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Unraveling the mystery of Hawaii's Great Crack · Best of: Features

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Unraveling the mystery of Hawaii's Great Crack?
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This article is being read by an automated voice generated by Everlet.
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Have you ever been to the Great Crack? The first times I
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asked this at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Visitor Centre, I already
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suspected that it might be the beginning of a wild adventure, but
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I never could have imagined how many more times I would need
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to repeat that absurd sounding question. A few weeks prior, SF Gate
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Hawaii, contributing editor Christine Hitt had told me there was something called
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the Great Crack an eight mile fissure, across a remote region of
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the Big Islands National Park. Because I had an upcoming trip to
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the park, she wanted me to hike there and write a story
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about it. It wasn't hard to confirm the crack existence. The words
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Great Crack were clearly labelled on the map I was given by
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a park employee At
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the entrance. It is within the Kilauea volcano's southwest rift zone, not
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far from a state highway, but no established trail accesses it. I
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had also read on a park webpage that the crack measures up
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to fifty feet across and plunges sixty six feet down into the
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earth, although there wasn't much more information. At the visitor centre, the
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park volunteer I asked about the crack, shook her head. I'm not
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familiar with that term, she said, and then handed me off to
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another volunteer. He had seen pictures, he said, but had never been,
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and didn't want to advise anybody about it. It's very large, and
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very deep, and I wouldn't go alone, he said, and then suggested
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asking about it at the backcountry permit office down the road. That
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didn't help. None of us have been there, a ranger at the
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permit office told me. I've not heard many people even talk about
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it, another employee chimed in. I'm not even sure where it's at.
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Have you googled it? The employee then googled it on an old
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desktop and learned that, yes, it was in the park. Is this
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for like a campsite? She asked. I said I didn't think so.
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We weren't getting anywhere. But with every clueless person I spoke with,
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my curiosity deepened. How could an eight mile gash through a national
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park famous for its geologic features be a mystery to every employee
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I spoke with? I was determined to find out and to find
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that crack. What is the Great Crack? If you are imagining the
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Great Crack as one clean break in the earth, stop it. Because
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the crack is actually an extensive network of fractures, fissures, And volcanic
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cones. And while the main fissure measures eight miles long, the other
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features of the Crack, extend for ten more. In online photos, some
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areas of the crack make it appear that the walls could fit
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together like pieces in a puzzle, suggesting that the ground was ripped
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apart by some unthinkably violent force. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is home
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to two of the most active volcanoes on the planet, making the
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landscape a constant flux of molten magma and freshly created and and
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while scientists believe magma moved into The
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southwest rift zone, causing the ground to pull apart and create the
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Great Crack, nobody knows for sure when it formed. Nobody knows what
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lies beneath it. And perhaps most disturbingly no one knows what prompted
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it to spew unusually fast moving lava that destroyed a village during
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an eighteen twenty three eruption, or if it might again. The eighteen
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twenty three eruption, known as the Kiawa Eruption, released lava at one
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of the highest discharge rates thought to have ever occurred in Hawaii
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or anywhere else. That lava surged across the landscape at an estimated
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twenty five miles per hour, traveling six miles to the ocean, and
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destroying a small coastal settlement at Mahuka Bay. The more I learned
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about the Great Crack, the more I wondered if it was off
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the tourist radar, because it could be dangerous. But as it turned
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out, that was only part of the story. An outstanding, amazing place
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The day after my unsuccessful drop ins at the visitor center and
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permit office, I had a chance encounter outside the park with a
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local scientist. He hadn't been to the Great Crack, he told me,
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but he knew a former National Park employee named J. Robinson, who
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had repeatedly offered to take him there. As I took down the
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man's phone number, the hair on my arms stood up. Finally some
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evidence that getting to the Crack was possible. Robinson was exactly the
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right person to call. Upon hearing that I wanted to visit the
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crack but hadn't found anyone who could explain how, he perked up
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with some encouraging advice. It's just that people are crazy and don't
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use trails to just go exploring, he told me. It's an outstanding,
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amazing place. Robinson worked for the National Park Service for more than
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three decades, holding jobs at nine parks, including one as a backcountry
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ranger in Alaska's Gates of the Arctic. He started at Hawaii Volcanoes
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in nineteen ninety two as a supervisor of frontline rangers and later
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became the park's media and exhibit specialist, designing trail guides and interpretive
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displays. Since he left the park service in twenty eighteen, he's been
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leading tours for Kilauea Eco Guides. There were a couple of sections
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of the Great Crack that he used to visit, Robinson told me,
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and one looked around one hundred feet deep, but was partially filled
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with rubble. He would sometimes reach the crack by travelling along old
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sugar cane and macadamia farm roads, and then entering the park through
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a gate that has since been locked. The Park Service bought the
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one thousand nine hundred and fifty one acre parcel containing the Great
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Crack in twenty eighteen in part, to prevent the development of a
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resort that would have promoted the Fisher as an attraction, Robinson told
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me, but also to protect the area's archaeological resources. Although no cultural
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resources have been discovered within they crack itself, native Hawaiians are known
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to have travelled through and resided here for generations, often fishing from
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the coast. Soon after the purchase, a flood washed out the road,
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leaving a gully that was impassable even in a four wheel drive
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vehicle. Although the Park Service has long talked about making the Great
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Crack more accessible to visitors, Robinson isn't holding his breath for a
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trail or any other development of the remote geologic wonder. There is,
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however, another way to get there. It's a crazy, wild haired thing
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to do. Robinson told me, by beginning on the Cow Desert Trail
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and then hiking off trail toward the crack. It would take six
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hours each way, he estimated, and require a backcountry permit for an
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overnight stay. Robinson had hiked in that area, but he had not
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personally gone all the way to
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the crack. Although open desert lava fields do not feel especially dangerous
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to Robinson, he acknowledged the hazards. The terrain can be disorienting, he
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said, and visitors must carry adequate water, navigate carefully and watch where
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they step. Volcanic fumes are another concern during Kilauea's ongoing summit eruptions,
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along with Pelle's hair, delicate strands of volcanic grass
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that can lodge in the eyes or lungs. I felt up for
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those challenges, but other obstacles had arisen. I didn't have the time
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or the gear for an overnight hike, and just like that the
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great crack again seemed out of reach. A shortcut to the Great
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Crack. When I reported the unfortunate news to my travel partner, he
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was as disappointed as I was. We had been determined to journey
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to the Great Crack. But the he suggested something embarrassingly obvious. Why
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not see what hikes to the crack might exist on all trails?
