My exhausting way to heaven
Hawaii or Australia? I just couldn't make up my mind and I decided Google pictures will show me. There. That one picture blew me straight away. Eight hours of exhaustion and 800m higher after a muddy and dirty hike I thanked myself on Thanksgiving for this phenomenal decision.
It's Thanksgiving in the United States of America. As Germans don't celebrate the harvest festival as big as in North America so I had no intention to make a big deal out of it. My original plan was to help out at a homeless shelter and hand out food or wash dishes, but that turned out to be not that easy when you come up with the idea three days in advance. What else can I do in Hawaii? I remembered why I'd chosen Hawaii in the first place: the stairway to heaven.
It's a big trip - I was certain about that. Im no one who does alot of hiking. Just once in a while. I got myself some proper hiking boots for the stairs. While I stayed in the first hostel I checked on possibilities: Will I do this myself or with a guide? Youtube is filled with self guided videos, but after watching these I was still unsure if I'd manage to take every corner and junction as everyone is supposed to. People recommended guides in youtube's comments. One of them was the chosen one. He hikes up the trail on a regular basis (2-3 times a week) and looks like a famous actor from a well known vampire movie.
Early in the morning at about 6 - prepared with food and enough water for the day- I picked up a group member from her hotel. Our cap drove us to the parking lot just before the path going up the Ko’olau Range to walk the legal way up. One family joined our group for the day. Good weather for a hike. Ha’iku or stairway to heaven promised thousands of steps to an old communication facility on the top of the hike. The illegal path contains almost 4.000 steps and starts on the other side of the range. Now it's closed due to broken and missing steps and handrails. You don't want to be arrested in the states as well, right?
The hike started off easy. One quarter of the whole hike was on a horizontal level. We crossed a river, walked along fields and tru forests until we started slowly walking up the hill. After about 30 minutes passing trees and bushes the view of the mountain range slowly came into view - this long way on the piek with only two options: up or down. The path became steeper with sometimes only a width of one meter. Pain is awaiting everyone who made one wrong step to the side. Weather kept changing a little. More clouds showed up with a bit of rain. We stopped about every 15 minutes to catch our breaths. Minute after minute and step after step passed. It became more and more exhausting, but there is no chance of returning. We were so focused on ourselves. We had to make it up the hill no matter what.
I've never seen a natural landmark like this before. I later read that the Ko‘olau Range is the erosion of remnants of a massive shield volcano about 2.5milions years ago. Hawaiians translate Ko’olau to “windward” and that's what it slowly became - more weather. Our smart guide brought spikes for our shoes and gloves. As the path became very slippery and muddy, all of his presents were gifts. Twice we had to climb up a stone wall with the help of ropes. One was about 50 meters high. Heaven seemed so far away and stairs were on the other side of the mountain range. The peak came within reach. After about 5 exhausting hours - 300 long minutes - 18.000 questionable seconds we stopped. Took deep breaths. Enjoyed the view with a little bit of sun. Guide and actor in spe took some pictures. Time to compliment myself for this achievement. This trip was special in every way. I’ve questioned myself, my decision to finish the hike and my level of fitness. At the end oxytocin took over and I became a very happy human. 28.000 steps and another three hours later we hiked the Ha’iku to heaven along a volcano range. Mahalo!
