Stairways to Heaven

I’ve wanted to do this hike for quite a while now, and I have to say it really did exceed every expectation. Here’s the thing… The hike got closed to the public a few years ago, and a guard is guarding the beginning of the stairs all through the day. So - in order to hike the Haiku Stairs, you will have to get up and out in the middle of the night. Literally.

The alarm clock was set for 3.40 Friday morning. The three of us got in the car, picked up Audun, attempted to pick up Orestis, attempted to wake up Orestis, broke into Orestis’ secured building and hammered on what we thought was Orestis’ door until we succeeded in waking him up. (Luckily – it was Orestis’ door). We were desperate to get to the trailhead before the guard.

When we finally made it to the neighborhood where the trail begins, we climbed a three meter high fence, woke up every dog in the street (= waking up all the people living there), had every automatic light going off, and ended up running into the forest where we hid in the bushes. Terrified of the barking dogs and the light, for a few minutes I even thought we had somebody chasing us. It was pitch black. We didn’t stop to think or try to figure out which direction to walk in, so for one hour we wandered around in the forest – LOST in the dark. I fell three times and my legs are bruised with scratches all over.

When the sun finally rose, we managed to find the trailhead. At this point we were close to giving up as we thought the guard would already be there – but he wasn’t – around 6.30am we started the ascend.

The Stairway to Heaven was originally built out of wood during World War II in 1942 for the U.S. Navy's Haiku radio station. Today the wooden stairs have been replaced with metal, and 3992 steps lead you about 900meters up on the ridge of Pu'u Keahiakahoe. Needles to say, the view from the top is stunning. Without doubt one of the best hikes I’ve ever done. You have a view of Pearl City, Honolulu, Kailua, and Kaneohe all the way to China Mans Hat. It’s tough – your legs are going to hurt bad for a few days after the hike, but it’s totally worth it. I’ll do it again one day. Check out the pictures!