I am going to post pone my shooting range experience for a day due to the fact that my sister decided to “borrow” my camera from me and took off with it and as I started frantically searching for it yesterday it was to no avail and I have to get the pictures off of people who took them.

Now as I sit down to write this post my pet dove is going crazy and she decided to fly over to the desk and walk across the keyboard to screw me up. She is cooing and hopping around. She loves me 🙂

Now to get to the point of this post. While I was lounging around in Hawaii, there was a very particular forbidden attraction that caught my eye. It is known as the Stairway to Heaven.

About the Stairway to Heaven from a Helpful Website:

Built in 1942 by the U.S. Navy as the site for a VFL antenna, 3,992 wooden steps were constructed to hoist the equipment into place. In 1955 a metal ladder was installed for better access to the antenna. In 1957 the antenna was decommissioned and in 1971 the site was turned over the U.S. Coast Guard.

Thousands of hikers have made the arduous journey to the top for the fantastic view of both sides of the island. However, on September 20, 1997 the Stairway was closed due to vandalism and costs to maintain the safety of the trail.

After conditions of the hike deteriorated they closed the trail because of how unsafe it became, but this did little to deter hikers and wanders alike.

In 1987 because of the terrible conditions they decided to renovate and make the stairs safe because they were afraid the unwanted public would get them in trouble. After spending 875,000 the trek is newly repaired. The problem now is the land leading up to the trial is not publicly owned and citizens are enraged at the amount of people trying to walk and litter on their land.

They do have security guards that patrol 12 hours a day seven days a week, year round, but that is not stopping illegal hikers from making the climb.

This includes me and my friend who hope to go back to Hawaii when they make the climb legal so we might be able to do it.

Hopefully they will be able to get the right papers and things to devise a path of land that will be safe to hikers to use to start the trek.

My thinking is that if you spent the 875,000 to renovate, you better use it!

Die-hard hikers travel Oahu’s “Stairway to Heaven.”

//