Haiku Stairs hiking @ night

[leashlaws]

So last night I was in the hot tub about 8 pm and there were beams and flashing of light from relatively near the top of the stairs and eventually coming downward in descent of idiots on the Haiku Stairs. I'm imagining they
made it down and THANKFULLY did not endanger any of our firemen rescue teams by their idiocy hiking down at night. What were they thinking? Idiots.

[TATTRAT]

Re: Haiku Stairs hiking @ night

Idiots, maybe. SUPER SKETCH, YES. To each their own, but it has got to be an amazing view from up there, especially at night.

[surlygirly]

Re: Haiku Stairs hiking @ night

I'd never do it, but you're right, Tatt. That'd be an amazing view. And a really spooky hike! Ohh, I wonder if anyone has ever done that on Halloween or a Friday the 13th.

[leashlaws]

Re: Haiku Stairs hiking @ night

Funny because we're now in a "no fly zone". I really don't care about the hikers I just don't want our firemen edangered by their idiocy.

[Kaonohi]

Hiking @ night on the Haiku Stairs!

Funny because we're now in a "no fly zone". I really don't care about the hikers I just don't want our firemen edangered by their idiocy.

Idiocy? I beg to differ. With the 'no-fly-zone' established we were outside the perview of C&C, & state choppers. "On our own" so it were.

It wasn't that different from daytime, but that we had to have our own light. The waning moon was enough.

I STILL didn't make it to the top of the top..., just too wornout! What can an old fut expect? Maybe next time :: legally :: in dayime.

Now, I have something really IMPORTANT to say:








It wasn't me, I was only kidding.

I want to re-open Haiku stairway to Heaven.

I think Mufi & C&C are timid wimps who want to prevent us from having to use Band-Aids.

Perhaps we have to fight for our rights once again! (No surprise, since Mufi is on NY Mayor Bloomberg's anti-civil-rights team.)

Or, WTF? We can just give up and end up with NO rights!

It wouldn't be the first time.............................

K O Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx!

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Haiku Stairs hiking @ night

Maybe because hiking up a near vertical, deteriorating and outright dangerous set of stairs...at night is asking for trouble? Maybe the C&C of Honolulu doesn't want liability suits? Maybe C&C HFD is getting tired of rescuing people without common sense?

Maybe it's just right not to allow nighttime hiking in an area known for injuries and rescues at that time? Maybe a pending lawsuit is waiting for the C&C of Honolulu to keep allowing people up there at night knowing of the potential dangers thus is acting recklessly! Now with a bad economy, there are people desperate for money and time to hike. What better way to get a nice settlement from the county than to injure themselves on a nighttime hike and sue the deep pockets of C&C of Honolulu to pay off their mortgage to their home about to be foreclosed.

Maybe it just makes good common sense to keep the Haiku Stairs off limits during dangerous times. Makes sense to me.

What doesn't make sense to me is that our rights are being restricted. No one here is constitutionally discriminating anyone.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Haiku Stairs hiking @ night

Funny because we're now in a "no fly zone". I really don't care about the hikers I just don't want our firemen edangered by their idiocy.

True. But all firefighters/EMS personnel take on their jobs with the full knowledge and understanding that many of the people they'll be rescuing are idiots who put themselves in danger. Doing whatever they can for people who are in trouble is their job. Making evaluative judgements on those idiots aren't. That job is for the legal authorities, who will hopefully both fine the hikers for trespassing and paying restitution for all costs associated with the rescue.

Maybe it's just right not to allow nighttime hiking in an area known for injuries and rescues at that time?

With the exception of campgrounds and activities authorized by permit, aren't all of the city/state parks and recreational areas closed to the public by a specific time at night? That applies to virtually all of the hiking trails that are legal during the daytime. And the concept of curfews also applies something as small and "safe" as the mini-park in your neighborhood.

Now with a bad economy, there are people desperate for money and time to hike. What better way to get a nice settlement from the county than to injure themselves on a nighttime hike and sue the deep pockets of C&C of Honolulu to pay off their mortgage to their home about to be foreclosed.

Once people do something stupid and get themselves hurt, it has become far too common for ambulance-chasing lawyers to use their clients as pawns to stick their hand into the deep pockets of the taxpayers. I agree with you on that count. But if you're talking about people who deliberately plan the whole thing from the get-go, boy, I don't know about that. So many unexpected things could go wrong if you purposely try to stage an "accident" in a hazardous place like the Haiku Stairs. You could end up being like one of those Alfred Hitchcock characters who unwittingly paralyzes themselves from the neck down for life. And what good would all the millions of dollars do for you at that point?

A safer way to cash in would be to look for a park where there's no signs that say "no tree climbing." Climb up the tree, fall down, call a personal injury lawyer, and see where that takes you.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Haiku Stairs hiking @ night

Well if someone is stupid enough to attempt a court settlement via that route, they're stupid enough to try a stunt like that. No brains.

The reality is use common sense, if it looks dangerous it probably is so why put yourself in danger's way?

