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Hawaii's very own "Stairway to Heaven," the Ha'iku Stairs
Daredevils the world over have found numerous ways to conquer their fear of heights. There's Sydney's Harbor Bridge or the terrifying El Caminito del Rey in Spain. But for sheer vertical height or astounding views, there may be no more perilous set of steps than the Ha'iku Stairs on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu.Currently off-limits to the public, the Ha'iku Stairs is a series of nearly 4,000 steps rising 2,800 feet to a peak in the Ha'iku Valley. Originally constructed in 1943 to help the Navy install and maintain a series of radio antennae, the climb has long been an underground hiker favorite for its ridiculous heights and amazing views. Take a look at these photos and you'll understand why the stairs were nicknamed the "Stairway to Heaven."
Don't dust off your climbing shoes just yet. The area has been closed to visitors since 1987 and trespassers risk serious injury or death on the poorly maintained trail. Thankfully, groups like the Friends of Ha'iku Stairs have been lobbying for the site's eventual reopening. You can sign a petition on the site to help voice your support and help renew public access to this unique place. Let's hope this one-of-a-kind attraction will once again see the light of day.
Filed under: Climbing, North America
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Phil Mar 21st 2010 4:40PM
I did this last year. Its wild.
Quite an adventure.
A guy caught us trying to climb a tall fence, so we walked away. He saw us park the car down the road though, and later that day when we came back, all 4 tires had been deflated (valve caps laying there).
We wandered around the neighborhood looking for another place to hop the huge fence. Luckily a lady leaving her house approached us, asked if we were trying to do the stairway to heaven, and let us pass quickly through her yard to hop the fence.
Now, once we were over the fence / onto the gov't property, we had to find the trailhead. After about 40 minutes of searching we found it. NOT easy to find. Got SOAKED while running through a dense bamboo forest & huge downpoor. iPhone got messed up from the water :(
Surprisingly, we ran into other people on the trail. Even some families with young children.
For the next few hours: slippery, steep, long, vertical, rusty.
Awesome views. And then back down...
About a quarter of the way down we spotted a security guard. Only one way down, and he was waiting for us at the bottom.
Fortunately he just scolded us and said not to do it again, blah blah.
It seems like he was just there to prevent more people from coming up. And didn't really care that people were coming down.
So obviously the earlier you get there the better, to avoid the guard.
And afterwards, we found a better place to park, near a canal. But I don't know how else to explain it.
Good luck!
Adam Mar 30th 2010 9:06AM
I did the stairs with two friends about two weeks ago. We just entered through a hole in the fence near the back of the subdivision, not the bamboo forrest route. We came across the guard shack at the trail head so we took a muddy trail around the shack and got about 150ft up and the guard saw us and told us to come down. After talking with him for about 15mns and befriending him, he let us go up the stairs. He was a pretty cool, down to earth guy and showed us a hidden waterfall not too far off the bamboo forrest trail. We went up and down in 2hrs 47mns with stops for pictures and view taking and signed the book at the summit. I've hiked in Arizona, Michigan, Hawaii, and Romania and this is the best hike I've ever done so far, definitely recommend it if you can get past security.