Footprints Hike 👣

My location was Footprints Hike in the Kaʻū Desert….here are some fun facts! 

The Kaʻū Desert isn’t technically a desert because it receives too much rainfall. The dry-looking appearance of Kaʻū is caused by both the acid rain created from gases erupting from Kīlauea and the rain shadow from Mauna Loa. Read more here. 

The footprints at Footprints Hike have an interesting backstory. Although they are now thought to be the footprints of people going about their daily lives (some are small and thought to be left by women and children), researchers thought two armies left the footprints for a while. That story I will outline below…

Original story behind the prints: In 1782, Kalaniopuʻu, Aliʻi Nui of Hawaiʻi, died. In accordance with his wishes, his son, Kiwala’o, became heir of Hawaiʻi Island. His nephew, Kamehameha, however, had hoped to be named his successor. When he was not, his nephew became upset and launched a campaign to overthrow his cousin, the king’s son. In July 1782, the nephew defeated the son at the Battle of Mokuohai. Unbeknownst to the nephew, some of the son’s family members escaped the battle. Keoua, the son’s half-brother, was one of the warriors who survived. The half-brother returned to his home district of Kaʻu. The half-brother’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 the nephew as his aliʻi nui and sent his own sons to assist the nephew in his efforts to gain control of the islands. This decision enraged the half-brother. He decided to take action and thus attacked Hilo, killing his uncle. The death of Keawemauhili, however, was not enough. The half-brother drove the nephew’s army to Hamakua ravaging the lands in his wake. The nephew quickly counterattacked and drove the half-brother back to Hilo. The battle in Hilo not being decisive, both armies retreated, with the half-brother heading back to his home district of Kaʻu. The route to Kaʻu that the half-brother and his troops chose was by way of Kīlauea Volcano. The half-brother 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, they decided to remain there for several days to bestow offerings in an attempt to appease her. Upon leaving Kīlauea summit, the half-brother 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 the half-brother, 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. This story was taken from the NPS website, and you can find more information on it here. 

Background of the footprints discovery: In 1857 a 19 year old tax assessor named Frederick S. Lyman was travelling around Hawaiʻi Island. As part of the tax assessment process, Lyman had to estimate the age of individuals being taxed. Most Hawaiians did not know their ages but could associate their births, in relative terms, with famous “occurrences.” Lyman recorded the information given to him by Native informants and compiled a List of Dates of these famous events. In this list five events were recorded to have occurred in the year 1790. Amongst these events is one buried within the list called Keonehelelei, “the falling sands.” In 1919, when Ruy H. Finch, a geologist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, discovered human footprints fossilized in the Kaʻu desert ash. After they were discovered, a crude trail was marked through the jagged Keamoku flow, and many people visited the area. Soon, this area of the desert, which, in 1919, was not part of the newly formed Hawaiʻi National Park, became known as “Footprints” or the “Footprints area.” You can read more information on the man who discovered the prints on the NPS website here. 

 

To close, here are some fun pictures we took on the trail 🙂