Aloha from Hawaii: Hiking Koko Crater Trail-----Stairs, Stairs, Stairs and more Stairs. Honolulu, Hawaii.

A panoramic view from the top

Grass at the top

Hawaii kai as seen from the top

The koko head at dawn

Sunrise

Koko head at dawn

Koko Crater is a volcanic cone that rises 1,200 feet above sea level. It is located in East Oahu just opposite the HanaUma Bay. It is a part of the “Honolulu Volcano Series” Diamond Head, the Punchbowl Crater, Hanauma Bay, Mānana Island and the youngest, Koko Crater.[1]

These volcanoes were much smaller volcanoes and erupted 800,000 and 30,000 millions of years before today but much after the two main Oahu volcanoes (Waianae and Koolau) became dormant. The Volcanoes of the ‘Honolulu Series’ erupted as a single event occurring only for a few weeks or months.

Today, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on Hawaii Island is one of the few places in the world where visitors can see an active volcano. They can watch the lava flow erupting and dropping directly into the Pacific Ocean making Hawaii a destination unlike any other.

The Koko head crater trail consist of a steep hike along the old tram route consisting of 1,040 wooden steps to the top. Each step is an old railroad wooden tie and many in between ties are missing.

History of KoKo head as told by Denby Fawcett to the Civil Beat. Denby Fawcett is a longtime Hawaii television and newspaper journalist, who grew up in Honolulu.

The tracks are part of the former Koko Crater radar station built by the U.S. Army in 1942-43.

John D. Bennett, a coastal artillery historian, says the Army Signal Corps originally operated the early warning radar facility. The radar unit was in a bombproof tunnel at the summit of Koko Crater.[2]

The signaling facility at the top.

The railway track

The tracks over which hikers pass today were installed as part of a tramway to transport army personnel and supplies to the top. A gasoline-powered winch near the crest of the crater hoisted the tramcar.

The old tram

A base camp at the bottom of the crater had barracks and a mess hall as well as buildings for equipment maintenance.

After the war, the facility was taken over by 169th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron of the Hawaii Air National Guard.

The Federal Aviation Administration also used a portion of the Koko Crater summit for a microwave-link facility.

The Air Force inactivated the facility in 1966, returning the tramway and the facilities at the summit to the City and County of Honolulu.

The property below Koko Crater is now known as Koko Head Regional Park.

Bishop Estate-Kamehameha Schools originally gave the 951-acre area to the city in 1928 with the request that it be used for recreational purposes,

In 1965, the Air Force relinquished 22.7 acres at the foot of the crater to the city. The former military buildings were turned into the federally funded Hawaii Job Corps center to teach vocational skills to disadvantaged youth. In 1995, the Hawaii Job Corps relocated to Waimanalo.

This hike is more of a workout than a hike. It is so grueling that it is sometimes referred to as 'The Stairmaster from Hell' or 'The Koko Head Stairs Of Doom'.

But, once you reach the top, the view is so breathtaking that you instantly forget the pain of the steep ascent.

Do not forget to carry enough water, put on a sunscreen and wear light breathable clothes and carry a camera to snap the pictures.

From the top, you see a 360 degree panoramic view of Hawaii kai and Makapu’u Lighthouse Trail.

President Obama also visited the trail and hiked to the top during his 2015 winter vacation to Hawaii.