The Haiku Stairs, a.k.a. Haiku Ladder, Pali Ladder, and Stairway to Heaven, is a series of galvanized-steel ship ladders that allow access for hikers to the top of Puu Keahiakahoe. At an altitude of more than 2800 feet, the top of the Stairs is some 2200 feet above the main building of the now decomissioned U. S. Coast Guard OMEGA Station and about 2300 feet above the bottom step. (Ha'iku is a Hawaiian word meaning Kahili flower and has no connection to the Japanese word for a poetry genre.)

The ladders are 18 inches wide and altogether about 4000 feet long. The average slope is about 30 degrees, despite its reputation of being "nearly straight up." Of course there are some sections that are quite steep, but others much less so.

Each section of the ladder contains seven steps, and the sections are numbered consecutively to the top. There are other steps apart from the ladders themselves, however, which complicates the counting. Various counts have been made, but the most widely accepted is 3,922—the number on the Friends of Haiku Stairs T-shirts.

Beginning in 1942, contractors for the U. S. Navy began construction of the Haiku Radio Station, a top secret facility that was to be used to transmit radio signals to the Navy ships that were then operating throughout the Pacific: "One more item was needed to give the Pacific fleet full striking power: absolute certain means of radio communications with headquarters at Pearl... A giant sending station must be built that would reach not only to the waters of Australia and the Indian Ocean but also to every Allied submarine submerged, especially if she were on the bottom of Tokyo harbor." (Excerpt from Builders for Battle, Woodbury 1946).

To transmit such a powerful signal, the Navy needed a transmitter of greater capability than was then possible with vacuum tube technology. They therefore decided upon an Alexanderson Alternator, a huge device capable of generating powerful radio-frequency signals, and requiring an antenna of heroic proportions.

In order to obtain the necessary height for the antennae, it was decided to stretch them across the Haiku valley, a natural amphitheater surrounded by high ridges. To accomplish this, they needed "easy" access to the top of the ridges, so they installed a wooden ladder, then later, a wooden stairway, up the mountain. (Those who had made the climb before the installation of the ladder referred to it as a "sissy climb.") Once the cable car was in operation, most workers preferred to ride the car to the upper hoist house rather than enduring the tedious climb up the stairs. Some remnant parts of the wooden ladder may still be seen beside the metal steps. The radio station was commissioned in 1943.

The Radio Station at Haiku Valley was inactivated in 1958 and began to function as an experimental OMEGA radio-navigation station. A new antenna was stretched across the valley in 1971, and the Coast Guard moved into the station in 1972.

A concrete block building on the main ridge (the "upper hoist house") was the upper terminus of a cable car that was the primary means of moving men and equipment up and down the mountain. In the building one can see the rusted remains of an engine that powered a secondary (smaller) cable system used to transport materials from the upper hoist house to the CCL building (the Communications Control Link Station) at the top. The CCL building housed equipment that provided emergency communication back-up for the ground link with Pearl Harbor, Ford Island Naval Air Station, Wahiawa Naval Radio Station, and Lualualei Naval Radio Station. The microwave antennae still visible on top were used by the Air Force from1954 until 1963 for an "unattended microwave relay station." Later the permit was transferred to the Coast Guard and the Marine Corps Base in Kaneohe. They used the unit as a passive transceiver to relay fire alarm signals between MCBH Kaneohe Bay and the Federal Fire Department at Pearl Harbor.

Until the roof was removed, the upper hoist house was a welcome refuge from quickly-moving showers so common on the slopes. The only roofed shelter now available is the CCL building at the very top.

Millions of people got a good look at the Stairs on April 9,1981, when an episode of "Magnum P.I." included several exciting scenes featuring action on the Stairs (J. Digger Doyle, guest-starring Hawaii-born Erin Gray). The Stairs continue to attract interest from film and television production companies. Following the telecast, on Septmeber 13, a story about the Haiku Stairs appeared in the Today Section of the Star-Bulletin & Advertiser. The "Magnum P.I." episode was re-telecast on October 9, the same year. These events sparked enormous interest in the previously little-known structure. On October 18, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin published an article "It's Getting Crowded at the Top." The article reported that Coast Guard Station had been flooded with requests to climb—as many as 200 people a day on weekends. The Coast Guard quickly limited to 75 the number of climbers allowed on the Stairs at one time.

Vandalism and littering were (and are) problems. Plants were cut, off-limits properties were trespassed upon, and climbers who had no trouble carrying full food and drink containers up the Stairs often would not carry the empties back down. A large pile of litter accumulated at the top.

Gradually the use of the Stairs returned to a more-manageable c. 20,000 climbers per year, according to Coast Guard records. The Stairs were closed for repairs in May, then permanently in June, 1987, after an act of major vandalism in which three sections of the ladder, in two different locations, were de-coupled and allowed to fall down the mountainside.

Soon after the initial closing, Frank Stong, Suzanne Hieb, and John Flanigan formed "The Friends of Haiku Stairs" in an attempt to organize popular support to encourage the transfer of the Stairs to the City or State and to reopen them to hikers. This effort gained much popular and official support, but was thwarted when the area was closed for construction of the H3 highway. (See Final Report:Historic Preservation Survey and Nomination to the National Register of Historic Places of the U.S. Coast Guard Omega Station Located at Haiku, Kaneohe, O`ahu Island, Hawai`i. for more complete information.)

Upon the completion of the H3 freeway and the closing of the Omega station in 1999, the effort was renewed. FHS is now a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that works closely with the City and County of Honolulu in activities to maintain the Stairs and plan for suitable public access. FHS encourages inter-organizational cooperation toward the common goal of repairing and re-opening the Stairs.

During two week-ends in July 2000, work parties organized by FHS and augmented by members of Hawaii Trail, Mountain Club, Sierra Club, and the Third Marine Regiment cleared brush from the Stairs, and built a set of steps from the H3 access road to the base of the Stairs. This endeavor was to permit easier access for workers repairing the Stairs.

At this writing, repair work on the Stairs is nearing completion, and the City is attempting to gain rights of access to the trail-head to the Stairs and is cooperating with the Friends of Haiku Stairs to complete plans for re-opening of this wonderful hike to the general public.