Great to contribute.

[Big Island Bill]

Expedition Portal provides exceptional opportunities to contribute to the the World of Adventure. There are plenty of places here on the Big Island of Hawaii that I will be exploring and detailing. The Big Island has a lot more to offer than what you can find in the average travel book. I hope to share some of those experiences in the forum. Until then. Aloha.:victory::snorkel::iagree::exclaim::jumping::sunny: Couldn't resist trying out some of the newer icons...hahahaha!

 

[Wainiha]

Hawaiian

 

[jmackie411]

Agree. I look forward to hearing and seeing your adventures on the island. I presume you live there. The wife and I just returned home from a trip to the big island. We got to see it from stem to stern offroad via pinzgauer and on the road via rental car.. It is a truly amazing place.. I'd love to see some offroad overland adventure stories and pics from up above wiamea and between wiamea and Hilo. Aloha.

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[haven]

I'd like to hear more about Big Island destinations reachable by unpaved public roads.

In my visits to the Big Island, I didn't see anywhere for off-road exploring that wasn't private property, accessible only by organized tour. The town of Hawi, home of Tropical Dreams ice cream, is one jumping off point for organized tours. The big ranches offer access to some tour groups.

You used to be able to drive past the end of the paved road in Kalapana (Rt 130, I think) into the area devastated by lava flows. I think this access is more tightly controlled now than it used to be.

 

[Foy]

Big Island off-roading

I had the pleasure of taking a standard rental Jeep Wrangler around Mauna Kea along the Mana Road. The stock, skinny tires loaded up with gumbo on some of the wet spots, and as we crossed from the dry side to the wet side as we headed towards the Access Road to MK, it got wetter and wetter. We capped it off with a drive to the summit in the mid-afternoon, then back down to Waimea on the old Saddle Road. Pretty much every inch of the trip was in violation of my rental contract. No way was I going to go all the way from North Carolina to the Big Island to spend 10 days with a Jeep and not thrash it a bit!

I think some of the short trails at South Point would make for some good write-ups.

Foy

 

[BushHead]

The big island is the only place I have ever been where I nearly didn't return home.. no plans.. just wanted to stay.. family drugged me and brought me home BA Baracus style....

 

[155mm]

Pretty much every inch of the trip was in violation of my rental contract. No way was I going to go all the way from North Carolina to the Big Island to spend 10 days with a Jeep and not thrash it a bit!


Foy

Bah, those rental contracts are to keep them from being liable if someone drives off a cliff. I drove a Sante Fe around the Big Island, and a Mustang all around Maui. I couldn't go as fast in the dirt with the Mustang, but it still did the trick and was much more fun on the twisty pavement :smiley_drive: