Haiku Stairs or Haiku Ladder or Stairway to Heaven is one of the “outlaw” hikes on the island. The State closed the hike to the public in 1987 when vandals and years of hiking took its toll on the stairs making it unsafe. Yet in 2002, the State spent a reported $875,000 to fix the stairs to avoid liability as people continued to hike the stairs, but failed to get an agreement over land access, so the stairs remains closed to the public. Determined not to let our tax dollars go to waste, we got up before the crack of dawn and parked in Haiku Valley. This was our second attempt to climb Haiku Stairs, as almost a month ago we were turned away by the guard that watches over the trailhead. We slipped through the gates and found the well-trodden path going into a bamboo forest, popped into a clearing and went back into the bamboo forest. After going through the hole in the chain link fence and following the road to your right which takes you to the trailhead, we were in luck as the guard was not at his post yet, but found almost a dozen hikers ahead of us making their way around the gate that blocks the stairs.
Going up
Keep in mind that Haiku Stairs is on the windward side of the island, the side that rains a lot. Today was no exception. Going up the stairs, a passing rain shower dumped buckets of water on us and was gone after a couple of minutes.
Stairs and more stairs
The metal stairs are quite narrow, all 3,922 of them, which makes passing other hikers sometimes problematic. But it wasn’t a problem for us. If somebody stopped ahead of us, it was a good reason for us to catch our breath!
H3 Freeway
Stopping and looking back down, the H3 Freeway snakes through Kaneohe and disappears into the Koolau mountains. Resist the urge to wave to the cars below you, as some drivers have mistaken the friendly waves for distress signals and called 911.
Rainbows
There are five platforms on the way to the top, where you can take a well-deserved breather and take in the awesome sights, such as this triple rainbow that briefly appeared from the first platform.
Stairway to Heaven
As we left the first platform, the clouds started to roll in, obscuring the top. We were climbing into the clouds via the “Stairway to Heaven.”
Motivation
Some hikers have left inspiring messages on the handrails to keep you motivated to reach the top.
View to the North
Looking to the North, you can see from Kaneohe to Kaawa.
Kaneohe Bay
You can see Kanoehe Bay and Mokapu Peninsula, home to a Marine base, that partly encloses the Southern end.
View to the South
Looking into Kailua and the three peaks of Olomana.
Stairway to Heaven
The top of the mountain that stands at 2,720 feet. It took us close to two hours to reach the top. The view from the top was completely socked in with clouds, the view was actually better going up than when we got to the top.
Communications Control Link
The top of the CCL building which was once used to communicate with the Wahiawa communication station until it was closed back in the 1950’s. We waited around to see if the clouds would clear up, no such luck. Going back down the stairs took about an hour. The guard didn’t bother us when we got to the bottom, as he seems to be there to prevent people from going up, but I have heard that sometimes HPD is called to issue citations. The hike is moderately hard in terms of effort, but easy in the sense that it goes straight up and down and you have support in the form of the stairs and the rails. Also, please remember this hike is closed to the public.
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