For a while I've been wanting (quite desperately) to climb up the Ha'iku Steps, also known as the Stairway To Heaven. Two weekends ago it was about to happen, but due to that week's abundance of rain it was postponed one week. Yesterday we had a very early start. Got home at about 12.30 or maybe 1am after watching Due Date, then headed to bed for an hour of sleep. Getting up would be difficult, I thought, so I put some Lost music on my iPod and set several alarms on it to ensure I wouldn't sleep through it.
It turns out I didn't need the alarms. My sleep involved nothing more than shut eyes in a dark and silent room. Perhaps I couldn't sleep because I was excited about finally climbing the Stairway. Perhaps I'd slept in long enough earlier that day that I just had too much energy. Or perhaps Michael Giacchino doesn't provide the most sleep-inducing soundtrack (what with smoke-monsters chasing plane-crash survivors through jungles full of baby-snatchers). I got up as quietly as possible at 2am, went downstairs to the lobby at 2.30, met my Danish friend outside where together we power-walked (and later ran) to Ala Moana Center to catch the bus.
3.06am - the bus drove by. Bitch.
We met the rest of the group at the bus stop, where we had to wait another hour or so for the next one. Then we were on the bus for an hour or so. By the time we got off it was around 5am, getting close to sunrise. I should probably mention now that the reason why we had such an early start was because this particular hike is no longer legal. They call it "Stairway to Heaven" for a reason. There's supposed to be a guard at the bottom preventing people from going up there, so it's best to start the climb before the guard starts his or her shift. At 5.30am, an hour before guard duty, my Danish friend's American friend picked us up in her car and took us to the bottom of the Steps.
It might have been about 6.30 by the time we rocked up to the gate. The heavily-chained gate that, with skill and care, would probably be easy to scale. With no sign of a guard on duty, we were about to climb the fence until one of the locals called out for us to stop. Bastardo. We pretty much had to turn around - after all, we didn't want to piss off any locals...
Crisitunity
[noun] a portmanteau of the words 'crisis' and 'opportunity', created by Homer Simpson.
Lisa: "Look on the bright side, dad. Did you know that the Chinese use the same word for 'crisis' as they do for 'opportunity'?"
Homer: "Yes, Lisa - 'crisitunity'!"
Ignoring the fact that the above quotation is factually inaccurate (according to my Danish friend's American friend and her friend), it did apply to our situation perfectly. As we closed the door on the Ha'iku hike, a window of opportunity opened up: the muddy Maunawili Falls. This was a pretty cool and very much legal hike that occupied our morning. T.K. enjoyed it, too. It was rather hellish at times, what with all the mud and mosquitoes, but it was worth it.
Hopefully one day I'll actually make it up the Steps, though. But in the meantime, there'll be plenty more of other hikes like these to keep me entertained. This is Hawai'i, after all!
A hui hou!
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