If you require to learn about someplace , you could always pick up a text . But if you want to get to know a lieu , you ’re going to have to dig a little deep . And what you find there might be a piffling unusual . The Strange States series will take you on a virtual go of America to reveal the unusual people , topographic point , things , and result that make this country such a unique property to call house .
This time we ’re going to the Aloha State , Hawaii — the latest country in the Union , the birthplace of President Barack Obama , and the home of macadamia en farmer Roseanne Barr .
Stairway to Heaven
Wikimedia Commons
Between the rainforest , the black sand beaches , and Kilauea — one of the most active volcanoes in the public — Hawaii is a state unlike any other in the Union . So it should come as no surprise that hiking is a very popular hobby on the islands , with numerous public track crisscrossing the countryside , offer picturesque views of the Pacific . In the horseshoe - shaped Haiku Valley on O’ahu , though , one of the good views is an illegal one , and can only be get a line by climbing the staircase to Heaven .
The staircase to Heaven , also cognise as the Haiku Stairs , is a series of approximately 3922 concrete steps climb 2800 feet through lush jungle to the often cloud - covered peak of Pu’u Keahi A Kahoe . The stairs were earlier small more than a wooden ravel built in 1942 to help the U.S. military string transmitting aerial cable length between the mass ridge of the valley for use at the very low frequency radio communication station on the visor . They were later replaced by wooden stairs , and then concrete in the 1950s after the Coast Guard take over the site for their Omega Navigation System . The Coast Guard end the Omega basis and the stairway in 1987 , but every week about 100 daring hikers ignore the No Trespassing sign and avoid guards station at the base so as to take the air along the raft ridge .
There are many on O’ahu who would like to see the stairs become a public trail , but the local government says it would be cost prohibitory to keep the steps in good stipulation . The counter - argument is that hoi polloi are operate to use the stairs either mode , so why not charge a fee for the privilege and open it up as a holidaymaker goal ? A townspeople meeting was held about the Stairs in March of this yr , but so far no determination has been made .
See all the entry in our Strange States serieshere .
