Keanakolu Cabin

Keanakolu Cabin

Four boys all born within a couple of weeks of each other is not that a big a deal, except if they are all friends, go to the same school and have parents who are tired of putting on two weekends of conflicting birthday parties that not all of them can attend. So Vivian, mother of number one b-day boy Conner, suggested we head up to the Keanakolu Cabins high up on the slopes of Mauna Kea Mountain.
 There we would have a general celebration of all the boys birthdays on one evening and that would be the end of it till the next year.

The only downside is that the location of our celebrations are a couple of old cattle ranch hand cabins at the 7'000 foot level on the North Hilo side of the tallest mountain in the Pacific Ocean. To get to the cabins you have to endure a twenty five mile rough four wheel drive along the Mana Road outside Waimea to Keanakolu. When  we left the road in Waimea the clouds were dark, the road covered in mist. For over an hour we crept along a red dirt road seeing nothing but grey wetness all around us. Deep in the clouds we drove on not seeing more than ten feet beyond the Excursions windows.
Suddenly, we burst out into the sunshine and found ourselves surrounded by cows. The boys being boys asked if they could jump out and chase the cows..."Sure, go to it..." I said.

We gladly pulled over after driving in near zero zero visibility wet clouds for over an hour and the boys jumped out and had a great time chasing future hamburgers about the mountainside.  Every once in a while when you are feeling philosophical you think about how you live on a relatively small hunk of land sitting dead center in the middle of the largest ocean on our planet and you get the heebie jeebies thinking there are no continents nearby to drive to should things go badly.  The feeling of complete isolation is multiplied when you find yourself with and responsible for  a bunch of teenage boys at 7'000 feet above the sea and hours away from any type of help high on the slopes of a huge mountain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

We pulled over after driving in near zero zero visibility wet clouds for over an hour and the boys jumped out and had a great time chasing future hamburgers about the mountainside. 

Before we climbed back in the truck and headed for the cabins the boys performed some sort of cow dance...I have no idea what that was about and probably should just delete it, but what what the heck.

We arrived at the cabins shortly before sunset and the temperature had already dropped twenty degrees.

I believe the cabins were built as bunk houses for cowboys minding the herds of Parker Ranch cattle on the slopes of Mauna Kea. Very much no frills accommodations, no power or drinking water and raunchy old stained mattresses are about all you get. Not exactly the Four Seasons, but you can't argue with the price.

While Conner and the boys got to work getting the fire pit going outside, Cody took charge of getting the fire going inside the cabin. A job done well resulting in a warm room for dinner.

Josh took charge of cooking up a batch of smoked Kona wild pig meat.

A bunch of boys on the side of a cold mountain looking for something to keep them busy in the dark night so what to do? An arm wrestling contest seemed to be a good idea.  We ran the competition starting in alphabetical order.  Conner beat Cody and from there we went down the line till we got to Luke who beat every arm in the house handily! That's my boy.

Once the young boys had their fun it was time for the old guys to play and so Mike and I went at with me winning the old goat division three to zero. 

The championship was Luke vs. me and I beat him like a tambourine! I am the Mauna Kea arm wrestling champ! For a little while anyway till Luke grows a bit more.

This was meant to be a group birthday celebration, so of corse cake and candle blowing had to occur.

The sky above was filled with stars; crisp, clear and cold. Not what most people think of when they think of Hawaii. But the island of Hawaii is different than the others and being on the high slopes of Mauna Kea at night is a very special place to be. So I herded the boys outside of the warm burnt marshmallow enfused cabin for some nighttime activities. 

Though they may be on the very verge of manhood, these boys are like any other young boys and to walk off into a silent dark night on a dirt trail will give them the Heebie Jeebies for certain. We walked many hundred yards into the darkness and I collected their lights and told them the test was to see who could walk the farthest before getting totally spooked and heading back.

After they disappeared over the hill I grabbed all the lights, turned them off and headed up the trail to find a place to hide where I could hide and jump out when they ran back out of the darkness and scare the crap out of them. 

I hid, they ran, I screamed and jumped out and they squealed like little girls...it was good.

 The next morning with a cup of hot Kona coffee in my hand I walked out of the cabin and saw the glory of a crystal clear sky shining above the summit of Mauna Kea.

Surrounding us are towering forests of koa trees and orchards of apples and plums. We headed out after breakfast for a long hike into the forest.

Lunch over an open fire when we return to the cabin followed by tossing the football and a game of ultimate frisbee rounded out the day.

Before I loaded up to head back to do a group photo of some sixty top salesman at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel, I pondered about how we were over two hours of hard four wheel driving from the nearest human and twenty-five hundred miles from the nearest continent. The Big Island allows you as a group to be more remote from humanity than any other place on earth.

 This is a great place to be a kid and an even better place to be a dad.

Laters...Brian

If you would like to see all the photos click here:

http://www.hawaiianimages.net/gallery/keanakoluflash/index.html

and for you who don't have flash here it is also:

http://www.hawaiianimages.net/gallery/keanakoluhtml/index.html