We’ve all seen the photographs. A skinny chain of metal stairs and handrails climbs a verdant jungle ridgeline, misty skies on both facet. Typically there’s a rainbow within the background. In brief: paradise on earth.
The Haʻikū/Haiku Stairs (higher referred to as the “Stairway to Heaven”) is probably one of many world’s most photographed hikes, and definitely probably the most well-known hike in Hawaii. Likelihood is you have seen the photograph above (or one prefer it) earlier than studying this text. However though the three,900-step stairway is terribly well-liked with hikers—each locals and mainlander vacationers—they’ve been “technically” closed to the general public for almost their whole existence.
Constructed by the U.S. Navy throughout World Conflict II to service a radio facility on a distant peak above Oahu’s Haʻikū Valley, this steep, winding path of metallic stairs was opened to the general public within the Nineteen Seventies, however quickly closed once more attributable to vandalism and overcrowding. Within the final fifty-odd years, possession modified fingers a few occasions, and town even paid almost 1,000,000 {dollars} to restore the steps in 2003, however they’ve stayed formally “closed” to the general public. (This, after all, hasn’t stopped scores of hikers from climbing them.)
Nonprofit group Buddies of Haʻikū Stairs (FHS) has been advocating for the route since 1987. The group previously led excursions up and down the hike, and has supplied routine upkeep and maintenance—tightening bolts and clearing trash and overgrowth from across the route—up till 2021, when town restricted their entry.
However after the Honolulu Metropolis Council voted unanimously to demolish them in August of that 12 months, the struggle to safe entry to the Haʻikū Stairs turned a literal struggle to avoid wasting them. The steps had been scheduled to be dismantled and winched out by helicopter this month, in an effort reportedly siphoning metropolis tax {dollars} to the tune of $4.5 million. A lawsuit filed by the FHS has paused the demolition pending a courtroom listening to scheduled for Might 10.
The World’s Most Controversial Staircase?
Why do individuals need to tear down the Haiku Stairs?
The problem is difficult, says FHS treasurer and board member Ernest Shih, who has lived on Oahu for 40 years and runs a small espresso store, Cafe Kopi, within the city of Kailua, close to the bottom of the steps.
In keeping with Shih and the FHS, it’s not a query of “locals vs. vacationers” as some may suppose. It is true that a lot of the hikers on Oahu are guests (the island hosts thousands and thousands of vacationers yearly). Nevertheless, the FHS additionally commissioned an impartial survey of 5,000 residents in Kāneʻohe and the Haʻikū Valley in 2022, and greater than 90% favored preserving the Stairs. A Change.org petition additionally at present has over 12,000 signatures in help of preservation.
“It’s a small and influential group of individuals, largely rich personal landowners close to the Stairs, who’ve an issue with it,” Shih stated. (Admittedly, these landowners have handled rampant trespassing, littering, and unlawful parking through the years.)
The FHS is not advocating for the maintaining issues as they’re. Shih says they acknowledge the issues the steps have brought on for the handful of neighbors. The group has constructed a publicly out there 20-page plan for sustainable managed entry, together with safety, parking, and customer registration. “There are a number of methods to get to the steps with out going by that neighborhood,” Shih stated.
Former Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell was in favor of maintaining the steps, and 14 native entities—together with sprawling nature reserve Kualoa Ranch—responded to a public request for curiosity in managing the steps in 2020. Nevertheless, when new metropolis mayor Rick Blangiardi took over in early 2021, these plans had been scuttled in lieu of demolition.
“We do not care who manages it,” Shih stated. “We simply need to save the rattling factor. We’ve executed a revenue evaluation, and town may very well be making a ton of cash by preserving these stairs and opening them to the general public, as a substitute of spending all this cash to tear them down.” Present and previous points with trespassing are a moot level, Shih stated, as a result of, “Nobody has ever given managed entry a attempt.”
Along with the excessive price of removing—which has already climbed from $1 million to $4.5 million—the FHS maintains removing may trigger “severe hurt to endangered species residing in important habitats across the Stairs, and “soil runoff harming the downstream watershed main into Kāne‘ohe Bay.”
Will Elimination Make Issues Higher, or Worse?
Even when it goes forward, FHS believes the eradicating the steps isn’t going to alter something. The removing plan entails chopping the bolts anchoring the staircase and hauling the construction out piecemeal by helicopter, however the skeleton will nonetheless exist alongside the ridgeline, akin to chopped bolts on a sport climbing route. “Climbers are nonetheless going to come back and attempt to clip into these stakes to climb it,” Shih stated. “It’s not going to cease individuals.”
He could also be proper. Whilst development crews started surrounding the steps upfront of its seemingly demolition within the final couple of weeks, a whole lot of hikers have obtained citations and warnings for attempting to climb the steps.
Past the trespassing and littering, the price of rescues and safety on the steps are a number one case for removing. The Honolulu Hearth Division has rescued over 100 individuals on the Haiku Stairs since 2010. Nevertheless, statistics present that extra hikers are rescued on the circuitous authorized Moanalua “again route” to the highest of the staircase, and eradicating the Haiku Stairs could solely funnel hikers to this longer, riskier, and extra strenuous route. There have by no means been any deaths or severe accidents because of a fall on the Haiku Stairs (although one hiker did die of a coronary heart assault from exertion), nor any lawsuits to the Metropolis of Honolulu.
The Haiku Stairs could also be Hawaii’s most well-known hike, but it surely’s not the primary legendary path to be threatened with demolition. From Lifeless Man’s Catwalk to Mariner’s Ridge, a variety of privately-owned hikes on Oahu have been shut down through the years for comparable issues. Managed entry has additionally saved some, just like the Koko Crater Stairs, a defunct tramway line operating to the summit of Pu’u Mai (1,211ft) that’s now open to the general public without spending a dime because of administration and maintanence by an eponymous nonprofit.
“Look, if there was a public referendum on the steps, preservation would move simply,” Shih stated. “[The city council] smashed this vote by throughout COVID, when everybody was caught at house. You needed to make feedback on-line, you couldn’t go in particular person, and even then nearly all of feedback had been like ‘No, we need to maintain it.’ It will actually be a disgrace to lose the Stairs,” Shih continued. “They’re historic, may convey some huge cash to town, and there are many teams on the market excited about managing entry safely and successfully.”
“This hike is well-liked for a cause. It’s one-of-a-kind. It ought to be there for everybody to get pleasure from.”
Along with donating, readers are inspired to go to the Honolulu District Court docket at 1111 Alakea St. Honolulu, HI 96813 at 9:00 a.m. Might 10 to help the FHS throughout their listening to.
