Tasting a Once Forbidden Fruit: Driving Hawaii Island's Saddle Road

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Hawaii Route 200, locally known as the Saddle Road, is the shortest route between Hawaii Island's two main population centers of Hilo and Kona. Until recently, most car rental companies forbade renters to drive their cars on the Saddle Road because it was poorly maintained and considered one of the most dangerous roads in the US. In the last decade, however, the road has been upgraded section by section, reducing travel time between Hilo and Kona from well over two hours to about 1.5 hours today.

On October 15th, I was scheduled to conduct one meeting on the Hilo side of Hawaii Island and another on the Kona side. After consulting my Hilo-based coworker, K., we decided that I would fly in to Hilo, and that we would drive the Saddle Road together to Kona. The latest upgrade, in fact, had only just opened a week prior and this would be the first time K. drove this section.

Here is a rough time sequence of our 1.5 hour adventure.

10.50am: We set off from Keaau after concluding the morning meeting and clearing our bladders for the journey ahead.

11.00am: We got onto the Saddle Road proper. The vegetation was typical Hilo - lush and green.

11.20am: The landscape gradually changed to high lava desert. The ground was littered with blocky lava from old lava flows from Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. Vegetation-wise, there were scattered ohia lehua. Ohia is a native tree that holds a lot of cultural significance to Native Hawaiians. Their flowers can be red, pink, orange or yellow. I also learned from Karen that plucking red ohia will cause rain! Along the way, we saw the turnoff to head up Mauna Kea.

11.40am: The vegetation changed to grassy scrubland as we drove to the highest elevation between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. There were also plenty of low clouds.

11.50am: We passed Pohakuloa, where the US military has a an airfield and a training area. Apparently drivers sometimes see live firing practices in the area. Not long after, we drove into a patch of fog. This was a rather small patch and we were out of it within ten minutes.

12.10pm: First sighting of the Pacific Ocean on the Western coast of Hawaii Island.

12.20am: Turned left onto Mamalahoa Highway (Route190) headed south towards Kona.

12.30am: Arrived at our company office at Keauhou where our next meeting was to be held.

I definitely would like to drive the Saddle Road again as it was very scenic. Next time round, I would budget more time to stop and take photos and maybe go up to the Mauna Kea Observatory as well.

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Photos

Heading down
The Pacific Ocean is visible on the horizon.

Mauna Kea
It was clear when we landed at Hilo Airport earlier that morning, allowing us a rare view of Mauna Kea.

High lava desert
The landscape transitioned to high lava desert with ohia lehua trees.