City to crack down on Ha'iku Stairs hikers
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
KANE'OHE — The city will crack down on hundreds of hikers who are trespassing to climb the Ha'iku Stairs until the popular hiking trail is opened in about three weeks.
The city is preparing signs to be posted along Ha'iku Stairs, with safety and informational messages to limit liability for injury and accidents. • The signs will include simple advice, such as to bring water, hike with a friend or carry a cell phone. • They also will give information about the hike and suggest that hikers consider their fitness before beginning. • Other signs will offer practical rules about hiking, including what to do when meeting another hiker coming from the opposite direction.
Beginning today, Honolulu police officers will stand guard at the bottom of the stairs to turn people away for the next two weekends, including the Fourth of July holiday.
Trail to reopen
Trespassing and other problems have escalated in Ha'iku Valley since October, when the city delayed the opening after spending $875,000 to refurbish the 3,922 stairs that rise 2,800 feet above the valley.
Because of liability concerns, the stairs remain closed while the city prepares adequate warning signs.
City Managing Director Ben Lee said wording for the signs has been agreed upon and the stairs will open in two to four weeks.
Meanwhile, the problems are even worse than when the stairs were last open, in the late 1980s, residents say.
Neighbors had asked for the guards because hikers have been crossing their property, using their water hoses, verbally abusing homeowners, blocking mail delivery and trash pickup and cutting fences to reach their destination, said Rae Leong, who has lived in the valley for 15 years.
One neighbor complained about being mooned by a hiker, and two neighbors got into a fistfight after one told a hiker he could park in front of his house. Still other residents have retaliated against hikers by deflating or slashing their tires, she said.
"It's turned our neighborhood into a war zone," Leong said.
Frustrations peaked recently when she and her neighbors received letters from the city Refuse Division and the U.S. Postal Service saying there would be no service if parked cars continued to prevent access to trash cans and mailboxes.
Leong blames the hikers, saying they begin arriving at 5 a.m. and stay as late as 7:30 p.m. Early-morning hikers set dogs barking, waking residents, Leong said.
Despite state signs marked No Trespassing, hikers jump the fence or cut their way through, she said, noting that there are four access points to the stairs, two of which are in her neighborhood.
Leong said she has had run-ins with hikers and police, and hopes the city will act soon. Other neighborhoods also are complaining, she said. "I'm to the point where maybe I need to talk to my neighbors and consider a class-action lawsuit."
Some neighbors said commercial operators, including Hike Oahu, bring tour groups to hike the stairs. A spokesperson for Hike Oahu denied bringing people to the valley.
In fair weather, more than 200 hikers will pass by, said Ha'iku Valley resident Cody Murray, 13. Neighbors sometimes yell at hikers, but that doesn't stop them, Murray said.
"Hikers just come up here like it's their own place," he said. "They don't respect us. They just park anywhere."
At another access, Marsha Wittig said she wasn't bothered by the hikers, who seemed to be more local kids lately. Many residents said military personnel tend to make up a large percentage of the hikers.
"I have not had a trash problem or anything," Wittig said, adding that she had seen hikers pick up after themselves.
The problem was brought to the attention of the Kane'ohe Neighborhood Board and City Councilwoman Barbara Marshall last week.
Board member Sam Moku said about a dozen Ha'iku Valley residents aired their grievances, saying the stairs are advertised on tourist-oriented Web pages and in brochures. Moku said if the city doesn't open the stairs soon, placing razor wire atop the fences might work.
Marshall said the city delayed the opening to make appropriate signs, in light of a Circuit Court case in which a judge found the state negligent, partly because of poor signage, in the fatal 1999 rockslide at Sacred Falls.
Once the stairs open, hikers will be directed to Hope Chapel on Po'okela Street, where the city has arranged for parking and entrance to a path to the stairs, Marshall said. It is hoped that will reduce problems in the neighborhoods.
"We haven't opened the stairs, and that's the whole problem," she said.
Lee said Marshall had requested the guards, who will turn people away until the stairs open.
The city has opted to place signs all along the trail rather than just at the bottom, Lee said. Temporary signs are being made and will be installed soon; permanent porcelain signs will replace them.
"The stairs will be closed over the next two weeks so that some of the residents have some peace of mind," he said.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@ honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
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• Correction: Two Ha'iku Valley neighbors got into a fistfight after one told a Ha'iku Stairs hiker he could park in front of his house. An earlier verison story yesterday had an incorrect description of that confrontation.
