1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die (106 page)

At Bay View Farm, a worker dries coffee beans in the Kona sun.

Where the Hawaiian Gods Dwell

Mauna Kea, Big Island, Hawaii

To the ancient Hawaiians, the snow-covered summit of Mauna Kea (“White Mountain”) was where the gods lived. To astronomers, the 13,796-foot mountain, with its close-to-the-equator location and
unusually clear, pollution-free skies, is the best place on Earth to see the stars. It’s the world’s tallest mountain when measured from its base on the sea floor, and its peak is home to the world’s largest telescope—but even naked-eye stargazing here is fantastic.

With a 4WD vehicle, it’s possible to drive from sea level up to the top in a few hours. Call the local weather service first: It’s not unusual to have sunny, 80-degree weather at the beach while it’s windy, snowing, and 50 degrees cooler 14,000 feet up. Pack some warm gear and a picnic dinner, and watch out for signs of altitude sickness, which is common. The steady climb takes you by the rolling pasture-land of Parker Ranch (see p. 941), up the Saddle Road and through lava fields that resemble a desolate moonscape. At 9,200 feet is the Onizuka Visitor Center, named in memory of Hawaii’s fallen astronaut, Ellison Onizuka, who died in the 1986 explosion of the space shuttle
Challenger.
The center offers telescopes, lectures, and terrific educational exhibits. (Plus, it’s an ideal spot to stop and acclimate to the altitude before pressing onward.) On weekends the center offers free 4-hour tours that take you through an observatory at the summit. You can also stargaze on your own every night, using the center’s telescopes, following a lecture and Q&A session.

It’s a mere 6 miles from the center to the top, but with an elevation gain of 5,000 feet, it takes about 30 to 45 minutes in low gear, engine whining all the way. Arrive at the summit before sunset to wander around the colony of observatories, where 11 nations have set up 13 of the world’s most sophisticated telescopes for deep space exploration.

Mauna Kea’s elevation and location offer over 300 clear stargazing nights per year.

W
HERE
: 70 miles east of Kailua-Kona.
Visitor info:
Tel 808-961-2180;
www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/vis
.
When:
summit tours Sat–Sun.
H
OW
: Mauna Kea Summit Adventures, tel 888-322-2366 or 808-322-2366;
www.maunakea.com
. 8-hour guided tour in a 4WD van.
Cost:
$185, includes use of Celestron telescopes and dinner.
B
EST TIMES
: Avoid Nov–Mar, when inclement weather can shut down the Summit Road.

Temple of Human Sacrifice

North Kohala, Big Island, Hawaii

According to Hawaiian legend, from sunset to sunrise one night 1,500 years ago, some 18,000
po’e li’ili’i
(“little people”) passed huge stones in a 14-mile line from the Pololu Valley to a wind-pummeled hilltop on
the Kohala Coast. They stacked the stones around a 250-by-125-foot area, which became the Mo’okini Heiau, a sacrificial temple, a National Historic Landmark, and Hawaii’s greatest sacred site. Enclosed by sturdy walls—raised by later additions to as high as 30 feet—the temple was dedicated to the war god Ku and reserved for the island’s
ali’i nui,
or ruling chiefs, for prayer, fasting, and human sacrifices on a stone altar.

Many Hawaiians still give a wide berth to the macabre mysticism of the place, which
was off-limits to commoners until the current
kahuna nui
(high priestess), Momi Mo’okini Lum, lifted the restriction in 1978; she rededicated the temple to the children of the world, as a place where they can learn the values and traditions of the Hawaiian people. On the third Saturday of each month, Lum narrates an oral history as visitors spruce up the grounds. (Bring a homemade lei as an offering if you want to see the inside of the temple.) Some who journey to this revered spot admit to feeling an inexplicable, ethereal presence, and being near the altar is said to stir even the most unflappable visitor.

For many people, a visit to Mo’okini Luakini Heiau is a deeply spiritual experience.

Just 1,000 yards from Mo’okini Heiau is the birthplace of Kamehameha I, the great warrior-king, who unified the Hawaiian archipelago into the Kingdom of Hawaii early in the 19th century. According to legend, he was born in 1758, under Halley’s Comet (the local ruler at the time, Alapa’i, had been warned by one of his
kahuna
—priests—that a fiery celestial light would signal the coming of a “chief killer”) and was taken to Mo’okini Heiau for his birth rituals. He continued to worship there until rebuilding the temple of Pu’ukohola Heiau, near Kawaihae (see p. 935); the two powerful temples were the spiritual base for his fight to unite the isles.

