Early this morning, a Honolulu Fire Department helicopter crew was able to remove a hiker who had spent the night on the Ko'olau Range above Ha'iku Valley after losing his way.

The man, in his 20s, was cold and wet but not in medical distress, said Capt. Terry Seelig, HFD spokesman.

The man was hiking with two women but separated from them at some point in the hike after they became disoriented in heavy cloud cover. The women had decided to backtrack and attempt to go down on their own and the man called for help on a cell phone after dark, Seelig said.

The hikers, all in their 20s, had begun their trek above Tripler Army Medical Center at around 8 a.m. yesterday, Seelig said. The intent was to hike the Tripler Ridge Trial and descend on the Ha'iku Stairs.

But the weather and low clouds disoriented the group.

At first the department thought they were dealing with one hiker but even as they learned about the two women it was too dark to initiate a search for them.

"We had no way of really knowing where they were or their condition," Seelig said. As it turned out, although they said they would backtrack, they ended up going down the Ha'iku Stairs and reached the bottom at about 11:30 last night, Seelig said.

The fire department was notified about the women by the military, who had met the women at the bottom, he said, adding that the three are probably in the military.

The HFD rescue helicopter and crew were in the air at about 6:15 this morning and were able to place personnel on the ground near the hiker, he said. But clouds moved in and they had to wait for conditions to improve.

The hiker was flown in a basket to Kane'ohe District Park at about 7:50 a.m. where he was assessed by emergency medical service and cleared.

Hiking conditions on the Ko'olau were not good yesterday and the hikers didn't seem to be aware of that nor were they prepared for trouble, Seelig said. That type of rescue is always risky, he said.

"People being reckless and putting themselves in harm's way also endanger the responders," Seelig said.

Ha'iku Stairs remains off limits to the public while the city tries to resolve access and parking issues.