Hawaii Part 3

Day Four - Saturday, April 19th

Saturday was one of the rainiest yet.  We tried to hit the beach in the morning, but it was just too rainy, so we decided to head into Haleiwa to pick up Doug's race packet for his race the following morning.  We got his packet and meandered through Haleiwa, looking at the shops, and stopping for lunch and shave ice.  Shave ice is always a highlight of our trips to Hawaii, and it did not disappoint!  We always get it with ice cream in the bottom (which makes the treat!), but this time, Doug got his with beans too.  I mistakenly told him that the beans were some sort of sweet cream that they poured over the top (come to find out that's just sweetened condensed milk...oops!), but it turned out to be red azuki beans.  They are a sweet, red dessert bean, but Doug thought they looked and tasted more like black beans.  A little weird, but I think he still liked it!

After our shave ice treat, it was still raining, so we decided to head back up to our rental to see if it was nicer up there.  It wasn't, so we went to the resort at Turtle Bay for a happy hour drink.  Years ago when I went to Oahu, my family and I stayed at Turtle Bay, so it was fun to see it again.  We had delicious drinks and a hummus appetizer that was great!

That night we rode our bikes to another food truck.  Doug ate at the Shark Cove Grill (which was also a truck) and I ate at the Galley Food truck.  They were right next to each other.  Doug had an Ahi fish sandwich and I had a pork pesto grilled cheese.  Mine was absolutely delicious!  Probably one of the best sandwiches I've ever had.  We found some pretty good food served out of trucks on this trip!

Day Five - Sunday, April 20th

Doug is an avid runner, so before we went on this trip, he researched races in the area to see if there was one he could do.  He found one called the Ka'ena Point 10k Trail Run on Easter Sunday morning.  The race started at 8 a.m. and was about 40 minutes from our rental, so we were up early to make it in time.  There were probably about 200 people in the race (which I thought was pretty good considering it was Easter Sunday and most people would be in church!).  Unfortunately, it was raining again, so I hid in the palm trees as Doug ran the race.  He killed it and ended up getting first place!!  Pretty impressive!

After the race, we decided it was the day to give the Haiku Stairs another shot.  I figured that since it was Easter, there was a good chance the guard would not be working.  It was a little rainy, but less rainy than the previous day we tried, so we thought we'd give it a go.  We left the race and went back to the rental so Doug could take a shower and get ready for the hike.  On our way to the hike, we stopped at Ted's Bakery, which is a pretty famous little bakery on the North Shore that ended up being about one mile from where we stayed.  We got a cinnamon roll and a breakfast sandwich to share, both of which were amazing!  After filling our bellies, we headed out for the Haiku Stairs.

We reached the trailhead, and this time there were no other hikers to be found.  I thought that was a good sign because it meant that I was right and not as many people would be hiking on Easter Sunday.  The gate was closed this time (last time it was open), so we snuck through the fence and headed up the road.  We were walking along the road, and all of the sudden I noticed a man coming up behind us.  He was walking fast and both Doug and I were nervous he was going to yell at us.  Because I didn't really know the way and had to keep stopping to check my phone for directions, he caught up to us just as we were about to take a trail off the road.  Turns out it wasn't the right trail and we were about to leave the main road too soon, and as the walker passed he said, "I don't think you want that one."  We were grateful that he wasn't there to yell at us, and also that he seemed to want to help.  So we continued walking, following him up the road.  When we reached the correct turn off, he pointed that direction and said, "go under the first fence and then turn left at the next fence."  His directions were the same as the ones I was following that I got off the Internet, so that was good.  It was nice that he was so helpful, especially since we had heard that many people living in the area were tired of hikers in their neighborhood and would often call the cops to ticket the hikers and make them go away.

After veering off the main road, we came to a fence that we climbed under and then continued on until we came to the next fence and a new road where we turned left.  According to the directions on my phone, we would follow that road for a little while, and then we would eventually come upon the guard station.  We began walking and I think both of our hearts were racing.  We're both pretty "legal eagles," and we didn't like the feeling of doing something we weren't supposed to.  After just a little bit, I caught a glimpse of the guard's truck and station ahead.  We stopped briefly to collect ourselves and make a plan.  We decided to just keep walking right by him to get to the stairs.  As we went to pass him, he came out from behind his truck and said, "you know you're trespassing, right?"  We told him we weren't aware of that, and he told us that the trail was closed.  I asked him if we could please just take the trail and that we would be really skinny and stay on the trail, making no trouble, but he didn't like that either.  He told us the trail was closed and that he couldn't let us go on it.  He said that he'd seen people get to the trail from other places, but that the trail we were about to enter was closed and we weren't allowed on it.  I then asked him if he was going to get on the stairs from a different direction, which way would he go right or left.  He indicated that he'd seen people go both ways.  I asked him why he had to work on Easter, that it seemed unfair, but he said that guarding the trail was his job, Easter or not.  After that, we decided to keep going forward and we saw another trail veer off the road about 50 feet from the guard station.  We took off up the mountain and ended up bushwhacking our way to the stairs.  It was a little sketchy, and since it had been raining so much, definitely muddy, but we finally made it to the stairs and began our ascent.

