Daryl on his 50:th Highpoint

Daryl and his sherpas on the summit of Mt Elbert, CO (Daryl in green hat)

About 10 days after we finished our 50th Highpoint we met up with a bunch of people in Leadville, Colorado, for our good friend Daryl's attempt to finish his 50th. I.e. Mt Elbert, 14,433 ft, and a hike of about 9 mi round-trip.

There was a crowd of people all staying at the Mountain Peaks motel in Leadville, and in the morning of July 25 we set out with an alpine start leaving Leadville @ 4.30 am, and arrived at the trailhead half an hour later.

Daryl, Caj and Luis on North Mt Elbert Trail

The hike was strenuous with an elevation gain of 4500 ft in 4.5 mi, but after 4 hours and 10 minutes Daryl, and the rest of us, stood atop Mt Elbert, Daryl's 50th highpoint.

The Harmon's on the summit. Maryan unforyunaltely could not join since she broke her leg, she's on the picture and in our minds. (Also below)

There were a lot of hugging and picture taking going on at the summit. Celebrations included the handing over of a golf ball, a USGS summit marker, a bottle of Jim Beam etc. The weather was beautiful and we spend a good hour at the summit.

It took us around 2.5 to 3 hours to get back down. After cleaning up a bit, we all went to dinner for the traditional book signing and some steak (well ... prime rib had to substitute for steak) and a lot of beer.

Coming down from the mountain....., to the left Seth, Earl and Daryl with the first false summit of Elbert in the background

Daryl signs the highpoint log in his guide book to the 50 State highpoints

Beer drinking at the historic Silver Dollar Saloon in Leadville followed dinner

It was a great day and congratulations to Daryl for completing his quest for the 50 State Highpoints.

Eva and Caj congratulates Daryl for completing the 50 State highpoints!!!

Local coffee, micro breweries and a djungle

It's hard to understand why most Americans stick to the lousy main stream beers (Bud, Miller and Coors) when they can get local brews almost everywhere. Like Snake River, Sierra Nevada, and ...Kona Brewing Company.
The day before yesterday, we went to a local coffee plantation (Mountain Thunder Coffee) a short drive from Kona, HI, and tasted one of the best coffees I ever had. With that said, and having imported Starbucks Espresso Blend to Sweden for 5 yrs, I don't either understand why most American's stick with the main stream hot beverage served at most diners. Growing coffee is a major industry on the Big Island, and there's a coffee shack in almost every corner of the west side of the island. The one we visited also grows organic coffee, and it pays good money. Wonder why it is so hard to get good organic coffee in the grocery store??

Steam vent in the main carter of Kilauea.

Yesterday, Saturday, we headed out early to visit Volcano National Park, on the other side of the island from where we stay. Getting half the way there, it started to rain, and so it did for the rest of the day. We had hoped to see the lava flows that has been present since last fall, but no lava had been seen for the last two weeks. We did not bother to stay until sunset because of that.

In the djungle, the mighty djungle, the lion sleeps tonite....

Since we had limited time we focused on a few sights near the visitor center, such as taking a hike through a lava tube, hiking in an area affected by an eruption some 50 yrs and just viewing the landscape. Which of course is not much to do when the clouds are low and it is raining. Much of the east side of the island is covered by rain forest, which is quite different from the lava deserts on the west coats.

Caj at the entrance to one of the lava tubes in the park

Looking out from the lava tube

Our last two days we'll spend at the hotel, reading by the pool and doing some snorkeling. And maybe take an early morning hike in the moon like landscape.

Making an attempt for #50 - and beeing succesful!!!

Early morning on our second day here we went for an attempt to climb Mauna Kea. Well....climbing is a bit of an over statement. The trail is good and easy to follow, but it is 14 mi roundtrip and involves an elevation gain of 4600 ft. Soo, I guess it more like a strenous hike.

Anyhow, at 5 am Thursday, July 17, we loaded the Jeep with our gear and headed off to the mountain, reached the trailhead 1h15m later and were ready to head up the hill at 6:45 am. We had earlier decided to do this as a hike-up, instead of a drive-up, which is the most common way to reach the summit. We just thought that beeing our last highpoint we couldn't just take the car and drive to the summit. That would not give us the same feeling of accomplishment reaching the summit in that way.

Since we had not acclimated to altitude at all, we expected some hard work beeing ahead of us, and we were right. It was a tough and slowgoing climb, but what a landscape.... Like the moon (I think, haven't been there). The trail winded around cinder cones going up, up, up. Everywhere we looked around us was lava, and more lava, and looking down we saw the cinder cones from above. Most of them had perfect circular cones on the top of them. You have to see it!

After about 6 mi on the sandy trail we merged with the road, and the last mile to the summit is actually on the road. There was almost no cars at all, and the road is nice and with a wide shoulder. When reaching the top of the road the wind picked up and we geared up before hitting the last section of the trail (1/4 mi) to the true summit.

And..... at 11:30 am we reached the summit. After 7 yrs 10 mns and 16 days from our first high point (PA Sept 1, 2001) we had reached no. 50! A tear or two could be seen in our eyes.

We hang out at the summit for half an hour, taking pictures and enjoying the views. We headed down to the telescopes and found a nice calm spot for lunch, and left the top of Mauna Kea 12:30 pm. We reached the visitor center again @ 2:45pm making it a 14 mi, 8 hour round trip.

Well back at the hotel we celebrated with some champagne - the big celebration (with steak and beer) will take place in Leadville, CO, with all our hiking partners from other peaks. AND of course, with Daryl Harmon, a really good friend of ours who will attempt he's 50th highpoint, Mt Elbert, next weekend. Sooo, stay tune to be updated on Daryl's climb as well, and to hear all about the steak and beer celebration.

Day 1 - Hangin' at the pool

The first day in Hawaii we spent be the pool. A short walk in the morning and a water aerobics class before lunch is about what we did today.

The hotel and the pool area are beautiful and the staff is really friendly. A bummer though that the closets Starbucks is some 10 minutes away.

The mountain rises above everything else on the mountain, as long as you manage to get over the trees, it is possible to view it from the hotel.

Getting there

We left our home in Västerås Monday Jul 13 headed to Arlanda, the airport in Stockholm. We had a very long day (actually two) ahead of us to even get to Hawaii.

Beeing a bit cheap in March when we booked our flight we had decided to save some $$$ and go with Us Airways overseas, and now as we were about to leave, at least Eva questioned that descision. It wasn't the most comfortable trip we've made over the Atlantic, and the staff is certainly not fast or friendly, but if you don't care it is an option.....

After a 9 h flight to Philadelphia and 2 h stop to clear immigration we were off on our second leg, another 6 h to San Fransisco. Then some 5 h to Honolulu and finally we were actually waiting for the last flight to take us to the Big Island of Hawaii. We were really surprised when we found a patio to spend our time waiting for the flight inside the security check point.

After a 46 h trip we finally reached our home for the next seven days - The Fairmont Orchid in the West coast of Big Island, HI.

We checked into a beautiful ocean view room, had a fast dinner and went to sleep.

What is this all about?

We've been highpointing the 50 States of America for some time now, and after summiting Denali in Alaska last year we have only one to go. Hawaii.....

If you want to follow us on our quest for # 50 this is the place to go.