Sunrise Tour to Mauna Kea Summit

Great place to watch the sunset. But make sure you car have 4x4 vehicle and at least a half tank of fuel. Plan for extra 30 min to acclimate at the visitors center before being allowed to venture to the summit for safety reasons. Stargazing happens at front of the visitors center at 8:15, employees all are very friendly, good placed to buy gifts as well, after sunset weather become cold so please bring warmer clothes. People has options to see sunset at other mountain next to visitor centers as well.

Out of the world. Magical. Highly recommend going cos seeing pictures won't do justice. Mauna Kea sits about the clouds and is truly an amazing place to drive up to. Now some practical tips. 1. You need a 4x4 to go up to summit. 2. Going to summit requires driving on unpaved roads with decent gradient and loose gravel. 3. If you book a rental vehicle, your contract 90% of the time will exclude going to summit. They will tell you don't go there. And that you void any insurance if you do + if the car breaks down, you bear a hefty penalty. 4. But, the implications are only if the car breaks down. If you are a decent driver with not so terrible luck, you can go up. The rangers will waive you off at the visitor center after doing a safety briefing. 5. Again you take a bit of risk here. Also remember - only 4x4. 6. Carry water. And a jacket. It's not windy but can be slightly cold. 7. You can request others for a ride up if you don't have 4x4. Just do the old fashioned hitch a ride sign :) Now once up - you can see the photos!

A surprising little journey that we took to go see this we did have a 4x4 Jeep Wrangler so it did work well the park ranger went over how he wanted you to drive up and down the dirt and very steep climb. The Magnificent telescopes are at the top there is a visitors center at the top but mostly the telescopes were closed during the day the temperature did drop from 80 at the bottom to 50 at the top. They check your brake temperature and recommend you to stop and cool down if you are too hot coming down the hill . Concerning is the fuel make sure you are fueled up past half going up the hill closest station is about 23 miles away. There was two walkers from Montreal that climbed from the check-in station 8 Miles up which took them 4 hours.

Great place to watch the sunset. We were lucky to get an upgrade to a Jeep Compass with our rental, which allowed us to drive all the way to the summit. The road is no problem at all if you know how to manually control an automatic. The guided tours are far too expensive and I definitely wouldn’t recommend them. For stargazing it was way too windy and cold. Haleakalā on Maui was much better, so we didn’t stay for it.

Visiting the summit of Mauna Kea was one of the highlights of our trip and absolutely worth the effort. The views are incredible, and the landscape changes so dramatically as you climb that it genuinely feels like you're driving across another planet. Watching the sunset from above the clouds was unforgettable—it really feels like you're standing on top of the world. A few things I'd recommend knowing before you go: - A 4WD vehicle is required for the summit road. We went in a friend's dual-motor Tesla, and it handled the drive very well. A more rugged vehicle would have probably handled the gravel/washboardy road sections a bit better but we made it 😁) Regenerative braking took most of the load on the way down. Rangers were checking brake temperatures at the bottom of the descent, and ours measured about 70°F, while they mentioned that some vehicles were coming down with brakes over 700°F. They were making some people wait and cool off their cars at the visitor center before continuing down the mountain. - It is definitely cold and windy at the summit, even in the summer. A warm jacket is a must, and a hat isn't a bad idea either. - The altitude is no joke. Even if you normally hike or exercise without difficulty, take it easy when you arrive. I recommend extra time at both the visitor center and the summit to acclimate before sunset. - There are portable restrooms at the summit, which was helpful since I wasn't sure from reading other reviews whether any facilities were available. - They do ask you to leave the summit shortly after sunset. We were able to stay long enough to see the telescopes housing open up and start moving a bit. However, on the drive back down, there are two small parking areas roughly a third of the way back to the visitor center. We stopped there for stargazing and had spectacular views of the night sky. I didn't check the exact elevation, but it was likely still around 12,000 feet, and the stars were absolutely amazing. Overall, this was one of the most memorable experiences we have ever had. If you have the right vehicle, dress warmly, respect the altitude, and take your time, I highly recommend making the trip to the summit.