Mauna Kea Humu'ula Trailhead

Incredible hike, but you must take the altitude seriously. I’m young and in good shape (thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail last year), and this trail was the hardest I’ve done, because of the altitude. I made it to the top, but my head was spinning and my pace ended up being about 1 mph. It’s pretty steep the whole way up. Luckily it runs parallel to the road for most of the time, so you can get off and get help if it gets bad. Make sure you bring enough water for the whole trip; the visitor’s center is the last and only place you can get water. Remember it gets quite cold as you get closer to the top, especially after the sun sets. Definitely check in with the rangers at the visitor’s center before you start. Shout out to Ranger Rob who was super helpful.

This hike was no joke! Beautiful views, but they're always to your back on the way up so I highly recommend stopping frequently to acclimate and take in the views. It's tough, though. First two miles are steep and sandy. The rest is on-and-off steady climb or steep and sandy/rocky. Last mile is on the road shoulder. Take all that into consideration if you plan on hiking back. I personally hitch-hiked back. Side note, it's all exposed to the sun and elements.

Give yourself more than 30 minutes to acclimate to the altitude. We drove from Hilo (59ft above sea level) to the visitor center (9,200) and waited about 1 hr before we started the hike. I still was not feeling great, heart beating like crazy walking extremely slow. Despite that, we made it 2 miles into the trail before I had to call it quits for safety. 95% of the first TWO MILES (that's all I made it to, not sure of the rest) is all SAND. Like, beach sand. Super slippery and your feet/legs have to work 2x as hard to get you the same distance. By time we reached 1.5 miles, I couldn't go 10-15ft without stopping for a breather. Then on the way down I slipped and fell 2x on the slippery sand in my hiking shoes, due to the deep sand and from my legs being so tired. When we got back to the visitor center, the park ranger told us they had to close the road due to extreme winds 55+mph. Very kind and helpful park rangers and staff inside the visitor center. Nothing wrong with the trail and of course, nothing wrong with the mountain. It's just that the altitude makes you feel like you're carrying an extra 100 pounds while trying to walk up a vertical wall. Don't attempt this if you are out of shape and turn around if you start feeling ill. Or just make sure it's not the first long hike of your trip like I did. You've got nothing to prove to the mountain, it will still be there waiting for you after you've done some training/exercise! Also, bring sunscreen, the sun is no joke up there on the trail you will burn like the devil if you're not careful. Mahalo, Mauna Kea, for teaching me my limits and for the beautiful views.

I just finished hiking this on Thursday 7/11/24. The hike itself is absolutely beautiful. For me the hike was fairly easy (I just spent 2 weeks in Cusco Peru hiking the Inca Trail - Altitude was good) but the one thing I did not account for was the wind, the wind for 90 percent of the trek was between 45-52 mph. I have never hiked in that kind of wind before. Another mistake I made was choosing to take the road back the entire time vs going back on the trail. That made the total hike about 15 miles. Other than that so happy I did it, proud of the accomplishment and I highly recommend this. The views are amazing, one thing about taking the road back we saw mountains/views that we would have not seen on the trail!

Not as steep as I thought it would be. A fairly steep, gradual incline. The elevation difference from Kona/Hilo should not be underestimated. Toward the end of the hike, I began to lose my breath very quickly. Otherwise, this one is very doable. Plan on taking 6 to 8 hrs to complete the hike (though I did run into somebody who summitted in 2.5 hours). Note: I wore trail runners (didn't want to pack my hiking boots) and they performed well on this trail.

A nice hike though the landscape doesn't appear particularly diverse or interesting, and the summit area is plastered with observatories, and full of idiots driving up in their cars to slide down the summit slopes on sledge plates. Also, be aware it is a highly regulated environment. No matter your experience and preparation, upon arrival the rangers will tell you what you can and are allowed to do before you even make it to the trail since you of course cannot be trusted to take responsibility for yourself. Also, no hiking after sunset so the only option of seeing the sunset from the summit is finding someone to take you back down in their car. Otherwise you are supposed to be back at the visitor center by 18:00. If you want to avoid all of this, just do Mauna Loa instead. We didn't meet anyone when doing the observatory trail for sunrise.

Nice enough hike but watch out for the creepy silver haired white guy that works in the parking lot area of the visitor center. My wife got real bad vibes off him and she is usually pretty spot on. And he reaked really bad of weed. Not sure what kind of outfit they are running up there, but it is really disrespectful to the Native Hawaiians who consider the land sacred. Do better silver haired man! (and also old lady at the store there who was bossy.). But yeah, nice place to hike. Rather windy though.

Phenomenal - otherworldly 😲💥 magical sunset!!!