Almost immediately, it felt more intense than we were expecting.  I had read up on the hike, so I felt a little more prepared and knew what we were getting into more than Doug, but even I was a little on edge.  We started the climb and it became very, very steep very quickly.  It was more like climbing a ladder than walking a staircase. We headed up, but I could tell that Doug was getting nervous.  He's usually not the nervous one, so I was doing my best to try to calm him down, while also trying not to get too scared myself.  We stopped a couple times and took a couple pictures, but to be honest, we didn't really want to take our hands off the rails.  As we continued on, Doug started freaking out more and more and insisted that I be VERY careful and make sure of every step. I assured him I was doing that, and that I would be fine, but he was scared.  I was scared too, but I was sure we would be fine.

Then the rain came.......

It started to rain, and not just a little, a lot.  The rain made the railing super slippery, and we were getting soaked as well, so when I went to wipe my hands, my pants were wet, so my hands could not get dry.  That was a pretty scary feeling.  Here we were 1,500 feet up the side of a mountain, straight up a mountain mind you, with nothing but slippery railings to hang on to.  Luckily, the rain stopped pretty quickly and we continued on.  We took a few breaks on the way up, but finally made it to the first platform.  Once we were there, the view was beautiful.  We took a few pictures and spent some time getting our legs under us again after the climb up.  As we were looking around, it started to rain again, and both Doug and I agreed it was time to turn around.  We were not to the top, and come to find out, I think we were only about a quarter of the way up, but Doug was scared and the rain made me uncomfortable, so we knew we had to head down.

Going down was almost more scary than going up.  You can't really tell from the pictures, but it was truly straight up and down, so, so steep.  Doug decided to try to go down backwards, like you would a ladder, because truthfully, the "staircase" was more of a ladder.  I went down facing forward because if I fell, I wanted to fall back on my butt rather than off the ladder altogether.  As long as I looked down at each step instead of out, it wasn't too bad. We slowly made our way down.  About halfway down, the rain stopped again, which really helped.  The slippery railings were what really scared me.  I think I could have done the whole thing no problem if it hadn't been for the rain.  We'll never know though, because Doug is NEVER doing that again!! Haha!  We finally made it down, and we were both very happy to have our two feet on the ground rather than on a ladder halfway up a cliff!  It was intense, and definitely more scary than I was anticipating.  I guess we now know why the trail is closed.  And honestly, in my opinion, it probably should be.  The first day we were there when we ended up not hiking, we ran into a family with three young children that were planning on doing it at 3 a.m. since they got turned away.  I sure hope that they didn't do it. I can't imagine doing that hike in the dark and not being able to see anything.   That's what most hikers do nowadays to avoid the guard, and I can't even imagine.  So scary!!

In the end, we made it out alive, and it was pretty cool to get to see the view from the first platform.  It worked out the very best in that we got to do it on a day where we could actually see the view and the clouds weren't too low and we got to do it in the daytime.  It's probably a hike that we won't ever do again, but it was a fun adventure!

After we got back to our rental and cleaned up, we decided to go into Haleiwa to a Mexican restaurant that our host family recommended.  The restaurant had a really cool feel and the food was fantastic.  They also had a really great margarita, which was just what I needed after our harrowing day!!

Lunch in Haleiwa.

Matsumoto Shave Ice.  This place was always packed and had a line at least this long every time we passed!

Turtle Bay happy hour drinks.

Getting out of the rain.

Hummus appetizer.  Yumm!

The rain and clouds did make for some pretty spectacular night skies!

The start of the race.

Doug was lucky number 202!

Getting ready!

The starting line.

And they're off!

Here comes Doug, finishing first!

Great job honey!

Ted's Bakery...pre-Haiku Stairs breakfast stop.  They are famous for their pies and other treats!  Our cinnamon roll and breakfast sandwich were pretty darn good too!

The first fence we had to go through.

The road before veering off onto the trail.

Under this fence.

Bushwhacking since the guard shot us down.

Finally made it to the Haiku Stairs!

Straight up!

Making our way up, but holding on tight!

The stairs basically scale a spine of a mountain.  It was pretty intense.

The pictures don't show how truly steep it was, but trust me, it was!

Getting high above the freeway!

Not too sure how we're feeling about now!

Winding around the spine.

Wow, that's a LONG way down!

It kept going and going.

Finally made it to the first platform!

It was a pretty great view despite the clouds!

Getting soaked from rain and sweat!

Doug looks like he's ready to head down now!

It kept going up and we figured we only made it about 25% of the way.

Stairway to Heaven!

At the top....wet and ready to head down!

Going down....this one shows how steep it was...basically a ladder.

Way above the freeway!

We made it down. Soaked from the rain, but happy to be on the ground!

A view looking back after we finished.  You can see the clouds and rain really came in.  I'm glad we turned around when we did or it could have gotten much worse!

Mexican Dinner night.

Yumm!