It was windy and hot so it was not a great beach day on the coast last Sunday so Lissette and I decided to take a drive upcountry to the old Saddle Road and see what we could see! Wind on the coast usually signals clear, blue skies in the days to come and strangely the winds relent as you climb in elevation out of the resort areas. Once you reach the Mamalahoa Highway or “upper road” you can expect a change in weather, cooler, as well and typically with cloud cover. The clouds can bring rain or in our case this day, beautiful, perfect weather!!

Saddle Road also known as Hawaii Route 200, traverses Hawaii Island for 52.7 miles from downtown Hilo to its junction with Highway 190 near Waimea. The “old” Saddle Road now breaks off the “new” Saddle Road or Daniel K. Inouye Highway just past the Pohakuloa Training Area and eventually intersects Highway 190 near Waimea town. It is also the direct route for access to Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa’s observatories at nearly 14,000’ of elevation.

The windy and sometimes single lane road dates back to 1849, when Minister of Finance Gerrit P. Judd proposed the construction of a road directly between the two population centers on Hawaii Island. The project was started using prison labor, but was abandoned after ten years and only 12 miles when the 1859 eruption of Mauna Loa blocked its path. The road can be seen on some old maps as “Judd Trail”. In 1943, the United States Army used it as an access road for military vehicles in order to better defend the island in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor and for access to the Pohakuloa Training Area. Pohakuloa contains the Bradshaw Army Airfield, barracks and is where the military still conducts live fire training involving tanks, helicopters and other battle implements.

We are lucky to live in such a diversified weather region where you can drive 30 minutes and be in great weather-if you can find it! Check out the video where we saw 10-15 Pueo (short eared owls), donkey, sheep, cows and numerous other game birds. The cinder cones and pasture in horse and cattle country are also an incredible site. Waiki”i Ranch is a great real estate option where estate sized parcels are relatively inexpensive at $10k-$20k an acre-I’ve seen a lot less real estate on average and far less quality real estate for a lot more money on the mainland-truly a great value!

Click Here to sign up for my blog

Click Here to search Big Island Real Estate

Written by Rick Oliver on November 21, 2017
Posted in: Hawaii Life | Tags: Hawaii Route 200, Saddle Road, video