WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW... ...My Experience
The Haʻikū Stairs, also known as the Stairway to Heaven, is an extremely steep and unforgiving hiking trail on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. With a total of 3,922 rusty old steps that span along Oahu’s Ko’olau mountain range, this is not a feat to be undertaken by the faint-hearted.
My journey to the stairs begun with a 2:00am alarm from my hotel clock in Waikiki. Half asleep, I dragged myself out of bed thinking, ‘is this really worth it?’ I grab my backpack that I had pre packed the night before, my iced coffee and the keys to my moped scooter.
My partner was not coming with me on this journey. She was the navigator and she had internet on her phone. I did not. So in order to find the stairs, I had to rely solely on screenshots I had already taken from Google Maps. It was tedious. I had to pull over on the freeway every 10 minutes to open up my map images and check where I was. My ride out to the little village at the base of the stairs took me a little over an hour, with my scooter only reaching a maximum speed of 40mph. It was only when I met a couple of girls at the summit of the stairs; I was told that mopeds were not permitted on any freeway or through tunnels in Hawaii. I did both. So I would not recommend this as a suitable means of transportation to the stairs. It was fun though!
Once I arrived in the neighborhood at the base of the stairs, I parked my scooter a few blocks away as the neighbors around the first gate do not like the attention this trail gets at such early hours of the morning. Getting around this fence at 3am – while trying to be quiet – was by far the hardest part of my journey. As I moved the bright beam of my head torch around, I noticed someone had dug out a big piece of Earth and had filled it with barbed wire. After navigating my way up the slippery embankment, I then needed to backtrack a few meters to an opening in the side fence, go through and then find the pathway through bamboo until it lead me to the other side of the fence and on to a paved trail.
I started to follow this overgrown pathway, which I later learnt was a road to a school that is abandoned. The road made a sharp U shape bend, at which point there was a big red sign. At this point I could see a trail up an extremely slippery incline through the tree line. Once I reached the top, there was a security fence that opened out under a street light where a security guard waits in his vehicle. I found the small hole in the fence and climbed through, putting me directly in the line of view of the guard, there was no way around this. The guard did not even get out of his vehicle or say anything. The stairs started straight ahead of me. After almost 45 minutes since leaving my scooter, I had made it to the notorious stairs.
It took only 5 minutes to realise my morning was going to be challenging. Reaching the first platform was by far the longest, steepest and hardest part of the climb because it was obvious I had a gruelling, heart-pumping, muscle-burning hike ahead of me. Research had told me there were several platforms before the summit, so after reaching the first, I knew there were many more to go. Wiping the sweat from my forehead as i adjusted my head torch was a constant occurrence during the vertical climb up this section of ladder.
Finally I reached the top before the sun had risen for the day. Sitting at the top in darkness was one of the most remarkable and memorable feats I had ever accomplished. Walking into the concrete shelter there were already a couple other people up there, who all had no problems with security. Being at the top of a huge mountain range before sunrise was extremely cold so make sure you bring a jacket with you. I wore a Kathmandu duck down jacket and it was a lifesaver. With everyone else at the summit freezing I was surprisingly warm.
After an hour or so the sun begun to rise and this was truly one of the most amazing sights I had ever seen. Light started to poke out of the mountains then burst through the clouds. Before long, you could see light fill the valley below. It was truly spectacular. I spent a few hours at the top, just sitting and taking in where I was in the world – not at my desk in an office, but on top of a mountain ridge overlooking 80 per cent of Oahu, Hawaii. Leaving the summit I had a little sadness as I could truly stay up there all day. However, the views on the way down were just as spectacular, if not more. I stopped several times to enjoy being among nature and looking down at the villages and towns in the valley.
Once reaching the base of the stairs after some near 8,000 steps, my legs were burning. I found my way back to my trusty scooter and headed back to the hotel pool for a beer and some well-earned relaxation.
Things you will need:
Water
Food (I took x4 Protein Bars)
Head Torch
Jacket
Good Shoes / Boots
Gloves
(I did not use gloves and my hands got a little cut up from branches and the railing)
I also subject wearing pants, yes you will get hot but many people had scratched up legs at the top.
