The Stairs can be called stairway to heaven because the lead you on a spectacular journey through rough untouched landscapes and raw weather conditions. The plants you encounter while climbing Haiku Stairs include a good cross section of native species. As you ascend, you pass through several micro-environments, where differences in slope, soil, exposure to the wind, rainfall, and clouds combine to favor different plant communities. In these communities, you can also see how different species, and sometimes the same plant species, adapt to these differences in habitat. The careful observer can find evidence of the dispersal, adaptation, and radiation from original forms for which Hawaiian plants are famous.The bottom of the Stairs is at an elevation of about 120 meters (400 feet) above sea level. Ascending, you encounter some of the native plants now missing from the valley and find others that live only on the high ridges and in the cloud forest.