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expedition to Haleakala

Subject: expedition to Haleakala
From: "Dan Dugan" dandugan_1999
Date: Tue Aug 15, 2006 7:04 pm (PDT)
I survived my Haleakala expedition, barely--both technically and personally.

When I was offered the chance to stay at two ranger cabins in 
exchange for volunteering to do soundscape recording, I knew that I 
was in no shape for a 2-1/2 day backpack up and down mountains at 
high altitude. I didn't want to pass up the opportunity, however, so 
I trained for three weeks carrying ever-heavier backpack loads up 
Bernal Hill, a 400-foot hill right near my lab, every other day. That 
training paid off. I'm sure I couldn't have done it without it, but 
still I was challenged to my limits.

Mike stands and my artificial head & shoulders rig were out because 
they would weigh too much. My intern Brian and I rigged up the 
windscreen domes that I usually use on my vest on either side of my 
backpack instead. My Sharp MD recorder was in a camera case on the 
pack's waist belt. That way I could stop for a recording opportunity 
on the trail, and also use the backpack as a front-channels stereo 
array for fixed four-channel recordings.

Monday morning I signed my research permit and got a Park Service 
radio for emergency use. That was almost the straw that broke the 
camel's back; it was heavy. My load was about 32 pounds. I said 
goodbye to Sharon and started off down the Sliding Sands Trail. On 
the way down (10,000' to 7,000') I paused to record a couple of air 
tour helicopters and a passing trail ride group. Other than that 
there was nothing--the west end of Haleakala is mostly a volcanic 
moonscape.

By the time I got to the bottom my knees were hurting. I thought the 
rest of the way across the crater would be easy, looks that way on 
the topo. It was easy to Kapalaoa Cabin, in the middle. I enjoyed the 
only spot of shade in the crater resting on its front step and 
enjoying four resident nene.

After that, the rest of the way to Paliku Cabin at the east end is 
over lava beds, a lot of small ups and downs that don't show on a 
topo. I was thoroughly wiped out by the time I arrived. I greeted the 
people renting the cabin and went on to the Patrol Cabin, nicely 
appointed with chemical toilet out back, solar lighting, and propane 
stove.

I had hoped to scout the area and set up some distance away, but the 
shadows were long and I was pooped. I set up the backpack with the 
stereo array in the back facing the strip of jungle at the bottom of 
the cliff. I found a spot on the corral fence for the right rear mic, 
and perched the left rear in a tree. I was using two Sharp MD 
recorders for surround.

The evening recording was slim on species and full of the 
conversations in the public cabin a hundred yards away. I suppose it 
has scientific value, but there isn't much I can get from it for an 
aesthetic composition.

In the middle of the night I woke to dripping sounds. I checked the 
mics and it was indeed raining. I got dressed, grabbed the mics, and 
hauled in the cables, looping them on the cabin floor to dry. This 
strip of a few hundred yards has a cloud forest climate due to clouds 
that roll over the cliffs.

I got up at 4:45 to listen for a dawn chorus. There wasn't any. I 
dried out my pack and windscreens over the stove, and started hearing 
birds around 6:00. It was clear, so I set up the mics again. By the 
time I was done it was soaking mist again, but I went ahead and made 
a long 4-channel recording which was probably the best of the 
expedition, quite a few species. No voices in the morning.

After breakfast, documentation, packing and cleaning up I got off on 
the Halemau'u trail west. It took me all day to hump my pack back 
across the crater, with many rest stops. I recorded helicopter tours 
now and then. They're supposed to stay outside the ridge lines, and 
almost all did, but one came right over me. Helicopters were every 
twenty minutes or so, high-altitude jets just a few a day. Otherwise 
it was the quietest place you can imagine. I took a lot of pictures; 
from mid-crater the island of Hawaii was visible through the Kaupo 
Gap.

Again it was late afternoon when I got to Holua Cabin, and the "Holua 
Hilton," a ranger cabin nearby. I was pleased my cabin was around a 
ridge from the public cabin, but the family in the cabin made up for 
it by being very loud, reverberating off the lava field. Again I was 
in pain and exhausted and chose to set up from my cabin as base. I 
propped my pack up again facing the cliffs, put the left rear mic in 
a juniper tree at one corner of the cabin and the right rear on the 
water tank.

As soon as I was ready to record I discovered a popping noise in my 
right front Telinga EM-23 mic. I changed the extension cable to no 
avail. I had to go ahead with three good channels anyway. I'm 
guessing that it might have been moisture from the exposure the night 
before. I had dried out the windscreens, but didn't think to warm up 
the mics themselves. It also might have been the way I had threaded 
the cables through the pack frame. I realized that the cables were 
under pressure at points while I was hiking. Today they sound fine 
and the cables aren't sensitive, so I'm not sure what happened.

While I was troubleshooting a couple set up a tent about a hundred 
feet away on the blind side of my cabin and immediately went inside 
and had sex. I was so tired it wasn't even interesting. It may be odd 
to talk about omni mics having "reach," but the Telingas are quiet 
and really do reach into the distance.

There wasn't much wildlife action there in the evening, either. But 
something unexpected happened. After the almost-full moon rose, there 
was a quite dense but low-level background of bird chatter. A 
moonrise chorus? I also heard some wonderfully weird wing swishing 
sounds in the night.

In the morning I got in some good recording before the neighbors got 
up. It was sparse there in the scrublands.

Wednesday I continued on the trail to where it rises 1500' out of the 
crater in switchbacks. Sharon met me a little ways down from the top. 
Back at our hotel in Lahaina a shower was very welcome.

Thursday we went out to Hana. I put the troubled mics from my pack 
away and put the rear mics on the shoulders of my vest. We 
investigated a short nature trail called Waikamoi Ridge, the only 
publicly accessible part of the huge preserve that the Nature 
Conservancy administers. I got some birds and wind sounds there.

Friday morning at sunrise I went out in the large vegetable garden of 
the native family that rented us our tourist unit in Hana. Three dogs 
chained by their separate houses started a terrible ruckus, so I 
continued out a trail in the back into the bush. When the dogs 
quieted down I was able to get some more morning birds. When I came 
back the dogs woke up the neighborhood again, and a woman came out to 
give me a hard time about the disturbance. I apologized.

That afternoon I hiked the wonderful trail from Oheo to Waimoku 
falls. Part of it goes through a bamboo forest, and the sound of the 
wind in the bamboo was delightful. I got some good takes of that.

-Dan Dugan




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