speeds above the posted 35 and 45 mph, but there are many places where the line of sight suddenly becomes very short, as the road approaches a dip in the landscape or the top of a hill. If you cross the crest at speed and find livestock or a vehicle in the way, you are in difficulty. Similarly, there are many places where a long, straight stretch, that tempts one to high speed, terminates suddenly, in a bend that requires a speed reduction of 20 miles per hour or more. These changes are often unexpected, for the road crosses country that is generally very open and is in great part treeless.

  3. Portions of the road from milepost 28 to the Visitor Center have what mountain drivers euphemistically call "low shoulders". If you somehow find yourself beyond the guard rail, your vehicle may bounce and roll the next thousand feet downward, crumpling all the way.

  4. Portions of the Saddle Road run through lava fields whose upper surface is rough and jagged on a scale from tens of centimeters to several meters, and in general, these portions have no shoulders at all. If you stray even a meter from the edge of the road, your vehicle may suffer immediate and enormous damage to tires and undercarriage.

  5. Many local drivers travel these roads at breakneck speeds.

  6. The Saddle Road is subject to frequent cloud, rain, drizzle, and upslope fog, particularly at night. What is happening is that the trade winds, blowing from the east, lift the hot, wet, oceanic air mass up the shallow slopes of the saddle, and moisture condenses out of it as it rises and cools. The effect strengthens as the night wears on and the compensating heat of the day diminishes.

  7. Higher portions of these roads are subject to snow, ice, and strong winds in winter. I didn't encounter any, but there were plenty of images at the Visitor Center.

  8. Portions of the road travel through open range. Livestock gets on the road occasionally, and some local cattle are uniformly dark in color. The reflective paint and reflective dots give the impression that you can see the road far ahead at night, but a black animal against black asphalt might be very difficult to spot until you were almost on top of it, the more so in fog or rain. Signs at the Visitor Center warn of invisible cows -- that's what they are talking about.

  9. The roads are lonely. A breakdown at night might leave you ten miles from the nearest 'phone and an hour from the next passing car.

West-coast American amateur astronomers may find some comparisons useful: The roads described are generally comparable to, or a little better than, the main road through Lassen National Park (though some portions have narrower shoulders or are steeper than the road through Lassen). The roads described are much wider and lots less twisty than the upper half of the access road from San Juan Bautista, California, to Fremont Peak State Park, or the upper half of the road from Morgan Hill, California, to Henry Coe State Park.

Harper would not rent any lesser conveyance than a four-wheel-drive sport-utility vehicle for access to the mountains. That was overkill: On the basis of experience in the Sierra Nevada, I am sure I could have gotten up and back in my 1989 Geo Metro safely. Yet I would have had to be careful and cautious in the Geo, and would have had to take my time ascending and descending the steeper slopes. Their vehicle was also expensive -- Harper charged $100 a day for a 1999 Isuzu Rodeo, and that did not include gasoline or insurance.

Anyhow, I did not have any trouble with vehicle access to the Visitor Center. I hope my remarks help you have the same experience, but remember -- as I said before -- my remarks do not apply to the Saddle Road west of milepost 28, or to the summit access road above the Visitor Center.

Parts
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1Telescope
2Telescope
3Telescope
4The Road
5Island Aesthetics
6Onizuka Visitor Center
7Preparations
8Observing May 28
9Observing May 29
10Observing May 30
11Observing May 31
12Observing June 1
13Observing June 2
14Summing Up