The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-08-29
TRIP To THE TOP OF THE
WORLDS BIGGEST CRATER
What the Ascent of HaIeakaIa Seemed Like to
a Tacoma Man-.-Wonders of Scenery
and DELI hts of Altitude.

The following is from an account oi
visit to the summit of Haleakala ap-
pearing in the Tacoma Ledger:
Two thousand feet from the summit
we came to a piece of galvanized iron
Oats a parta di roofa Messer Baldwin
he house on de top" said the guide
HE maka de fin house, plenty strong
He maka one gran, solide house; maka
de biga stona, de cementa. He worka
diechi, twenty men, plenty men. He
maka de place for water, de biga els
trino. He fixa de fine window, de
stronga door. He maka de key, one big
key. He clos him light. Plenty mules,
one gran campo; he Worka ten, TWEEN
ty, maybe forty day. He puta on de
splendid roofa, de gran iron roofa. But
he no fixa plenty. De win come. He
blow lik' anything. Pouf! one pieca de
roofa go dat away Pouff. one pieca
de roofa go noder away. Messer Bald
win one DANA foola!'
In a few minutes we were at the
summit. 1 left camp duties TO the guide
and ran to the edge and looked down
. into another and different world Here,
indeed, was the battle-ground of the
gods of war, the scene of elemental,
primevaI passions, the ruins of a
phenomenon that in it's display OF pow
er, gorgeous coloring, resistless notion
binding light and universal laundering
will never again be equaied until the
final, abysTnal plunge that shai END
our little worlds excursion.
The crater of Haleakala has nothing
Of the regularity of Kilauea. Every
inch of it speaks of action. Every foot
of the rim is varied and jagged-torn
in it's upburst, crushed in its falling,
scanned and worn by the successive lava
flows that must have come from tnal
tremendous cavity IN floods of unimag-
Unable volume and power for untold
centuries. 1t is $500 feet to the bottom,
six or seven miles as you look across
TO the southeastern gap and more than
twenty miles around the rim. Away
down to the left in the eastern gap,
where the warmth and moisture of the
trade winds have reached in for hum
dred years and more of peaceful mac
ton, there is a growth of shrubs, ferns,
grass and trees, but from the present
point of view there is no sign of Vege-
table life save an occasional dwarted
fern, a bit of moss or lichen, or hardy
little edelweiss. They all seem dread
fully out of place, like an innocent
maiden in a Black Hills mining camp.
A few white clouds are floating, mo-
tionless. in the space below us, and
slightly conceal the further confines OF
this wonderful amphitheater. Far be-
meath them we can distinguish some or
the twenty-five or more red blowholes
or cinder cones that cover the crater
bottom in a double line from about
northeast to acknowledgements
volcanoes from 400 to nearly 500 feet
high. and here they are merely pebbles
on the burnt sands of this old sea of
laval
Between the east and southeast gaps
the rim rises to the height of dis
tinct peak, handicapped, rugged, pic
turesque, inviting to the mountain
climber, and almost enough so to make
a beginner indiscreet.
But there is plenty to I'LL one
thoughts and occupy ones bodily and
mental yigor without attempting to
cross to that clouoland. We walked
mile or so to the south, and every step
opened up new vistas, showed us new
and undreamed-of effects of color, vari-
ety in lava formations and degrees in
the superlative of roughness, wildness,
desolation and awe. We yentured over
the same path and found the panorama
ever new We went north nearly 10
the upper rim of the east gap-and as
before, it was always fascinating, al
WAYS varied, always telling of fearful
past.
ed the soft innocence of summer sigh,
and beyond the crater's ragged edges
were endless folds of the great white
robes. Cloudland was below us. As
far as the eye could see, its rolling hills
and sleepy valleys, its peace and quiet,
filed all space. Not movement, not
a change in perspective or color. Ana
vet turn from the south to the NORTH
and turn back again, and 10. the WelrQ
ghostland was made over anew Far
TO the southeast we looked for Hawaii
and its great donnes for long time hS
yain-and then, of sudden, under our
very eyes, the billowy mass of white
seemed to shadow forth the long, grace
ful sweep of Mauna Loa and Mauna
Kea. very dim first until the rays OF
the setting sun touched them with their
rich tints and discovered them as with
the alchemist.s magic wand to our ad-
miring vision.
We circled the horizon with our eager
eyes-the mountain slope vanished INTO
the white city: clouds that were miles
deep. clouds that filed the universe
with dream faces. specter ships, silver
ed cascades. palaces apd pearl clouds
that reflected clouds. duplicating ana
manffoIding each other until the eye
wearied of its attempt to find elther
beginning or ending to any OF the
beautiful creations spread out before
us.
For a time the only color was white
with silver and pearl gray tints. Then
from a distance that seemed almost be-
yond the power of sight, long riband
of most delicate rose pink was passed
through that diaphanous mass a sec
ond and a third followed, and in mo-
ment. in that infinitesimal fraction OF
time that is measured by feetest
thought. our cloudland was glowing and
pulsing with the glory of the SUM- Our
dream faces were alive and their Cod