I had called a tour company that used to give a tour that went up to the summit around 5:30pm and was a six hour tour. The company would drive you up there and then give you dinner. When I called they said they no longer do the tour and no one else does that type of tour on the island. Does anyone know of any company that does this type of tour? What we really liked about it was that we did not have to drive down from the summit at night. Thanks.

Try Hawaii Forest and Trail. We went with them last year and thought they were wonderful.

Try Mauna Kea Summit Adventures (http://www.maunakea.com/)
Most tours drive down from the summit at night because they involve watching the sunset and/or stargazing from one of the finest such sights in the world.

The Mauna Kea Visitor's Center gives excellent tours and they are FREE. My wife and I went last October and we not only got a summit tour, we also got tours of two observatories, Keck and NASA. The catch is you have to drive yourself but no one says you have to stay up there until nightfall. Our tour ended a couple of hours before dark so had we wanted to we could have driven down in complete daylight. As it was, driving down at night was not a problem.

Wendy, Six years ago my family booked a tour through Arnott's Lodge. It was a daytime tour then, and included a tour of the Keck Observatory, time for "hiking" around {the term is relative because the thin air prevents many from venturing very far or fast},a picnic stop,a stop on the way down at a cave, and lively narration from Arnott, our host. We thought it was an excellent tour, and the rates were great since we were staying at the lodge. I believe that they will pick you up at your hotel for somewhat more money. I'm not certain, but they may now offer a night tour. We didn't get the opportunity to go on any of their other tours, but wished that we did, based on our positive Mauna Kea experience.