Pu'ukeahiakahoe (2,820) also known as the "Stairway to Heaven" Hawaii by Brian Schultz Thursday October 12, 2006
The Stairway to Heaven, also referred to as the Haiku Stairs, is located near Kaneohe on the island of Oahu. 3,922 steps are attached to a steep ridge and finish at an abandoned radio tower at the top, gaining 2,220 feet elevation along the way. Access has been illegal for years because of liability concerns as well as parking issues, and information on the internet warns of the possibility of being cited and/or having your car towed. The climb has eluded me two prior times- I was chased out of a residential area by a homeowner the first time and unable to find a different access point the other.
I began hiking the old road underneath interstate H3 at 11:00 AM. Weather was clouding up quickly as I spotted a faint trail leading into the woods, and thinking this was a shortcut to the stairs and perhaps a means to avoid being cited, I started up a steep forested slope. Too bad I gained 500 feet to a high ridge that ended with no stairs in sight. It was a class 3 climb with nice views of Kaneohe but a dead-end nonetheless, and worse, it started pouring rain. I was sweating and the rain felt good but I had to be super careful on the descent because a slip on the wet grass and dirt meant a hundred foot straight drop over the side. I had to hang onto tree branches and vines while descending to a safe point below, and when I finally got back to the road at 1:00, I sighed and told myself the Stairway wasn't in the cards today.
Totally soaked, including socks squishing in my shoes, and dismayed at the thought of being cited with nothing to show for and possibly having my car towed, I continued along the road hoping to find the entrance to the stairs for a future try. A mile later, to my utter amazement, a big sign on the left announced the Haiku Stairs and I stood for a brief moment to read it. Beyond it a large fence with a warning sign to stay out blocked the entrance but I easily stepped around it to the right, proceeded to the stairs and did what any self-respecting climber would do. I started up, of course.
The time was 1:23 PM and the posted sign said to allow three to five hours for the climb. It was still raining but I couldn't get any wetter than I already was and thunderstorms weren't an issue. The metal steps provided good traction and the railings provided great handholds so slipping wasn't a worry as long as I grabbed carefully. The hardest and scariest section was a knife-ridge with extreme exposure on both sides and only as wide as the steps themselves. Other sections went nearly straight up, but all in all it went well and I arrived at a cement building near the top at 2:13 and the summit at 2:24.
The communications tower on top was thankfully roofed and dry inside but just a shell of graffiti marked walls with old electrical wires dangling. I only stayed a few minutes because I was totally saturated and standing still was uncomfortable. I left at 2:35, made good time to the bottom of the stairs where a fresh waterfall from the rain was gushing over the steps, and arrived at the fence at 3:20.
I made it back to my car at 3:40 and changed into dry clothes. No ticket, no towed car. Perhaps the police thought nobody was dumb enough to climb the stairs in the rain.
On my last day in Hawaii, Sunday the 15th, an earthquake hit the Big Island, where I'd just climbed Mauna Loa and driven all the coast roads earlier in the week. On Oahu, the quake's shaking and rattling awakened me in the early morning and the island lost electrical power for the entire day except for a few areas. Many flights out of Honolulu were canceled but mine left the barren and partially powered airport in the evening as scheduled, concluding an unusual day and wrapping up a memorable week in Hawaii.
Stairway to Heaven ascent- 1 hour 1 minute
Stairway to Heaven descent- 45 minutes
Start to finish- 1 hour 58 minutes