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With no trouble whatsoever, we found a user generated GPS path that
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showed a much shorter route. The app deemed it great for hiking
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and said it was unlikely you'll encounter many other people while exploring.
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The next morning we drove to the start point, which is not
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part of an official trail, and because access is complicated, SF Gate
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is not publishing exact directions. What should be said though is that
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this route is not for everyone. Some parts are overgrown, there's no
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actual trail, and it's very easy to get lost. Wayfinding without offline
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GPS would be nearly impossible. Within a few minutes of setting out,
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we were bushwhacking through cane grass that reached above our heads. After
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battling our way through a couple of thick patches, we noticed passages
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flattened by previous hikers and opted to follow those instead. Beyond the
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tall grass the landscape opened into eerily quiet lava fields dotted with
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shrubs and wildflowers. Cairns began to appear here and there, guiding us
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across sections of potentially unstable volcanic rock, while yellow jackets buzzed overhead
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and golden strands of Pilay's hair glinted underfoot. The jagged coastline became
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visible to the south, and Mauna Loa, the most massive active volcano
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on Earth, towered behind us. After just over an hour of walking,
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I looked down at my phone's offline map and saw that the
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great crack should be directly ahead. Looking back up, I noticed a
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curious row of electric green Ohia Lehua branches appearing to rise directly
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out of the jet black ground. I couldn't contain my excitement, I
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broke into a run, and As
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the void beneath the branches came into view, I felt like a
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real life Indiana Jones closing in on the Holy Grail. Our prize,
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however, would be an opening to hell. The closer we got, the
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farther we could see into the abyss. Like a massive unstitched wound,
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the Great Crack ran out of sight between undulating lava fields in
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both directions, with twisted trees and plants rising from within. After days
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of chasing rumors about the Great Crack, it was astonishing to stand
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on the edge, peering down into this dark chasm. We explored the
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crack for what felt like both an eternity land no time at
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all. In some areas that seemed stable enough, we descended over basalt
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formations and peered through holes between them, trying unsuccessfully to glimpse a
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bottom. I also had an eye out for animal bones, which I
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knew were sometimes discovered within the crack, but instead found only copious
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ferns and shrubs poking through the crevices. We rock hopped across the
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crack at a narrow point and climbed up to trace the contours
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of the opposite side. Just beyond it a mysterious fence extended in
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either direction, parallel to the crack. We tried photographing the most dramatic
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spots, but agreed that the scale was impossible to capture. By far
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the most impressive images would be from above. As we started back
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I reflected on the strange dichotomy of the Great Crack. It is
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massive, otherworldly, and awe inspiring, and yet, unlike most other national park
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sites of its caliber, there is no official trail, no sign announcing
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its existence, no infrastructure framing the experience. I didn't know this at
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the time, but upon looking more closely at a map, weeks later,
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I noticed that our all trails route did not appear legitimate, either.
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The trail vanishes. The path had seemingly taken us across a narrow
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sliver of state land outside the National Park land while I never
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saw a no trespassing sign or crossed a fence, some research revealed
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that the land is leased by a private individual. The park does
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not recommend using that route because it crosses private property and is
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not an official park access point. Park spokesperson Jessica Farrakane later told
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me by email Visitors should respect property boundaries and use only authorized
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routes. By authorized routes, she meant the long way through the cow
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desert that Robinson had mentioned, but she didn't really recommend that either.
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The park does not actively encourage hiking to the Great Crack because
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of the difficult conditions, she said, later adding. The route follows a
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rough, unmaintained former four wheel drive road, rather than an established trail.
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Visitors should understand that there is no shade, no drinking water, no
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restrooms, and no other services in the area. When I contacted all
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trails with questions about the route, the company removed it from the
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app. And it wasn't the first time it has deleted an illegitimate
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trail flagged by SF Gate. Our review indicates that this route enters
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state owned land that is currently leased to an individual, Juliana Eed,
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All Trails Director of Communications, wrote in an email. While the exact
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legal designation is nuanced, we have not been able to confirm that
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this is an authorized public access route, so we're treating the area
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as off limits for now. AllTrails would continue reviewing access details with
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Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Land Managers, ED added, as AllTrails partners with
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the park through its Public Lands Program, a free resource that gives
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land managers tools to review and update trail information. Curious to know
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how often Alt Trails hikers had been trespassing via the shorter trail,
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I called the man who leases the land and told him about
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this story. He declined to comment, making yet another person who didn't
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want to talk about the geologic wonder. Looking back on my convoluted
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quest to reach the crack, I decided that its true greatness isn't
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really about how it looked. It was the mysteries humans had created
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around it and the spirit of adventure that a visit had required
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that made it irresistible. Leaving the crack I turned around for one
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last look, and all I could see were trees and lava fields.
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The eight mile gash in the earth had disappeared once again and
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looked like nothing at all.