The Big Island is home to the best stargazing in the world. We share how to plan your trip to experience it for yourself without breaking the budget to pay for a guided tour
step 5 is the most important there are dark sky spots threw out the USA the closest one to the city you live in is monument rock in Kansas. Also, it is pretty cool when you are stargazing around ten pm and you can still see the glow of the sun. Also if you like star gazing you may want to go see the northern lights
How long did it take you to hike from the visitor center to the summit? How much of it did you have to hike back in the dark since you left after the sunset? This is exactly what we want to do when we go!
It depends on the day! There is a ton of space to spread out. If you are more astrologically inclined, I’m sure a telescope would be cool, but as our video shows, we just used an app and looked up. Since it’s so dark, the stars are very bright on a clear night!
Which peak did you drive up to? Is there any way you can share where do we need to drive up to from the visitor centre if not to the summit? Because I imagine you can't see many stars from the visitor centre because of the lights.
Thanks for sharing! I am planning to visit in later December. Is it recommended to starglaze and stay in the car overnight at the visitor center? Sounds like its going to be super cold at night. Not sure if it's a good idea to drive 2 hours back to my hotel at like 9 or 10 pm in the dark?
I don’t know how they feel about sleeping in the parking lot. We just drove back to our condo and it wasn’t a dangerous drive. The road to the visitor center is wide and Hawaii roads are really easy to drive at night.
thanks for sharing your experience! i saw some websites and another video say that you have to leave 30 minutes after the sunset, but it looks like you were able to stay to stargaze. so was it allowed? did the rangers monitor the visitors?
If you drive up to the summit (which requires 4WD), you’re supposed to head back down to the visitor center within 30 mins of the sunset. You’re able to stay around there as long as you’d like. The summit is over 13,000 feet while the visitor center I believe is in the 9,000-10,000 range. Supposedly the stargazing is actually better from around the visitor center, but not quite sure how that works!
@@travelwithateam2237 what month did you star gaze and also, how far did you go “up the hill” to catch the sunset? I will be planning a trip there in June. Hoping for good weather and great views.
@@renakam6067 We were there in January. The hill we went up was across the street from the visitor center and we went to the top. It’s not a massive hill, but it was good enough to get away from pretty much everybody!
I’m going on a family trip with elders and infant, do you think I can leave them at the visitor center and make my way to the summit and come back down to pick them up? It’s an hour and a half drive from the center to the peak?
As long as you leave them with everything they need, they should be fine. When we were there in 2021, the actual center wasn’t open. Keep in mind, you are required to have 4 wheel drive to to up to the summit. We didn’t go because we didn’t have a car with 4 wheel drive so I’m not sure how long it takes to get to the summit.
Hi did you head up from Kona or Hilo side, and does that matter?.. I'm scared of darkness and fog on the way back down, but it sounds like it's not as treacherous as I think. We need to drive back to Kona afterwards.
We were staying in Kona. The roads on the island are incredibly well lit- we felt better driving them at night than we do at home. It’s really nothing to worry about at all.
Some have stated that 4 wheel drive vehicles are recommended for the drive up the mountain. Do you think a 2 wheel drive van would have any problems driving up there?
You can drive up to the visitor center ~9,600 feet with 2WD without any issues. To go all the way to the summit, they actually have a checkpoint of sorts and you’re required to have 4WD to go the rest of the way to the summit! I’m not sure how it’s enforced exactly, but from what we read it’s not worth the risk
We admit we aren’t great at getting all the words out right and we genuinely thought we were pronouncing it correctly. We don’t mean to offend anyone with mispronunciations!
@@travelwithateam2237 These are just casually made comments. It's not a big deal. More importantly, we appreciate you sharing your experiences. In fact, we're now enjoying our third day on the Big Island!
