HONOLULU (KHON2) — One of Honolulu’s most popular outdoor attractions is officially closed after a boy was critically hurt there.
It didn’t stop anyone from going up, and hikers say if the city really wanted to close it, they should have done more.
The Koko Head Trail was busy as any other typical summer day, despite a sign saying the trail and summit are officially closed until further notice.
That didn’t stop any hikers we saw, especially visitors who travelled thousands of miles to be here.
“My dad did it like 12 years ago and so we wanted to do it and my sister wanted to take pictures,” said Brett Westmoreland, visitor from Texas.
“Only a couple paragraphs on Google, looks pretty challenging but that’s as far as I know about it so we’ll test this out,” said Michael Walsh, visitor from Australia.
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The trail, under the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation, was closed after an 8-year-old boy fell down a shaft in the bunker at the summit on Saturday. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
City officials tells us crews are working to cover that shaft in the bunker at the top where the boy fell down. Work is expected to be completed soon, then the park can officially reopen at that time.
Some hikers weren’t aware of the accident. Some heard about it. But still, hikers we spoke to said if the city really wanted to close the trail, they could have posted someone here preventing anyone from going up. Or put up signs that looked more official.
“We saw it, we just didn’t care,” said Westmoreland.
“Especially if you’re coming from a different location, I’m not sure if that’s the only one they got up, but you might not see any more,” said Shamus Crowley, visitor from Australia.
Hikers say they understand the views from the top are breathtaking, and they are going up those 1,048 steps at their own risk.
“No just some sentences in there saying there’s some trip hazards cuz it’s lots of steps,” said Walsh. “That’s that kinda stuff but outside of that, no should be all right.”
“I thought it was decent, my mom thought she was gonna die but, if you know what you’re doing you’re gonna be fine,” said Westmoreland.