W
HERE
: about 50 miles from KailuaKona. Tel 808-373-8000.
W
HEN
: 3rd Sat of each month.
B
EST TIME
: Nov for Children’s Day, when hundreds of schoolchildren come to learn about Hawaiian culture.

Rock Art of Ages

Big Island, Hawaii

For a taste of the mysteries of Hawaii’s past, pack your sense of awe and head for the seemingly desolate lava field just north of the Mauna Lani Resort as the sun is waning and the shadows are long. There along the
Ka’eo Trail, incised drawings cover the rust-colored lava as far as the eye can see—some 3,000 of them, the highest concentration of petroglyphs in the state and among the highest in the world. Who made them and what they mean are unknown: They may be records of history and legend, artworks, or boundary markers. Some historians and archaeologists claim the petroglyphs were the focus of ritual and ceremonial activities, while others argue they were cues for storytellers, but the drawings themselves offer nothing more than their simple and enigmatic forms.

Of the numerous petroglyph sites on the Big Island, Puako is distinguished by the variety of the carvings, which include basic T figures, with vertical lines for torsos and horizontals for arms; more elaborate family groups clearly depicting men, women, and children; people of high rank; a fisherman catching a fish; as well as dogs, turtles, canoes, fish hooks, and fertility symbols.
Small wonder that experts are so divided over the meaning and origins. By contrast, other petroglyph sites are devoted to specific subjects: A site near the Kings Shops in the nearby Waikoloa Resort, for example, is devoted especially to birthing symbols, while one near Kona Village Resort in Kaupulehu features voyaging symbols, including sails, kites, figures with fishing lines and hooks, and transformational figures combining human and animal forms.

One thing we do know about the petroglyphs is that there are many threats to their continued existence: natural forces, from wind and rain to fire, floods, and lava flows; plants such as kiawe trees that can lift rocks and destroy the carvings; and of course man. Taking rubbings or moldings of the petroglyphs was once considered harmless, but now it’s emphatically discouraged. Today, the only way to capture a petroglyph is with a camera.

Human figures are among the many symbols found in the Puako Petroglyphs.

P
UAKO
P
ETROGLYPHS
: 30 miles north of Kailua-Kona, off Hwy. 19.
W
AIKOLOA
P
ETROGLYPHS
: Waikoloa. Tel 808-886-8811.
When:
guided tours, Tues–Sat.
K
AUPULEHU
P
ETROGLYPHS
: Kona Village Resort. Tel 808-325-5555.
When:
tours by appointment.
B
EST TIMES
: early morning or late afternoon, when the low sun heightens the contrast between carvings and lava surface.

Of Discovery, Death, and Dolphins

South Kona, Big Island, Hawaii

On January 19, 1778, two “floating islands” filled with
haole
(foreigners) sailed into Hawaii, changing it forever. They were HMS
Resolution
and HMS
Discovery,
and the man at the helm was 50-year-old
Captain James Cook, the first European to chart much of the Pacific. The following winter, Cook sailed from Kauai down the Hawaiian island chain and anchored at Kealakekua Bay, on the southern Kona Coast of the Big Island. Here he was greeted by thousands of islanders, who lined the shore and paddled up to his ships in canoes.

Ancient chants had foretold the coming of the god Lono, and many historians believe that Cook was honored as a deity. He arrived during the annual celebration of Makahiki, a post-harvest thanksgiving season in Lono’s honor, and was welcomed. Cook set sail in early February but was forced to return a week later when a ship’s mast broke in stormy seas. The timing couldn’t have been worse: The peaceful season of Lono had passed, and it was now the season of the war god Ku. The Hawaiians had already supplied Cook with much of their harvest, and relations soured. The theft of one of the boats led to a skirmish, in which the great navigator was struck on the back of the head and killed. In 1874, Cook’s countrymen erected a 27-foot white obelisk at the northern end of the bay, on a small patch of land that remains British-owned. You can get to it via a rugged 2.5 mile trail from Napo’opo’o Road, or more easily by boat from across the bay.

Today, it’s not Cook’s legacy that brings most visitors here, but rather the teeming life in Kealakekua Bay’s underwater park and marine preserve, one of Hawaii’s best snorkeling and diving locations. It’s home to abundant populations of tropical fish, coral reefs, sea turtles, octopus, and visiting spinner dolphins that lend a magical note. Calm conditions prevail all but a few days out of the year, and the turquoise water is warm and clear, with visibility up to 100 feet.