Devastation Trail and Puʻu Puai At 8:08 pm on November 14, 1959, a series of erupting fissures 400 meters long broke through the south wall of Kīlauea Iki Crater. A cascade of liquid rock swept down forested slopes picking up trees and carrying them flashing like giant sparklers to the crater floor below. Earthquake swarms, which had been recorded with increasing frequency during the past months, ceased and were replaced by a strong harmonic tremor characteristic of lava pouring freely from the magma chamber. During the next 24 hours, eruptive activity converged on a single vent, which would remain active over the next month, fountaining lava up to 350 meters in the sky, filling and draining Kīlauea Iki crater a number of times, and creating Pu u Pua i, the red cinder dome you can see directly to the north. Hawaiian oral traditions record many violent eruptions that occurred before the arrival of Europeans. Like written historical and scientific records, these traditions must have helped understand and make sense of an unpredictable environment. This is a volatile, dangerous land and life certainly included daily awareness of this and attention to the concerns of the deities. Traveling by the crater in 1823, the English missionary William Ellis describes the concern of his guides and hosts who assumed, justifiably, that the foreigners would not conduct themselves appropriately and would thus offend Pele. When they arrived at Kīlauea, the fears of the guides were confirmed when the foreigners began to eat ōhelo berries without making an offering. That evening, camped directly above the burning lake, the guides sat most of the night talking of the achievements of Pele. They considered the pit the primeval abode of their volcanic deities. The conical craters were their houses, the roaring of the furnaces and the crackling of the flames were sound of their hula, and the red flaming surge was the surf wherein they played. The summit area of Kīlauea falls within the ahupuaʻa of Keauhou and the traditional elevation zone known as wao akua, a realm of jungle and wilderness above wao kanaka where most people lived and worked. Wao akua was the abode of the gods and spirits. As late as Kalākaua s reign (1874-1891), priests and priestesses devoted to Pele would stay for a year or more at the volcano, make sacrifices and dream a chant dedicated to Pele or Hi iaka. Other people visited the area to collect resources like medicinal rainforest plants, brightly colored bird feathers and hard glassy stone used for making tools. Just to the southwest is a crater called Keanakāko i or Cave of the Adze, a name that suggests it was a source of this workable stone, what archaeologists call lithic material. Curious missionaries, sailors and scientists are recorded visiting the volcano beginning in the 1820s. By the 1850 s, new canals, railroads and wagon trails were making it easier for people to travel for pleasure. This ease of travel combined with near continuous volcanic activity at Kīlauea brought tourists in ever increasing numbers. Local business leaders who saw potential profit in the influx of visitors, set about building and improving roads, seaports and lodging that would make the trip to Kīlauea faster and more convenient. By the beginning of the 20 th century, there was a growing understanding that the land needed protection from overdevelopment and
unchecked private enterprise. In 1916, after decades of political wrangling, Kīlauea (along with the summits of Mauna Loa and Haleakalā) received federal protection as one of the United States first National Parks. The mission of the National Park Service is to conserve the scenery, the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such a manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for future generations. Conservation goes hand in hand with scientific research, and the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) was founded in 1912. The observatory set out to study active volcanism and seismic activity from the crater s edge. Scientists traveled from all over the world to conduct geological surveys and to study gravity, magnetism, latitude variations and, in later years, biology and environmental science. The Great Depression, which began in 1929 and lasted throughout the 1930s caused a major decline in the number of visitors to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. In 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was formed by President Roosevelt to employ jobless young men by putting them to work on infrastructure projects on public lands. Between 1934 and 1940 CCC recruits lived in a barracks called the CCC Summer Camp, near the area we call Devastation Trail today. They built and improved roads, trails and structures that were needed by Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Most of the thirty dollars they earned each week was sent home to their families, and their weekends were spent exploring the land in and around the park. The 1959 Eruption destroyed the CCC Camp, and blanketed the forest under a suffocating layer of ash, stripping the leaves and branches off of trees. Lava spewed up to 210 meters high from the cinder cone that is now known as Pu u Pua i (gushing hill) and transformed the dense forest into an open cinder field, scattered with large dead branches that can still be seen today. Following the eruption, native plants such as ʻōhelo (Vaccinium reticulatum) and kūpaoa (Dubautia scabra) sprouted on the barren cinder flow creating islands of native vegetation. At the edge of the cinder fall, you can see large ōhi a trees that survived eruption. Many of these trees have sizable clusters of red aerial roots presumably due the falling cinder. Along the trail you can see other native components of the rainforest returning such as the native lily pa iniu (Astelia menziesianna), the tree fern hāpu u (Cibotium glaucum) and the Hawaiian holly kāwa u (Ilex anomala). Several non-native plant species can be observed such as the knotweed (Persicaria capitata), faya tree (Morella faya), Japanese anemone (Anemone hupehensis) and various non-native grasses. Many different native birds can be observed throughout this area. Koa e kea or white-tailed tropicbirds (Phaethon lepturus dorotheae), may be seen overhead as they fly between Kīlauea caldera and the sea. Io or Hawaiian hawks (Buteo solitarius) soar over the forest and sometime perch in snags along the edge. Nēnē or Hawaiian geese (Branta sandvicensis) may also be seen or heard calling as they fly by, typically in the morning or late afternoon, in transit between roosting and foraging sites. They may also be seen nibbling berries on the open cinder flow.
