My Life, 10 Months at a Time: Hiking a Haiku with My Ipo

The blog back and better than ever. Consider your and my departure a mild separation, a chance for us to get to know ourselves. Regardless, fate has brought us back together. Normally, I would apologize for the maudlin into, but not today, not after the great weekend, and the feat that less than 0.05% of the world’s population completed.

As I mentioned before, the break was yet another hiatus brought on by my nonstop travelling and erratic lifestle, but I am going to piece things back The Vow style (I justed watched this movie this weekend)…reverse chronological starting with today and venturing back to the middle/end of summer. Let’s begin.

Kristina and I……..hiked The Stairway to Heaven…the Haiku Stairs…

The Stairway to Heaven is a ‘forbidden’ hike that strings up one of the steepest points of the Ko Olau mountain range. Most people look up at the steel staircase that winds up the side of the mountains and sheer shock spreads on their face after saying that people hiked it. Eh, been there, done that nowJ. Spanning, 3,920 steps and over 2,800 feet, let’s start the trek.

The alarm woke us up at 2:45am, I slammed a 5 hr energy, packed our bag with the basics (iPad, 3 power bars, flashlights) and we sped towards Kaneohe for the start. The reason that people must get up at the butt crack of dawn (well, technically middle of the night) to start this is because security arrives at 3:45 – 4:00am…It’s an illegal hike due to the fact that you have to pass through private property.

The trailhead begins with a warning (Keep Out, Private Property), took us through a bamboo jungle that reminds me of the famous opening and closing scenes of LOST, and under the H3 interstate which still makes me respect the construction industry even more.

Oh, please keep in mind that this is all in pitch black. Kristina and I made it to the stairs by around 3:45am and knew that we were in the clear – Let the games begin.

Cranking our neck back to look straight up, we each placed the two hands on the railing and started….and stepped, and stepped some more, and continued to climb. Hand over hand over hand over hand until….we ran into people on their way down. The staircase is built wide enough to allow only one traveler at a time. First of all, these clowns had flashlights on (a big no no when it comes to the security). As soon as they flashed the lights, the guard picked up on it and started a strobe light type of contraction that shot up into the mountain. I thought we were busted, that he was going to climb up and snag us, but then I realized we were already 1200 steps up. Seeing these guys coming down I shifted to straddle the railing and balanced one leg over a terrifying drop while they passed Kristina and down past me (it actually sounds a lot cooler in writing).

Sweating, panting, already sore, we reached the first of six landings ready to keel over. Geez, we just climbed a ladder for an hour. There were roughly 6 other people at this landing, but because Kristina and I made the decision to be trailblazers, we ate the power bars quickly, drank some water, and streaked (you wish) up the next section. Guys, this climb is frickin’ intense (sorry for my language). The first half of the climb is dry, clear, and beautiful witnessing the lights of Kaneohe from 1,000 feet. The peace and tranquility and ability to share this moment with Kristina was priceless. But…this hike is insane, and here is why.

By this point we reached half way and the elements picked up… cloud, wind, and rain…and of course, and additional 500 feet...every step and climb brought us close to the top and unmistakably…a misstep closer to a true Stairway to Heaven. At certain levels of this climb are moments where there is no relief from either side and it feels as though you are walking on clouds, largely because that is all you can see to left or right. Good thing Kristina led the way up! Onward she ventured and onward I followed, step, climb, pull, step, climb, pull (…and she’s buy-uy-ing her stairway…….to heaven)…..rang throughout my head. Landings 3, 4, and 5 passed quickly and in front of us waited the last climb, the finale. Step, climb, pull, “One step at a time Kristina”, step, climb, pull…and as we reached the last step, a gust of wind greeted us.

We hung out at the top where an old communication structure stood. Sure enough, we were not greeted by just a gust of wind, but a hippy (I think they might have been hippies, potential bums, a vagabond???) Shushed us….after all, it was 5:30am. We tried to get comfortable and wait out the clouds to catch a good pic of the sunrise, but the snoring of this travelling gypsy crew kept waking us up, we decided to head back down. Thank goodness we didn’t wait it out because the sunrise never came.

To reach the top of this peak was incredible, a satisfying close to a journey, but the climb back down topped it off. Breathtaking view after breathtaking view….witness it for yourself…