//------------------------------//
// Let’s Take Another Hill 
// Story: Royals. Problem? 
// by Split Scimitar 
//------------------------------//

Beating the sunrise by an hour or so, I hop into the bathroom and steam up, knowing that I’ll be fully awake after an extended shower.

When I emerge dressed in a dri-fit top, cargo shorts, crew socks, and newer trainers than my dailies, I don’t expect it, but if we do have to get dirty, and water gets in my shoes, I don’t mind it soaking through to my socks. Sometimes, if it’s hot enough, getting my feet wet helps me cool down.

Nevertheless, I’m dressed and packing two coolers with water. The Range Rover needs petrol, so we can buy some more travel snacks.

Rosalina, Starlight and I climb in to the Jeep after Sol fires up the Range Rover. Just so we’re out of Kona, I get gas at the only petrol station in Captain Cook.

When I top off both cars with high grade, I map out both drives and elect to go to South Point first. Now, the reason the road is forbidden by contracts is for wildlife and condition of the road. Specifically, where the road goes through. It cuts through farmland, and is often single track. One lane, bidirectional traffic, and wildlife grazing in farmland. That’s why I’m having us trek it in a Range Rover. Rosalina, having done the drive herself, still has me lead.

After testing the walkie talkies, we head for South Point. 2 hours’ drive, in the opposite direction of our circumnavigation.

Glad Sol can keep up with us, we reach the turnoff in just under 2 hours. As soon as we leave the road, I announce,

“Keep your eyes out for wildlife and other cars. We’re driving through macadamia nut farmland.”

With that, I put my foot down and scan intently across the road. While not all of it is paved, the path is still considerably beaten. The journey down to the end isn’t that long, but the road is quite a challenge.

When we officially leave the main highway behind, I lower my pace just in case the others fall behind. I imagine our visitors in both vehicles are taking in the scenery, so we can at least afford to take our time. The area is a popular grazing spot, so we could encounter a cow or horse, but nothing so far. From my experiences though, most of the time livestock tend to roam from the mid to late afternoon, and we’re driving through here at like almost 10:00.

After about 45 minutes of blazing in the trail, we can make out the end of the road, marked by a couple of cars parked in a small turnoff obviously meant for doubling back.

I slow down a little more and take the opportunity to take in South Point from a distance. Of course, it’s much prettier from the actual lookout point, and if we had more time, we could trek out beyond to the distant cliffsides, but I’d much rather head to the Mauna Kea observatories and admire the view from up there.

Eventually, we reach the last mile of road, and now I can see the people who came in the cars that beat us to the punch.

We pull in just as they both get into gear, so with a wave and Shaka, we park in the same way they do and breathe.

“Welcome to Ka Lae, the southernmost point in the United States.” I say as we all gather at the end of the turnout. “We made good time down here, so we can stay here for about an hour. I don’t want to go too far off the path, but there isn’t anything else down here other than the marker. The cliffs are steep and go straight down into the ocean, so please mind the edges.”

With that, we all kind of disperse and do our own thing. Celestia and Sol excitedly head for the cliff side so they can see the ocean, Luna and Selena read the information on the marker, Starlight follows the two suns but doesn’t join them, and Rosalina walks with me slowly to our little lookout point on a cliffside just on the other side of the marker.

“This place never fails to amaze me.” I say rhetorically.

“Likewise.”

Eventually, we make sure we can see the others. Both equestrians then return and ask if we can drive all the way down to the physical point, and so, we all pile back in and head onto the traced vehicle paths, paralleling the shoreline, but wary of the steep drop directly into ocean, not that the paths get close anyway, but still.

When we reach the physically marked Ka Lae, evidenced by a small crowd of cars down there, we park off to the side of the paths and take in the view. Beyond us is nothing but open ocean, and what a view it is.

“Remember the first time we came down here?” I ask. “When you still had the Jazz Fit?”

“Yes. That was quite the adventure in that car, especially for a date.”

“Indeed it was. It was probably a good thing you drove. As good a driver I may be, I probably would’ve damaged something.” I half-chuckle.

