The Ko`olau ridge is often wrapped in cloud cover, which keeps the mountains quite
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| We park the car legally on the curb. The residents here are extremely hostile towards anyone trying to get to the trail. They are basically against having increased traffic in their neighborhood, and will yell at you if they think you're headed for the trail. | Gavin, having just been to Japan, has picked up some of their mannerisms, like making the "peace" sign while posing for photos. I dunno about the hand on the cheek though, I think only the geisha's do that. . . |
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The Ko`olau ridge is often wrapped in cloud cover, which keeps the mountains quite |
Kee: Hey guys, normally you have to scale a 10 foot fence to get to the trail, but I think there's a shortcut. If you hop this small one, we should be able to sneak in while avoiding the big one. |
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| Me: Is this the 10 foot fence we were supposed to bypass? =p | While inspecting the fence, we find a lower section that lacks barbed wire. |
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| Success! We're in! | The trail was originally designed by the military during WW2 to have lookout posts on the ridge line to keep watch for planes and ships. |
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| Gavin and Margaret, have been on very few hikes in their lifetime. Kee sells us the trail by telling us it's pretty easy. | We start off at the base of the freeway, and about 10 minutes into the hike, we're already level with the freeway. |
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| Kee and Emma take a small breather. | The trail is called Stairway to Heaven, but a more accurate description would be Ladder to Heaven. I suggest Jacob's Ladder. |
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| There's several thousand steps, all about a foot spaced from each other in 10 foot metal rail planks. When the trail gets past a 45 degree grade, this makes things a bit harder. | The usual suspects lead the way ahead on the trail. |
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| Nice shot of someone's leg. | About a quarter into the hike. Note how small the freeway is. |
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| Thank goodness for these handrails. The trail is sheer and steep on both sides at point, where a modest gust of wind whipping over the ridge could make you slip. | You can see some of the trail ascending the ridge-line on the left side of the mountain. The small shack in the center is another marker along the trail. |
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| The H3, the freeway that goes through the mountains, is the most expensive freeway in the US per mile. It took over 20 years to build and an enormous construction cost. Not because of difficult building conditions, but because the construction lobby is extremely strong and needs large scale jobs to work on. | Gavin and Margaret take a small breather to absorb the view. |