{"id":876,"date":"2013-12-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-09T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"\/2013\/12\/09\/hiking-koko-crater-stairs\/"},"modified":"2023-10-10T09:47:51","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T19:47:51","slug":"hiking-koko-crater-stairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaii.com\/hiking-koko-crater-stairs\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiking Koko Crater Stairs"},"content":{"rendered":"<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"650\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZrhW8J393p8\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\r\n\r\n<p>Each time I subject myself to Koko Crater Stairs, I swear I won\u2019t ever do it again.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>But the thrill of elevating myself 1,208 feet along 1,048 steps made of old railway ties (placed half a century ago to deliver supplies to the military lookout at the top) keeps me coming back.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The only thing that\u2019s changed over the years is the sheer number of people who share my masochistic addiction.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>I\u2019ve got the drill down. Pull into the parking lot as early as possible to avoid the day\u2019s heat and the crowds. Unlike many of Oahu\u2019s shaded trails, this one is glaringly out in the open.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>In fact, look left at the great Koko Crater peak as you circle Kalanianaole past Hanauma Bay. A gash runs up the side of the mountain, dotted by a multitude of colorful specks. They\u2019re the dozens of new and faithful climbers tackling a sure view-dazzler and knee-crusher.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>At the far end of the parking lot, I join the pilgrimage of exercise devotees eager to commune with glorious nature, austerity and all. We trail up a dirt path to an old dirt road that lands me right at the foot of the gauntlet. Actually, standing at the base, the hill looks doable ? like a quick, five-minute sprint straight up. I start zipping along and am instantly out of breath. Then, I catch up with the masses. There are folks playing loud music that just doesn\u2019t fit the drum beat I\u2019m jamming to. Smells accost me \u2026 cologne, shampoo, soap. Remaining focused amid these external impositions on my meditative foot-above-foot climb is perhaps more of a challenge than the physical effort itself.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Then I hit the infamous drop off. The earth falls out from under the railway ties halfway up the hill, forming a bridge with giant gaps where you can see the ground far below. The legs get shaky and any pause in my steady pace leaves me with a touch of vertigo. Others quickly bend down and begin to crawl, while some circumvent the bridge altogether by taking a side path to the right on steady ground.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Past the bridge, the earth rises at an almost vertical angle forcing me into a pattern: 15 steps, then a minute to catch my breath, then upward again. All about me, bodies are in various states of sitting, kneeling and otherwise panting by the wayside.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The final steps are sheer relief. Then, I spend 30 minutes exploring the various vantage points for catching glorious views of the inside of the crater and of the surrounding mountain ranges and pure blue ocean. Koko Crater rim is a mecca for fitness fanatics, and a bit of a circus too. Two ladies at the top are over-enthusiastically doing 100 squats, then 50 pushups and so forth. A camera crew, filming for a fitness reality show, surrounds another colorful and very buff character. Then there are folks who run up and down the behemoth every morning and the guy who does it four times in a row every weekend. Oahu\u2019s famous \u201cbackward runner\u201d Shadrack Anderson is there \u2026 running up backwards, of course. There\u2019s a guy emerging at the top effortlessly. He\u2019s carrying a five-gallon water bottle, and it\u2019s full! Two young men, perhaps military, are running up with their large dogs, only the dogs aren\u2019t doing any running &#8211; they\u2019re perched on each man\u2019s shoulders.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Yes, it\u2019s a circus. What an entertaining way to usher in the weekend. But what goes up must come down, and that\u2019s the doozy. The only way for me is to run it. I am down in a third the time it took me to go up, but my knees are so wobbly that I must keep my torso from tumbling to the ground as I move unsteadily back to my car. This time, instead of swearing never to do it again, I contemplate how much I\u2019d love to make the Koko Crater climb every morning.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Each time I subject myself to Koko Crater Stairs, I swear I won\u2019t ever do it again. But the thrill of elevating myself 1,208 feet along 1,048 steps made of old railway ties (placed half a century ago to deliver supplies to the military lookout at the top) keeps me coming back. The only thing&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":3014,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3343],"tags":[2447],"class_list":["post-876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hiking-oahu","tag-hiking"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.8 (Yoast SEO v25.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Hiking Koko Crater Stairs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here are the things you should know before hiking Koko Crater Stairs. 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Learn more about the trail and also on how to get there.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hawaii.com\/hiking-koko-crater-stairs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hawaii.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HawaiiTravel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-09T10:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-10T19:47:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hawaii.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/KokoHead.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"430\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rasa Fournier\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rasa Fournier\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hawaii.com\/hiking-koko-crater-stairs\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hawaii.com\/hiking-koko-crater-stairs\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rasa Fournier\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hawaii.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e6ce1a055dbd488ab513c34e3922609b\"},\"headline\":\"Hiking Koko Crater Stairs\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-09T10:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-10T19:47:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hawaii.com\/hiking-koko-crater-stairs\/\"},\"wordCount\":676,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hawaii.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hawaii.com\/hiking-koko-crater-stairs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/hawaii.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/KokoHead.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Hiking\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Hiking on Oahu\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hawaii.com\/hiking-koko-crater-stairs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hawaii.com\/hiking-koko-crater-stairs\/\",\"name\":\"Hiking Koko Crater Stairs\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hawaii.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hawaii.com\/hiking-koko-crater-stairs\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hawaii.com\/hiking-koko-crater-stairs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/hawaii.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/KokoHead.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-09T10:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-10T19:47:51+00:00\",\"description\":\"Here are the things you should know before hiking Koko Crater Stairs. 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