If you want to see the great night sky, come to the Big Island. Here's a shot looking up my street next to my driveway. Dark as it gets. I'm told night marchers come down this way. BTW this road goes 4-miles straight up the hill

[surlygirly]

Re: Haiku Stairs hiking @ night

Since they seem to have made it back down okay, perhaps it was just a group of people wanting to do some serious star-gazing. I know that people post at different sites that they make this hike during the day all the time, so maybe some of them wanted to try at night. We're so ready to jump to conclusions about the worse in people lately (myself included), when really, there's no proof whatsoever that this group was out to take the city for money or file any kind of lawsuit. What they did was not the smartest thing, and I am NOT advocating everyone should start hiking the stairs at night. I know it's illegal to do at all.

But since none of us are going to do this, maybe just take a few seconds to imagine how awesome it would be up there at night (lawsuits and fireman and those factors aside) and just picture looking over your home from that angle. What a magnificant view! You all truly live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. And since we're all in imagination-land, pretend all of us HT'ers are up there with a big campfire going. How fun!

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Haiku Stairs hiking @ night

Sounds fun...but also not a good idea because of the inherent dangers. Fun aside you have to look at the very real prospects of having to be rescued which puts our rescuers at risk to save someone for having "fun". Kinda selfish in my book.

What if there was a real emergency and emergency personnel were sidetracked rescuing people who had no business up there in the first place. And with dwindling tax dollars, rescue dollars spent for stunts like that instead of being used for actual emergencies would be intolerable and if a death occured because of lack of financial support for our emergency personnel would be unforgivable because those dollars was used for frivilous rescues that could have been prevented in the first place by using common sense.

Remember Balloon Boy? All that tax dollars and manpower over a stunt for the sake of fame. They thought it was fun...not so the rescuers.

[LikaNui]

Re: Haiku Stairs hiking @ night

I'm imagining they made it down and THANKFULLY did not endanger any of our firemen rescue teams by their idiocy hiking down at night.

I really don't care about the hikers I just don't want our firemen edangered by their idiocy.

Maybe C&C HFD is getting tired of rescuing people without common sense?

True. But all firefighters/EMS personnel take on their jobs with the full knowledge and understanding that many of the people they'll be rescuing are idiots who put themselves in danger. Doing whatever they can for people who are in trouble is their job.

Fun aside you have to look at the very real prospects of having to be rescued which puts our rescuers at risk to save someone for having "fun". Kinda selfish in my book.

You're all correct. For a couple of decades I did offshore search & rescue. Sometimes in hideous weather (25'+ waves and winds over 50 knots) when the idiots should have never been out on the ocean and those of us on the rescue efforts endangered our own lives to bail them out of something that was caused by their lack of common sense.
(Not related to hiking, but... When I was first getting started in boats, I intentionally picked days with a little worse weather than I was used to. I'd stay close to shore and safe harbor, and filed a float plan with friends and the harbor patrol. I'd gain confidence and experience in the conditions, so if I was caught by surprise at some future time I'd know what to expect and how to handle it. I gradually worked my way up through worse and worse weather.)

What if there was a real emergency and emergency personnel were sidetracked rescuing people who had no business up there in the first place.

Right again, Craig. Most hiking emergencies are handled by DLNR staff, but they also are the first responders to maritime emergencies, beach drownings, etc. Here on the windward side there are exactly FOUR personnel available! Yep, for the entire area from Waimanalo up to Turtle Bay, and the entire Ko`olau mountain range. Yikes!

[leashlaws]

Re: Haiku Stairs hiking @ night

A few months ago while at the Kaneohe park pool we watched the helicopters go up and get those idiots that came over from the Tripler side and started their hike in bad weather and had to be rescued the next morning. The HFD
helicopters land in the ball field at the park.

Interesting story Lika Nui I was most intrigued by your smart planning for your boat excursions.

[Menehune Man]

Re: Haiku Stairs hiking @ night

I'm fully against closing off the skies/mountains/valleys/seas to public use at any time. On the other hand I also believe in personal responsibility.

If someone does get hurt or dies while living in this world, that's their choice. Other than being murdered, etc. of course.

If a hiker or boater needs help, be it by stupidity or accident, charge them for that rescue. So that it's not taxpayers paying the bill.

The State/C&C should not be liable for lawsuits brought on by people choosing to go wherever they did. Again, personal responsibility.

Important quote...
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure."
Helen Keller

jus' my opinion

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Haiku Stairs hiking @ night

I agree. Personal responsibility should be what guides us, unfortunately there are those who cast that to the wind and depend on others to bail them out when they go over their heads in trouble.

[surlygirly]

Re: Haiku Stairs hiking @ night

But since none of us are going to do this, maybe just take a few seconds to imagine how awesome it would be up there at night (lawsuits and fireman and those factors aside) and just picture looking over your home from that angle. What a magnificant view! You all truly live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. And since we're all in imagination-land, pretend all of us HT'ers are up there with a big campfire going. How fun!

I was just asking you to step out of reality for a minute or two and imagine how awesome it would be to look out over the view and/or the spooky things one might encounter over the course of the hike. We've already discussed the dangers of the Stairs in another thread and how irresponsible it is to put rescuers at risk and run up tax dollars for idiots. I'm NOT advocating the hiking at night, just wanted to imagine what it might be like.