APOD 12/20/05 misleading...

[srain315]

It was with some surprise that I viewed the 12/20 APOD, as I visited the photo location with my family today.

The reason I say "misleading" is that the text states: "...the physical road pictured above leads up to the top of a dormant volcano that is a premier spot on planet Earth...." This is misleading because 1) the road pictured in the foreground leads to the Mauna Loa Observatory [http://www.mlo.noaa.gov], which is largely a meteorological station; and 2) The road pictured is on an active volcano (Mauna Loa).

The public parking area for MLO and the trail head to the peak of Mauna Loa are at the line of electrical poles in the foreground. From there, it's 6 miles to the peak (behind the camera).

The top of the road to the peak of Mauna Kea can be seen in the top right as a zig-zag of headlight trails. From the foreground location, it's a 17 mile dog-leg over to the Saddle Road. It's about 1/4 mi. along the Saddle Road to the base of the road up Mauna Kea. Vertically, MLO is at 11,000 ft., the Saddle Road is at 6,600 ft. and the Mauna Kea Observatories are at 14,000 ft. so it's a real elevator ride, too (2.2 vertical miles!).

Cheers!
-John

[harry]

You lucky duck visiting such a nice spot.

Re link:http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051220.html

It looks like that it leads up there



Happy New Year for one and all.

Enjoy

[craterchains]

I fully concur with John and Harry on this one.

Norval