“Probably not. You would’ve handled it better than me.”

“Honestly, I think I would’ve been too eager to impress.”

“Maybe, but what matters is that we made quite a memory here.”

“Yeah we did.”

As the two of us watch the others take in the view, I make note of the time so I can get us going to Mauna Kea in time for the sunset. Out of respect for natives and in the spirit of the struggle and controversy, I have avoided trekking up there because as I mentioned earlier, the Mauna Kea observatories are built on sacred ground, that ground being protected by the National Historic Preservation Act. However, I can make an exception because we’re planning on watching a sunset, which thankfully is almost directly in time with a moonrise.

After about 20 minutes, the others slowly return after Rosalina and I recreate one of our first photos taken when we became a couple. Since she at the time was a transplant compared to me who was more familiar, she took a photo of me on the beach pointing out in different directions of where to go, as if I was using celestial navigation. It didn’t mean much at the time, and we were on a different island, but I guess this time, it means something different. In any case, I feel like a model again, even subconsciously flaring my chest a little bit to convey a false illusion of confidence and grandeur, but Celestia notices this and laughs as Rosalina takes the pictures.

After I give the photos my seal of approval, we rest down here just because none of us are hungry. However, I’m running low on water, so I check both cars for water and grab a bottle of San Pellegrino Chinotto, a favorite of Rosalina’s.

After I finish that bottle, we slowly make our way out, with Sol and Selena taking some more pictures as we head back to the main road. Since the quickest way to Mauna Kea is via Hilo, we plan to have lunch in town.

When we find parking, we enjoy a nice lunch and waffle a bit, though we didn’t have any to eat. Ideally, we want to time our arrival at the Mauna Kea visitor’s Center off-peak, that way we can do a bus tour before we do our own trek.

We spend some extra time exchanging stories, including one about their own misadventures in Equestria. Though they understand the other’s side, I still get the impression that even though they learned from it, history could still repeat itself. In a sense, old habits die hard, but they don’t mean it.

Nevertheless, we soon make our way back. With 3 hours until sunset, we should be able to do as we please and have some wiggle room.

With Selena and Rosalina at the reigns this time around, it becomes fun, as Selena not only keeps up better than her sister, she tails us.

“Sorry, my sister does this.” Sol then says over the radio as I pick up the pace.

“Better think fast then.” I respond.

Obviously Selena ignores my calls, as we both make our way into the interior valley with the Range Rover hot on our tail.

As we leave the town behind and the road turns rural, Rosalina picks up the pace, and in no time at all, we reach the Mauna Kea turnoff. The road is a long one as it does a fair bit of climbing on a paved road to the visitors center.

Of course, here we can learn about the volcano, talk to some docents, interact with some rudimentary exhibits, and embark on tours of the mountain. Here, I buy 7 tickets for the next available slot, and after one group departs, another one returns. It would seem natural to take the front seats, but instead, the others go for windows. Fortunately, we’re one of two parties onboard, and the happy couple decides to just take the front.

Rosalina sits next to me as we go up the mountain. Since we’ll be taking pretty much the same route, I make note of the general condition of the road using random divots and bends as a form of Braille. Naturally, I say to myself, “no match for the Jeep in 4HI, or the Range Rover in dirt mode.”

Sadly, as we begin the trek up, the bus takes it slow. Agonizingly slow. However, I barely make out the radio signal, “breakdown,” and I just sigh in defeat.

As I make note of the road condition anyway, I take a moment to see if the others are enjoying it here. Looks like they seem to be, even as the road though still paved is in fair/poor condition. Lucky we don’t necessarily have to go off-road, not that I want to anyway out of respect for the native land, even though I’d love to go off and explore, which is permissible, albeit at our own risk.

Since the bus doesn’t leave any roads, when we reach the observatories, we park at one of them, in fact the chosen vista point for Mauna Kea sunsets. The other bus is there, its driver assisting an old, steaming Volvo.

“Nice.”

