I'm no Turkey I'm a Stair MASTER!

So on Thanksgiving morning, Scotty and I woke up at 3:00 am to hike "Stairway to Heaven" - Haiku Stairs in Kaneohe. Yes, it was hard, tiring and BEAUTIFUL!

Haiku Stairs has been closed to the public for a while now. There is a security guard that reports for duty around 5:00 am and so you have to get past his post and up the stairs before he gets there. I thought we would be the only ones there and was surprised that there were actually 50-60 others who were hiking too.We started our hike around 4:30 am and it was still dark. We could see the flashlights of other hikers at the top of the ridge. As we climbed higher we could see the street lights from the H-3 freeway.

As we got to the first platform where the ridge levels out we could see all of Kaneohe as the sun began to rise.

There are almost 4,000 stairs from the bottom of the ridge to the top and at some points it is so steep that the stairs are more like a ladder...yeah,....it's pretty scary. Here's me taking one of my many rests and yawning from being up so early.

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 At one point you think you are almost there and then reach the platform and realize you have ALOT more steps to go.  There were about 3 platforms before reaching the top, one that has a structure.

As we got closer to the top the Hawaiian mists got thicker and a little rain fell but not enough to stop us.

When we got about 30 yards away from the summit we could hear a whistle and someone yelling. It turned out to be the security guard! He was making his way up to the top and yelling at everyone to get down or he'd call the cops. He finally caught up to us and demanded we go back. I was so sad cuz we were so close and had come so far! So Scotty talked to him and there was a small stand off where they stared each other down and then he waved his hand and said we could go. He then apologized for being mean to us and accompanied us to the top. He actually showed us around on top with about 10 others.

 At the top we took our pictures. Don't my gloves complete the outfit? They are essential when climbing the stairs- am so glad I had them. We checked out the building at the top. And found a little window...

 I tried to order a burger and fries but Scotty was fresh out.

 On clear days you can see both sides of the island. Today we had lots of mist. It was SUPER windy at the top.

 We were there about 5 minutes when I was ready to head back down and "get the hike over with!" It started to get a little cold so I put on my jacket.

 Going down was a lot more scary than going up. Mainly because it was light out and you could see and imagine your plummet to your death. Somtimes I had to turn around and slowly make my way down the stairs. Got a great upper AND lower body workout.  I was so happy as we reached each platform on the way down and kept thinking we were almost done....

But the stairs kept going.....and going....and going....

 

 Didn't have much time to check out the view since I was staring at the stairs the whole time.

 The foliage was really pretty and very different from what I grew up with in the desert.

 When I got to the last platform I took a nice rest while waiting for Scotty.

 This was one hike that I felt very accomplished afterward. No, I don't think I'll do it again, but I DID it! So glad I've been going to bootcamp- wasn't as hard as I thought it would be- but very long. We didn't get home until around 11:00 am and we were beat for the rest of the day. Surprisingly I was only sore for about 3 days and had no problems returning to bootcamp the following Monday. There was nothing better than the yummy Thanksgiving Dinner we had that evening with the family. We had lots to be thankful for. You can see more pictures by checking out our FLICKR account.