Driving the Hawaii belt road, Mauna Loa’s flank seems to stretch for eternity with the same scenery but after a while the first major lava flow branch from Mauna Loa’s 1950 eruption appears, the Hokuna flow. After a week of exploring the southern part of the Island the three explorers headed northwards, because time was soon up on this part of the Island and we had hotel times on the eastern side on Big Island ( where the really fun stuff happened later ) On the way to Hilo me, father and our family friend from California decided to do Mauna Kea’s summit and to the Kohala desert and Mauna Loa in the same day while driving down to steamy green Hilo.