“Beware of ice.” Our driver says as he opens the doors. “The outside air temperature here is 41°.” (5°C)

All nine of us then take in the view.

“This is gonna look so great when we’re here for the sunset.” I whisper to myself.

“This is the perfect place to stargaze!” Luna exclaims.

“That’s why the observatories were built.” The driver reaffirms her point. “Low light pollution, minimal atmospheric radiation, and dry air make the sky that much more visible astronomically.”

After about 15 minutes, the breakdown is still down, so our bus is used to take the other group down, effectively switching buses. Soon enough, after filling up the radiator with water and discarding what appears to be a broken fan belt, the car gets started and the obviously embarrassed family tips the driver for his help before making their way down the road.

The driver then greets us and opens his bus for boarding. Everyone except for me heads in immediately, as I take in the surroundings. Even in my outfit, I’m not cold, to the complete shock and awe of the others, who ask how I can survive. My answer? Midwestern blood.

When we return to the visitors center, we all use the bathroom and dispose of trash and whatnot before we begin our own trek.

“The hairpin section of the road is actually right by the highest summit. If I can do it properly, we can catch the sunset from the highest point in Hawaii.”

“Can you drive then?” Sol asks me. “I don’t trust myself with such an expensive car on that rocky surface.”

“That’s fine. Anyone want to switch to the Jeep if they don’t want to sit in the middle seat?”

“We can.” Selena vouches for her and her sister. “Gives you an opportunity to talk to the Equestrians.”

“I’m okay with that.”

After adjusting the seat to my position, I fire up the Range Rover and wait for Rosalina. As soon as she pulls up behind us, we head up the access road and for the sunset vista point. From there, we’ll venture off the path and find both the summit and any other places on the mountain to explore. The outside temperature is now 39°F/4°C, with traces of snow, but we’re cold enough where any permafrost should be accumulating.

When we reach the vista point, we stop and get ourselves ready. For Sol and Celestia, I take a picture of them since they see a good opportunity to get a proper Hawaiian sunset while the ball of sun is still visible.

When we leave the main road behind, I keep a map handy with terrain mode on so I can evaluate the potential for a drop-off if we get too close to an edge. The area around Mauna Kea’s highest summit drops right down to the hairpins along the access road, which would look catastrophic if we were in an accident. Fortunately for us, we keep our distance, staying on the North Face and exploring that summit by parking just off site and climbing up to it.

Lake Waiau, a small lake located on the flanks of the volcano is a miracle of nature. Because of the terrain, climate, and general conditions, it shouldn’t exist here but it does. I point it out but the others are too overtaken by the beauty of Hawaii’s highest point, being above most of the weather, literally looking down at a thick cloud layer below us.

“Doesn’t it feel nice to be above the weather?” I quip.

Starlight and Selena chuckle.

“I’ve seen some beautiful sunsets, especially in Canterlot,” Luna begins, “but this is something else.”

“I don’t think it’s fair to compare the phenomenon of an Equestrian sunset or sunrise, since this world does it all on its own.” Her sister responds. “Nevertheless, it is absolutely breathtaking.”

“I’m glad you like it.” I say as we all stand tall in various stances appropriate to the terrain, feeling like a small group of warriors looking ahead to what may face us, even though we’re facing the sunset.

To celebrate the final minutes of visible sun, we all bunch together and kind of huddle together, mostly for warmth, as right about now, the temperature should begin dropping rapidly.

We’re all pretty much standing atop the highest point in Hawaii and the Pacific region. Even though I haven’t known Celestia, Luna, Sol, or Selena for terribly long, somehow in this moment it feels we’ve been friends for a long time, evidenced by Celestia trying to pull us all in and give us a big group hug. If only she had a way to get us all encompassing and under her collective embrace.

Nevertheless, it’s safe to say our day is ending perfectly, seeing our group of seven, huddled together, standing strong against a picture perfect Hawaiian sunset, with the two off-roaders sitting in equally confident positions on the mountainside. At least, I imagine it looks picture perfect in my head.