It’s one of Hawaii’s most forbidden trails.
Yet, it still attracts hikers, who sneak in, in the dark of night.
Marisa Yamane spoke with the city about Haiku Stairs, also known as Stairway to Heaven and the chance of it ever being re-opened.
This is a common sight to see every morning.
People making their way down Haiku Stairs even though it’s illegal to hike there.
The City has signs warning people to stay away and even pays a security company about $60,000 a year as a deterrent.
"They monitor it from early in the morning until later on during the day, really during the peak time when most people would be hiking," said Doug Chin, City Managing Director.
Laredo Muredo is one of the security guards posted near the bottom of Haiku Stairs.
He stops hikers from going up but doesn’t stop them from coming down.
"How many people do you see come down the stairs on a given day?" asks Marisa.
"On a given day being a week day, it varies anywhere from 8-15 or 20, weekend and holiday count on 100," said Laredo. "They get here real early before we’re on duty."
These stairs were initially built as a means of reaching a Naval radio antenna.
The original wooden stairs were replaced by metal stairs in the 1950′s.
Laredo remembers his first time hiking up Haiku Stairs.
"I did it 35 years ago with a waiver from the coast guard station, they let 16 people a day go up, but the freeway wasn’t there, nobody knew the ladder was here even, but now you can see it.," said Laredo.
Haiku Stairs was closed in 1987 because of vandalism and disrepair.
The State took it over, then the City.
Under Mayor Jeremy Harris, the City spent $875,000 to repair Haiku Stairs, with the intention of re-opening it.
"But it never really had enough support from the neighbors to allow people to go up there," said Chin.
So, over the years, hikers have gone over fences, into people’s yards, even onto a School’s property, basically anything they can do to get to Haiku Stairs.
And once they hike up, they risk not only their lives but also potentially the lives of first responders who may have to rescue them.
There are steps and railings the whole way but there’s also a steep drop if you misstep.
"You gotta hang on and in the rain it’s slippery," said Laredo. "And it’s generally wet up there because you’re in the clouds a lot."
So, what’s the chance of it ever being re-opened?
"I think the real solution would be to have more community support. There are some third party groups like the Friends of Haiku Stairs that have indicated an interest in taking over the maintenance of it, but they’re actually rivaled by a lot of the neighbors in that area who don’t want it to be opened. So until that get resolved we may be in a truce situation where we have the security guard just telling people they can’t go up," said Laredo.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
