Big Island - Snow and lava in Hawaii

Note: From all 13 clime zones on the Glob, in Hawaii you will find 10. Therefore, it is not surprisingly to find the oddest combination of natural phenomena.

We went to Big Island, how is called the largest island of the Hawaiian archipelago, with the wild goal of playing in the snow. Yes, snow! Even if we were a bit over the tropics, I wanted one thing, and one thing only: to go up on Mauna Kea, the highest mountain in the world (10,203m) – height measured from the floor of the Pacific Ocean (from see level has only 4,207m).

We've got a monster Chevy Silverado truck, because it is allowed to drive up to the summit only in a 4x4 wheel drive. We passed the base of the mountain, actually a dormant volcano, therefore formed only from volcanic rock, which gives it an out of this world landscape. We stopped at the Visitors Center to get used with the altitude, and after an hour we started the trip to the summit, to the snow! It is amazing!! to sit in freezing cold, to get cold fingers instantly and to smile at the snowwoman (it had a hula grass skirt!)... On top, among the 11 astronomical observatories and hi-tech telescopes, we saw da boyz sliding through the snow on boogie boards (reminder that we are still in Hawaii!), but also snowboarding on last generation gear as they would do in the Alps. WOW! I was speechless.

The second day we dedicated it to the volcanoes. Another paradox, perfectly explicable from a scientific point of view: Mauna Loa (the long mountain) boils – on this mountain you find Kilauea, the most active volcano in the world, that flows (does not erupt!) lava continuously for 25 years, and next to it you find Mauna Kea (the white mountain) – volcano as well, but with snow on top well more than half of the year, every year. Over Kilauea we flew with a 4 seats airplane (oddly offer enough comfort), which took us over the lava rivers – small, because the volcano was taking a break that time, but we saw them!!! The pictures that I finally took represent just a second of my amazement when I did not know what to do first: stare, take a picture, or just faint of emotions. Excellent!

Going up on Kilauea, first you stop close to the top where steam gets out of the ground. The phenomenon gives you chills on any level, giving the fact that you sit on a ground that's boiling... Then you see the three craters one born from the other. On the summit you discover Hale‘mau’mau, the smallest crater, the house of Pele the goddess of lava and fire, fumigating gasses. It looks like the atomic "mushroom" and emanates sulfur in the air...

Next day we flew to Maui. As soon as we went on top of the clouds we saw a landscape I never imagined: on both tops of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, among the clouds, both crests had SNOW.

Unbelievable! On one side Mauna Loa is flowing lava, fire and boils, and a bit more up it freezes...

Only in Hawaii?...