Stairway to Heaven

Last night, my friend called and asked if I wanted to climb the "Stairway to Heaven." I had heard tell of this mountain--a series of stairs going up and up and up forever--and I knew I wanted to do it at some point while in Hawaii. There is a certain amount of bragging rights that go along with making it to the top. However, I hadn't thought that I would climb it in the dark.... But, I said sure, and didn't ask questions.

I soon found out that it was on the other side of the island and it would take at least three hours to climb up and back (it took 4). We got to the mountain at about 10pm, but it was a full moon so we didn't need flashlights. It was beautiful--the moon was so bright it was casting shadows. When we got to the start of the path, we had to climb over a sketchy fence because (I discovered shortly) the path is closed and it is illegal to climb it... whether this is due to the risk of climbing it or issues over property is unknown. Either way, I realized this was going to be a fun night. And, climbing the fence, I got my one injury of the evening--we hadn't even started climbing yet and I was bleeding down my leg...

The climb is 3992 stairs, some of which is completely vertical, on narrow stairs with a plummeting drop off on either side. Thankfully, I have no fear of heights. I just got to the head of the pack, and starting going--up, up, up. Channeling my inner mountain goat again. I've discovered that I have this strange quality of getting very calm and aware when I am doing dangerous things--sky diving, SCUBA diving, climbing shear cliffs. I breath slowly and just go. I get an extremely calm feeling--it's a wonderful feeling, which may be why I like doing these things so much.

It rained a little on the way up, making it a bit more slippery (which it was already), adding to the fun. The mountain smelled amazing, like mint and jasmine and it felt surreal to see shadows everywhere from the moon. I think climbing it at night is definitely the way to do it--the air was cool and you are less likely to be arrested. Also, when you can't really see where you're going, it's not as scary.

We made it to the top around midnight and drank some wine and celebrated out achievement. Getting down was much harder (maybe due to the wine), but we all managed safely. I finally got back around 3am, and woke up a few hours later to go to work on polyps.

Now, I need to go to sleep and catch up a little before tomorrow begins...

Here are some photos of our adventure :)