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This a photo tour of the drive from the Hilo side of the Big Island to the Kona side on Saddle road (Hwy 200). It included a side trip to the Mauna Kea visitor's center, which is 6 miles from Saddle road. The road had portions under construction and was surprisingly bumpy with many large pot holes; definitely not a trip for a Ford sedan. It was lucky there was no bad weather or fog on the journey. During bad weather or heavy cloud cover visibility can be close to zero.
Since taking these pictures we drove up Saddle road from the Hilo side to the Mauna Kea visitors center turn off. The road construction is coming along well. At mile 18 there is a chunk of pavement being paved but they are working diligently on it. The rest of the road is in great shape.
The pictures are segmented into three sections:
Saddle Road from Hilo to Mauna Kea Visitor Center Cutoff
Saddle Road starts at Komohana and Puainako Street (you don't have to get to Saddle Road via Kaumana Drive even though maps and Google show it). Puainako jogs to the right at Komohana where Saddle Road begins. There were sections of the road that were unpaved and huge potholes near the construction areas.
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Road from Mauna Kea Visitor's center to Saddle Road
The road from Saddle Road to the Visitors center is at the 28 mile marker where there is a road to the right and a sign that says Mauna Kea Access Road. The visitors center is 6 miles up a relatively steep road to the center at 9000 feet. At the bottom of the road, on Saddle road there is a lone emergency telephone. These photos start at the Visitors Center on a day when the weather on Mauna Kea has shut down traffic to and from the telescopes.
View of housing for visiting scientists from Visitors center
Parking lot of Visitors center
Visitors center
Bathroom in Visitors Center - uses filtered lights
Road Barricade due to ice and snow on Mauna Kea
Campground near Visitors Center
Road from Visitors Center back to Saddle Road driven in the lowest gear going about 20mph max (17% grade)
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Saddle road from visitor's center cutoff toward Kona
Past the Mauna Kea Access Road on the Kona side there is a camp ground and military base, Camp Pohakuloa. The road goes by Bradshaw Army Airfield at 6200 feet which has a large air traffic control tower. The road from the Mauna Kea Access Road toward Kona has huge potholes and many bridges that are single lane. Trucks drive in the middle of the lane to dodge the holes and the messy road sides. The road gets better once you near Waimea and start seeing cows. The pictures start near the access road to Mauna Kea and head down the hill toward Waimea.
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Copyright 2008
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