When you find yourself in Hawaii for work, hit up Mauna Kea! That's what I did at least. It was my second time ascending this mountain from the visitor station, the first being over ten years ago when I came from sea level. That hike didn't go particularly well, with me running out of steam and taking a nap on a rock halfway up. Fast forward to now, and I live in Colorado at moderate altitude. So I decided to test my mettle on this massive mountain again. Although I wasn't feeling particular energetic on this day, the prior acclimation worked-- I was able to keep a fairly steady pace the whole way up.
It was a gorgeous morning above the fog that lay below, and having a lunch commitment, I started bright and early (7:17am to be precise). I followed the rule of reporting in to mountain staff prior to departure. Fortunately they were not bothered by me going alone and having no help for this unsupported mission. So I handed over my emergency contact form, took a poor selfie at the visitor station, started my watch, and launched off up the road to the Humu'ula trailhead. I carried a handful of gels and hydration fluid, and warm layers in a vest, although I didn't ultimately need all of it. The first two miles are fairly steep, and then it gets a bit easier, relatively speaking. There was quite a headwind for a while. I passed two hikers early on and then saw no one else until I reached the road toward the top. Someone drove by in a Keck Observatory truck, which was exciting because I am an astronomer and I have used those telescopes before! But today I had my runner hat on. I proceeded up the road and located the summit sign, where I took another poor selfie. I continued a little farther to the road split, getting a few more pictures of telescope domes and mountain scenery before turning down to head back.
Things were going well until I approached a boulder that I didn't recognize. On the way up, I had noticed a trail branching off from Lake Waiau and told myself I would not make the mistake of ending up on it. Well, guess what I did!! I forgot to follow the metal stakes that mark the Humu'ula trail, and suddenly I found myself more than a quarter mile off course. To complete a valid FKT route, I then backtracked uphill to the point where I left off. Future runners, don't make my mistake! It cost silly me about seven minutes.
The remainder of the descent was relatively straightforward, although on the steeper and curvy parts my heels began to blister. The more minimalist trail shoes may not have been such a great choice here. As the morning wore on, I passed additional hikers starting their way up. The two whom I had gone by at the beginning were still only a few miles in, and they seemed shocked that I was already coming down. I polished off the trek by jogging down the road back to the visitor station, which was now open for business and entertaining numerous tourists. It was 10:35am and things were started to heat up there at 9,200ft elevation. I stopped my watch at 3:18:01, pleased with this gorgeous jaunt. I'm not sure why the Strava page is showing an elapsed time 4 seconds faster; I never hit the pause button. My uploaded watch data corroborates the 3:18:01, so that is what I'm reporting here.