Day 4 – 14 October 2007
Anna – 16
Operation: Deep Climb participant
Well I woke up and finished the last few things that I needed to do to be ready to leave and then joined the rest of my team for breakfast. We loaded up and headed out for some of the exquisite Hawaiian coastline. Once we arrived we headed down to where there was a better view and the first part of the trip was filmed. None of it was scripted; the only thing that the camera guys asked of us was to stand a certain way so everyone would be in the shot. I knew that I should enjoy the ocean and waves while I could, because for the next few days all I would be seeing are rocks and trees.
Bebe, our Hawaiian guide, told us some Hawaiian folklore about a Hawaiian plant and Madame Pele, who apparently is a goddess that is in charge of Mauna Kea. After the stop at the water, we were taken to where we would start the climb. The eight of us kids were split into two teams. Collin was the leader of the team I was in; also with us were Mack and Savannah. Santannah was the leader of the other group and David, Andrew and Evan were with her. The hike had only been under way for a short time before my shoulders hurt and I craved a break. I kept this to myself for a few reasons, I didn’t want others in my group to know that I wanted a break because maybe they would want to stop, and I wanted to push through it. I also kept silent because once you give in and stop the first time, the easier it is to let yourself stop again. Lastly, if we took too many breaks we were never going to obtain our goal for today.
Many things were used to pass the time but mostly thoughts of Disney World and food helped keep our mind off of the negative sides of the hike. We mostly hiked through rain forest today. Our team started to fall too far behind Santannah’s team so we decided to slow our pace and compensate for our slower pace by taking less breaks. Collin was a great leader because he would set a goal for how long we would hike before we could take a break. Once we had been working like this for a little while, it didn’t take long before we passed the other team. In the last leg of the hike for today the scenery changed to more of a hilly, grassy farmland. The team I was in reached the camp first, which was at 5,100 feet (1,555 m) of elevation. We stayed in an old cabin, but don’t be confused, we are still “roughing it,” – there were not many luxuries like running water, electricity or heat. Tonight we ate outside and could see the stars, it was quite cold once the sun went down but at least we had hot meals, thank goodness for MREs (meals ready to eat). One day down three more to go.
Savannah – 14
Operation: Deep Climb participant
We woke up early the next morning and loaded the vans quickly. The vans would be taking us to the very base of Mauna Kea where our journey begins. We went from the shore of the bottom and we were off. At first we all had a good pace and it wasn’t so bad but then the sun started to beat down on us and the elevation was kicking in. This took a toll on the groups and we slowed down a lot. We weren’t getting far enough fast enough. The groups had a talk about pace and we changed it to a more doable pace. This helped our progress out a lot. We were able to reach the cabin before the sun set. Now the word cabin is too nice for where we stayed. The beds literally had a frame and an inch thick mattress. There was no electricity which meant no heat. We tried to stay warm as best as we could and rest for the next day.
Your site has a bunch of great info in it, I check back every few hours. I wish other sites spent as much effort as this one does making info to the point to viewers like me. I recommend this post to all of my facebook friends.