I’m sure, you all know about the ‘The Stairway to Heaven’ or ‘Haiku stairs’ that leads to top of the misty, cloud-covered Koolau Mountain Range. There are 3,922 steps that lead up the Koolau Pali to the 2800-foot summit of Puu Keahiakahoe overlooking Haiku Valley.
Ever since the steps are built, they have undergone several replacements and the trial is forbidden by the Honolulu city officials for various reasons. This prohibition makes the peak off-limit to both tourists and residents.
Recently, these steps have been replaced at a cost of $875,000 and had to be reopened but the plans to reopen the trial has been complicated because of the frequent complaints by the neighbors at the base of the hike. The residents complain of being bombarded by trespassing tourists, trash and noise. Moreover, handful of access points to the stairs lie on land owned by different entities such as state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, state Department of Land and Natural Resources and Hawaii’s largest private landowner, Kamehameha Schools.
Around $50,000 is spent annually for private security to guard the Haiku Stairs 12 hours a day, seven days a week, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The trial is officially closed still hikers from around the world from trudge through a rain forest and elude private security guards in order to get to the top Koolau Mountain Range. There are many people who think that it’s a public resource and a few people shouldn’t have a right to prevent the public from making responsible use of the stairs and anticipate seeing the Stairway to Heaven reopened soon.
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Source: USA Today