The ōhi a trees are the best places to look for smaller forest birds including two native honeycreepers, apapane (Himatione sanguinea) and amakihi (Hemignathus virens). Stand quietly to hear the distinct whir of their wings as they fly past. Several introduced birds, such as the Japanese white-eye (Zosterops japonicus), the house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) and the myna (Acridotheres tristis) may also been seen in this area. The kalij pheasant (Lophura leucomelana), an introduced game bird, is commonly seen on the forest floor. The Hawaiian hoary bat or ōpe ape a (Lasiurus cinereus semotus) is Hawai i s only native land mammal and while they may be in this area they are unlikely to be seen due to their nocturnal habits. Several introduced mammals occur in this area including mongooses (Herpestes auropunctatus), rats (Rattus spp.), and cats (Felis catus), all of which prey on native birds and insects. Rats also destroy seeds and fruits of native plants. Many insects can be found in this area; some prefer a single species of plant (specialized) while others live on or near several different plants (generalists). You may see a crab spider (Araneae; Thomisidae; Mecaphesa sp.), an a ali i delphacid (Heteroptera; Delphacidae; Nesothoe munroi), a lygeid seed bug (Heteroptera; Lygaeidae; Nysius sp.), an ōhi a gall psyllid (Heteroptera; Psyllidae; Trioza sp.) or a hāpu u snout beetle (Coleoptera; Curculionidae; Stenotrupis prolixum).
The Devastation Trail area and the former CCC Summer Camp are located south of PuʻuPuai cinder cone. Keanakakoʻi Crater is further to the southwest. Park headquarters are located off the map to the north and northwest across the main Kilauea Caldera.
Moniz-Nakamura, Jadelyn. Fire on the Rim: The Creation of Hawaii National Park. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Occasional Papers, Volume 1, Number 1 Moniz-Nakamura, Jadelyn. Gathering on the Rim:People Build a Park. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Occasional Papers, Volume 1, Number 2. 2010 Summit Eruption of Kilauea Volcano, in Kilauea Iki Crater, November 14 December 20, 1959. USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. 24 May 2000. 23 march 2015 <http//hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/history/1959nov14/main.html Smathers, G.A. & D. Mueller-Dombois. 2007. Hawai i: The Fires of Life Rebirth in Volcano Land. Five Decades of Vegetation Development in the Devastation Area, Site of the 1959 Kilauea Iki Eruption, Hawai i Volcanoes National Park. Mutual Publishing, LLC, Honolulu. Tuggle, H. David and Tomonari-Tuggle, M.J. Archaeological Overview and Assessment and Research Design, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Prepared for the National Park Service. International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., Honolulu, 2008 Turner, K.E., R.J. Camp and T.K. Pratt. 2006. Lowland bird inventory Hawai i Volcanoes National Park. Technical Report No. 137. Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit, University of Hawai i, Honolulu, Hawai i. Waipa, Jen. The CCC in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (Unpublished Power Point Presentation)