Rangers pull out telescopes for visitors There are stargazing groups that take you to the summit. We instead drove in the middle of the day. At first this may not seem logical. It's a paved road and never really steep enough to even make you car sputter as you climb from sea level up to its 6,000 foot level. The center part of the road is smooth while the edges are rough.
Drivers tend to hug the middle and drive too fast resulting in lots of head on collisions.
We saw no road signs pointing it as the way between Hilo and Kona. There wasn't even a sign pointing to the turn off for Mauna Kea or the observatories. It was however the only big paved road going to the north off the highway. The only signs we saw were ones warning you that artillery could be fired over your head as you pass through the Pokahuloa army base. A tank road parallels part of the road.