Casita Chronicles
THE 50th STATE
Mar 29,30 2015
Sunday, yoga day, the day of Lord. We spent it snorkeling the famed tidal ponds not far from our place. We also went to Champaign bay which has hot water vents into the small end of the bay. I like that one the best, plenty of fish and the waves of hot fresh water attempting to mix with the sea water. Got some sun finally, baking on the black lava rocks.
30
Today I decided to attempt what no other Lincoln County Man has done. To run across the Ka’u Desert. This sun baked tortured landscape of nothing but ow ow rock and black pumice chips is a life less place. Literally. The trail of almost 9 miles across is by rock cairn so don’t get lost!! It does however have a cool breeze blowing off of the second highest mountain on the island on its flanks of 13,600 feet and you can see snow fields. Along the way I checked out 3 humungus holes, one with a cinder cone around it. I could not see the bottom!! and when I threw in a rock I never heard it hit. There is also fossilized footprints from around 1790, I will attach the story. In any case I stripped down to my shorts and since I was traveling light did not take the camera but only a bottle of water and the phone. I planned to fill my mouth of with water and then after the 9 mile run across the desert to spit it out. That, did not happen. It is also my mothers birthday so I made the epic journey in her honor and it was Fing awesome!!!!!!! Rajni let me off and drove to the other side of the desert and picked me up. To date this was the funnest thing I have done yet in Hawaii.
As the story goes:
In 1782, Kalaniopuʻu, Aliʻi Nui of Hawaiʻi, died. In accordance with his wishes, his son, Kiwalaʻo became heir of Hawaiʻi Island. Kamehameha, the nephew of Kalaniopuʻu, had hoped to be named his successor. When he was not, Kamehameha became upset and launched a campaign to overthrow his cousin Kiwalaʻo. In July 1782, Kamehameha defeated Kiwalaʻo at the Battle of Mokuohai. Unbeknownst to Kamehameha, some of Kiwalaʻo’s family members escaped the battle. Keoua, Kiwalaʻo’s half-brother, was one of the warriors who survived. Keoua returned to his home district of Kaʻu. Keoua’s uncle, Keawemauhili, was able to escape as well and he returned to his home district of Hilo.
For some time, these three leaders kept to themselves not wanting to accept one or the other as paramount chief. Keawemauhili finally decided that he was going to accept Kamehameha as his aliʻi nui and sent his own sons to assist Kamehameha in his efforts to gain control of the islands. This decision enraged Keoua. He decided to take action and thus attacked Hilo, killing his uncle. The death of Keawemauhili, however, was not enough. Keoua drove Kamehameha’s army to Hamakua ravaging the lands in his wake.
Kamehameha quickly counterattacked and drove Keoua back to Hilo. The battle in Hilo not being decisive, both armies retreated, with Keoua heading back to his home district of Kaʻu. The route to Kaʻu that Keoua and his troops chose was by way of Kīlauea Volcano. Keoua and his army started their march to Kaʻu and on the first night camped on Kīlauea near a heiau dedicated to Pele, the fire goddess. This was a period of volcanic activity at Kīlauea caldera. Fearing they had somehow angered Pele, Keoua decided to remain there for several days to bestow offerings in an attempt to appease her. Upon leaving Kīlauea summit, Keoua split his army into three different companies that left the crater at different intervals.
The first company had not gone far when the earth started to tremble violently. Volcanic ash and hot gas exploded out of the caldera. Then, a huge, dense cloud of ash, sand and rocks was ejected out of the crater and rained down for miles around. Unable to escape, all of the individuals in the second party died. One lone pig is said to have survived.
Not far behind, the rear-company by chance survived the catastrophe because they were not in the path of the hot ash. Picking themselves up, they continued on their journey determined to get to Kaʻu. They were startled when they came upon members of the second company lying down across the desert floor. When to their surprise, the second company was not resting but in fact lay dead. Discovering this, it is believed that the rear-company choose to move on, not staying to mourn the deaths of their fellow compatriots.
The ash, which settled across the desert floor, provided an excellent medium in which footprints have been fossilized. It has been suggested that the footprints are what remains of Keoua’s fallen warriors. This suggestion was first made by Thomas Jaggar in 1921, but it was purely speculation. Recent archeological and geologic research in the area indicates that the history of the Kaʻu desert may be much more complex and that the footprints may not be from the 1790 eruption but rather may be evidence of everyday life activities in this area.
sdasdona 