September, 23, 2001 our destination was the Mauna Kea summit. Our ride from the condo took us to the Mauna Kea Visitor Center. After driving all morning through the rolling hills, covered with brush and red soil we finally arrived at the visitor center around 12:15.

Figure1: At 6852 feet, the base of the summit.

Figure 2: Overlooking the Mauna Kea Visitor Center and base camp at 9000 feet.

Click for Visitor Center homepage

-The visitor center consisted of a nice facility with a reference center, beverages/food, souvenirs, and a video preview and history of the creation of the Mauna Kea star gazing field.

-This is a place for visitors to acclimatize and grab a lunch before heading on a tour of the telescopes on the top of Mauna Kea.

-Also, as seen in Figure 2, the visitor center has a little community for the astronomers and whoever else is employed there. It is a small community like facility. The reason for this establishment is due to the long ride down the mountain to the nearest town.

-After viewing the telescopes on the summit, you can come back here and do some star gazing with some smaller, yet powerful telescopes. It's great viewing here, because when it gets dark, it's get's very dark.