I bet you're asking yourself, "What is she doing on a snow covered mountain in Hawaii?" Mauna Kea is the highest point in the Pacific. From sea level, it is 13,796 feet. It is an extinct volcano.

To get to the top, you first have to drive to the visitor's center at 10,000 feet. You need to acclimate to the elevation, and then you can proceed to the summit. This is another 8 1/2 miles, four miles of which is unpaved. It requires a four-wheel drive vehicle. Hooray for the rental Jeep!

Trev works as a park ranger on Mauna Kea.

There are 11 working telescopes on the summit. There is an ongoing conflict between the people of Hawaii who see this volcano as sacred, and the astronomers who want to use it for research.

On the day I visited, the temperature was 20 below 0 and the winds were raging at 45 MPH.

Behind me is the cinder cone where the goddess of snow and ice, Poliahu, resides. She rules the northern part of the island, and Pele, goddess of fire, rules the southern part where the volcanoes are active.