On Sunday, Father's Day 2002, I went with my parents and two of my dad's co-workers to climb the Stairway to Heaven, a stairway that goes up the ridge of a mountain in Hawaii. I woke up early in the morning (for me, anyway) after a night of little sleep to be taken to the foot of a mountain in a nice little neighborhood somewhere near Kailua. I was tired, don't expect me to know where I was ^_~

We started out on a little asphalt road after going through a hole in the chain link fence (there is a fairly well worn little pathway up to the hole). Apparently, the asphalt road used to be a highway, but the new H3 was right above us, so that explains its state of disuse. It has held up well, tho. Interesting to note, but there was another little hole in the fence with an arrow claiming it to be the "Gateway to Hell." Being curious folk, we took a little peek and it led to a trail into a bamboo forest (or what seemed like one). It was cool, but didn't seem to go anywhere, so we continued over to the Stairway.

A pair of old railroad tracks (now filled with stones to make a pathway) led up to the beginning of the metal stairs. It started out as a fair slope, but it got a lot steeper later on and I was very glad for the improvements that had been made.

By the date I was hiking, most of the repairs had been done and it was pretty safe, but of course, that means a lot of other hikers. COnsidering that the bars were so narrow that my hips (and they be some wide things) pretty much just fit between the rails, that meant someone had to get off the stairs every time we passed folk. Now, if you've been on the Stairway, you know that there are points where on either side of the stairs there's a sheer drop down and if there weren't railings, you'd be blown over by the high wind up there, so it is scary (and my mom would agree, being somewhat afraid of heights).

On the way up to the first rest landing I was the backpack-toting trailblazer out front, but I was quite winded by the time I made it to the first rest landing. At that point my mom was thinking she wasn't going to go the rest of the way (we'd traveled maybe two-thirds of the climb). I was thinking maybe I'd stay back with mom, but then I really wanted to see what a great view was at the top, so I helped convince mom to come with us. After the first landing, it got much easier as most of it had leveled out and there were more frequent rest landings.

I must say that I wouldn't recommend this hike for someone who out of shape (like me). Definitely take a lot of water, because you will get thirsty. On the day I went, it wasn't very hot, so I was lucky, but I can only imagine the trail with the sun beating down on me. It's a beautiful hike as long as you aren't scared of heights and if you're willing to hurt for a bit (if you're out of shape). I'd suggest some gloves, too, since grabbing the rails all the time is a little wearing on the hands.

The view was really awesome, and both my mother and I are very glad we decided to finish the hike, even though three days afterward our legs were still shaky. I joked with my dad that it was "really really intensive DDR training." It's a great hike and I'm very glad I did it, but I would probably think twice before going again ^^;;