On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 23:20:19, Tom Keats wrote:
> In article <df8e8[email protected]>,
> Ron Wallenfang <[email protected]> writes:
>> I've now bike in all of the 48 contiguous states and need only to pick
>> up Alaska and Hawaii. I'm considering Hawaii in February, partly in
>> the hope the weather there may possibly be better than in Milwaukee.
>> Besides, it's our anniversary.
>>
>> What island or islands are best for bike riding?
> Ooh! Ooh! I've never been to Hawaii, but if I went
> I'd simply /have/ to visit the Mauna Kea astronomical
> observatories. If it's possible to get up there by
> bike it would add so much value to the experience.
> For the nerd that I can be, it'd be a sort of pilgrimage.
> Oh man, now you've got me thinkin' ...
On Mauna Kea, the road from the visitor's center (~9000') to the
summit (~14000') is not paved. Though altitude sickness is rare,
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/mko/visiting.htm
Stargazing on Mauna Kea was the highlight of our trip out there last
year. The visitor's center has a nightly stargazing program including
some 12" or slightly larger telescopes that are there all the time.
There are also some generous volunteers who bring their own huge
telescopes, including one who claimed that his scope was "better than
the University of Hawaii's scope at the summit." A glance though that
particular viewfinder easily showed deep sky objects, but instead of
looking at a print or a video screen, the multi-million-year-old
photons were actually hitting our retnas directly. Amazing.
For cycling though, I think Maui (up Haleakela or back down it) might
be a better destination.
-alan
--
Alan Hoyle -
[email protected] -
http://www.alanhoyle.com/