The 1871 Trail |
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I was intrigued by Mark Twain's article of September 22, 1866 where he said, "We walked a mile over a raised macadamized road of uniform width; a road paved with flat stones and exhibiting in its every detail a considerable degree of engineering skill. Some say that wise old pagan Kamehameha I planned and built it, but others say it was built so long before his time that the knowledge of who constructed it has passed out of the traditions. In either case, however, as the handiwork of an untaught and degraded race it is a thing of pleasing interest. The stones are worn and smooth, and pushed apart in places, so that the road has the exact appearance of those ancient paved highways leading out of Rome which one sees in pictures."
I had toured the Place of Refuge National Park twice before but was not aware there was a trail here until Mark told me about it. So I confronted a park ranger, asked her why the park service had conspired to keep it hidden, and demanded to see it as is my right as an United States citizen! Well dog-gone it if she didn't just smile, tell me how to get out that way, and hand me a very special crib sheet for those intepid interpreters of numbered logs as is the custom and blaze for trails in this neck of the woods. It really is hidden because to get started you have to skirt the refuge down a service road, bare left at the first coconut grove, then ... straight on 'till morning. Oh, well it wasn't that far. I did find out that this is the place where they put their old rangers out to pasture in this particular park since the service must patrol this stretch but narry a refugee seems to make it out this way. Anyhow the xeroxed pocket-sized crib sheet turned out to be a boon and I am quite sure I saw every site on it and maybe a few more. Below is the recovered treasure. (pictures taken March, 2001) |