A few weeks ago, I went on a trip to Big Island with a group of Hawaii photographers.

One of the photographers in our group, Dallas Nagata White, organized a private tour for us from the good folks at Kalapana Cultural Tours.

For the last couple months on the Big Island of Hawaii, the lava has been flowing into the ocean providing some unreal views.

This was the second day of our short trip to Big Island. On the first, we spent the night before braving freezing cold temperatures some 10,000 feet above sea level stargazing on Mauna Kea. On this evening we would be standing next to scorching hot Hawaii lava trying to keep our shoes from melting.

There are very few places on Earth where you can see lava in person. And even fewer where you can walk right up to it. Kalapana on the Big Island of Hawaii is the safest and easiest to access of these locations.

Remember though that no one is entitled to see lava when they come here. The location of the lava flow and amount of visible lava changes daily. If you do get to see flowing lava, you should consider yourself pretty lucky. You can however get an idea of how much lava there is by checking out the Hawaii lava status report on the Kalapana Cultural Tours Blog.

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I recently went on a short trip to the Big Island with a group of Hawaii photographers (Tom Anderson, John Hook, Samantha Hook, Dallas Nagata White and Ed White). The weather was cold and rainy on Oahu, so on a whim, we decided to fly out to Big Island for the weekend to shoot some landscapes. The weather forecast was looking better there.

The flight was nice and empty.

We arrived in Kona on a Friday night, checked in to our condo rental, got bundled up, and drove out to Mauna Kea. The important part of that last sentence is “got bundled up.” When you go to Mauna Kea, wear a lot of layers. Dress like you’re going snowboarding. Especially at night.

The drive to the summit of Mauna Kea from Kona should take about two hours. You don’t need to go all the way to the top though for stargazing.

On the way up, we took a few breaks to take photos of things. And wizz.

I’ve never seen that many stars before.

When you go stargazing, you want to be in as dark an environment as possible. That’s why a remote place like Mauna Kea is so great. For one, the Big Island doesn’t have much city lights. And for two, the summit of Mauna Kea is 13,803 feet above sea level. Even if you’re not at the summit, you’re going to be way up there.

But remember this too, the moon is bright and will wash out stars. Make sure you find out when the moon rises and time your stargazing accordingly. We drove up in time to get maybe 30 minutes of stargazing and then catch the moonrise.

Just like how sunrises are stunning, so are moonrises. They can even take on a golden hue if you are in a dark enough environment. We saw the glow as it started to rise above the clouds.

When it rose, the moon was super bright. It wasn’t even a full moon on this day either.

We drove further up the mountain to get a better look.

The moon lit up the rolling clouds below us.

Clouds looks o fluffy when you see them from up above.

Looking south we could see Mauna Loa peeking above the clouds.

I should remind you now, that it was FREEZING up here. I think we spent close to an hour stargazing and moon watching. After just ten minutes or so I couldn’t feel the tips of my fingers which meant I couldn’t feel the buttons on my camera. So it turned out that fingerless gloves, as cool as they looked on me, were not the call for this night of stargazing on Mauna Kea. Dress warm and bring real gloves.

I know this looks dubious but it’s not. As we drove down the mountain, John pulled over to inspect this road kill (we did not hit it.).

John an Tom got closer to figure out what it was. Turns out it was a sheep.

And then an epic selfie was created. Which, if you want to see it, came out like this.

Being that we were all here on a mission to shoot landscapes, we turned our attention to the road and noticed this view.

When we got back to Kona we unpacked our gear. John Hook and Dallas Nagata White are professional photographers on Oahu (I am a total amateur) so I was interested in learning how they travel.

We filled up all the sockets with battery chargers.

Tom got to selecting and editing a photo.

Dallas and I checked out what he was working on. Tom only recently discovered a passion for photography. But he shoots everyday and his pictures are ridiculously good. He tries to post a photo a day on his Instagram account Instagram.com/myspacetom.

On this night we all got to gather around his laptop and give our unsolicited advice on how he should post process his photo.

Ed (Dallas’s husband) shoots with a dSLR but has become more interested in taking photos with his phone. His goal is to prove that it not the camera that takes good photos. Have a look at his photos (Instagram.com/spyhi) and you’ll see what he can do with that thing.

The next morning we woke up and found that our view from the lanai was amazing.

We were about to start day two of our Big Island photo adventure which would involve lava.

Photos from day two coming soon…

See also:

• I did an profile on John Hook in June of last year: John Hook Photography.
• John’s website: handsomeunicorn.tumblr.com
• Dallas’s website: www.dallasnagatawhite.com
• Tom on Facebook: www.facebook.com/myspacetom

On our third day of the backpacking trip we said goodbye to Waimanu Valley.

We made our way back to Waipio Valley on the Muliwai Trail.

The return hike, in my opinion is much harder than the hike in. The section of the Muliwai Trail that takes you out of the valley is steeper and more rugged than the Z-Trail. It’s a serious thigh burner and cardio killer. By the time you get to the top of it you’re pretty tired and you still have 8 more miles to go.

But, that might just be me. Now that I think of it, most of the group powered through the hike and looked pretty fresh-faced afterwards. So, your experience may be much different than mine.

Getting out of Waimanu Valley involved a bit more effort than just the hike though. First, we had to cross a stream that had grown significantly from heavy rain the night before.

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By David,
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* * *

We came back from Waimanu with a lot of footage. For a couple of weeks after the trip, you would see videos come out one by one. Each person captured the trip in a different way.

We produced four videos in total, all with a different vibe.

The Waimanu Series

This is the final post in a five-part series on Waimanu. See more:

• PART 1: Waimanu Valley via the Muliwai Trail
• PART 2: Waimanu Valley Waterfalls
• PART 3: Waimanu Valley Camping
  
• PART 4: Waimanu Valley to Waipio Valley
  

Shelter.

The beach.

Fishing.

Eating.

There are 9 campsites in Waimanu Valley. They sit just off a beautiful black sand beach that spans the opening of the valley. Rock walls (about a couple feet high) outline each site.

Camping in Waimanu Valley is different for everyone. Your experience all depends on what you bring. Those that kayak over will have much more luxuries than backpackers. But even if you backpack to Waimanu Valley like we did, I’d encourage you to bring some treats for yourself. It’s well worth the extra weight in your pack.

In this post I’ll show you what you can see and do around the campsites in Waimanu Valley.

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On the second day of our backpacking trip to Waimanu Valley, we set off to check out some waterfalls. We found two.

Wai’ilikahi Falls, with its enormous swimming pool.

And Kaka’auki Falls, with a smaller enclosed pool.

All of the falls in Waimanu Valley are huge as they start a couple thousand feet up from the top of the valley walls. Some are broken up into multiple drops however, so you can’t always see the full height. If you stick to the West valley wall, you should theoretically hit four main falls, in this order: Wai’ilikahi Falls, Kaka’auki Falls, Lahomene Falls and then Waihulu Falls. (See details on the World Waterfall Database.)

But finding the falls past Wai’ilikahi Falls could be a challenge. Once you get past Wai’ilikai Falls, the trail gets faint and is very poorly marked. Some of the trails we followed may have even been pig trails. If you have time and determination though, you may be able to see them all. Just be prepared for some rugged hiking and have enough food and drink in case you get lost.

If nothing else though, you must go to the very accessible Wai’ilikahi Falls. It’s amazing.

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