Hiking the Stairway to Heaven

With my mom in town we decided it could be our best chance to complete this hike. It is definitely a Hawaii bucket list item... if you're brave enough! They have a guard posted at the bottom to keep people from climbing the stairs as it is currently illegal. Though they recently did a bunch of repairs to the stairs, they don't want to open it to the public due to liability issues (I think). Anyway, it used to be a path straight up the Ko'olau mountains for the military to get to the radars/watch stations that they had up there. 

This is the view of the path from below.

 We set out to find the entrance around 4 pm. We had the hardest time finding the stairs. We looked around at various pathways and jungle entrances before we realized that we just didn't walk far enough down the road! By the time we reached the base of the stairs, it was about 5 pm. I was really nervous that it would be dark before we reached the top, but we had our gloves and lamps and we were ready.

That's Chinaman's Hat down there! And the sun is beginning to set....

Just keep climbing! This spot in particular was very scary. I hyperventilated just a bit because the ledge right there is a sheer 100's of feet drop off on either side, with only a metal railing keeping you there. In other places the climb is so steep that you have to climb it like a ladder.  

We got very sweaty.

We didn't take much time to stop and admire the scenery because we were in a race against the sun. But I did stop to get a shot of this beautiful wild orchid. And to eat some wild mountain berries. A lot like raspberries, but much smaller. And they were delicious! (no pic)

Every time the sun set over the mountain, we climbed a little higher and the sun was there again. Then it set again. I think the sun set about 5 times during that hike :) 

Almost there!

At the top with the "last" sunset :)

This is a view towards Pearl Harbor (West).

And this is the view to the East. We could see the ocean in all 4 directions from the top! It was amazing.

The fog started rolling in quickly and it was getting dark fast, so we got our headlamps on, put on a sweatshirt and headed back down.  All the dried sweat combined with the high winds up there made us pretty chilled! 

We only saw three people the whole time. One couple and a single guy who does the hike twice a week. He gave us some tips on how to enter and exit a different way than we did (through a bamboo forest!). On the way back down we booked it, making great time and not able to see the sheer drop offs that we experienced on the way up. Somehow it was more comforting to not be able to see it. Also a gecko jumped from the rail onto Cliff's backpack right in front of me. It surprised me, but my strategy of having three points of contact on the rails/stairs at all times totally helped me out :)

I'm glad I did it... not sure I want to again though. I really dislike living on the edge of danger and illegal activities... Start to finish the hike took us a total of 3 hours. 1.5 to get up there, 20 min hanging out, and about 45 to get back down. 

Bucket list item complete!