The smart adults...ahem...let the youth begin the ascent first. Here are the first of the youth beginning the climb.
I had to get a picture of them smiling down at us.
That's Victoria up there. Sorry she looks like a little speck.
Looking back from whence we came.
I took pictures of the first fall from the ground. It really was quite lovely.
Um....yeah....
Here goes...
Now, I have a serious fear of stairs. I always have. As a child, I wouldn't climb up or down stairs unless I was beside a wall, holding the handrail and holding my daddy's hand. I was scared they would collapse or I'd fall off of them. So, just looking at these stairs was an accomplishment. Once I took the first step, I never released the handrails, looked left or right or ahead. I only looked down as I made my way up each step. Needless to say, I don't have any pictures on the way up or down. But once I get to each destination, I have pictures.
I climbed up the first set of stairs, and the altitude really got to me. I couldn't catch my breath, and I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest. I've never experienced anything like it before. Once I got to the first platform, I was extremely dizzy, too. I had to rest there a few minutes. Thankfully, a few others (including some youth) were in the same boat. From the platform, I took some pictures.
Most of the youth had already climbed the second set of stairs and were going off exploring. You can barely make a few out crossing the little bridge up there.
I actually thought I had more pictures than that from the platform. I guess I was struggling too much, but I was determined to keep going. So, I began to climb the second set of stairs. My breathing was horrible, and I was so lightheaded, I was scared I was going to pass out. I had to stop every ten steps or so and try to catch my breath. I finally made it up the second set of stairs. I really thought I was going to faint, so I sat down. I didn't care that the bench was wet from the sprinkling rain. I didn't care how wet my jeans got. I HAD to sit down! The other adults finally made it up the stairs, too. Once we all felt a little better, we decided to head for the trails. I was ready for some flat walking. Plus, we knew that we could follow the trails to an elevator that would take us down so we didn't have to climb the stairs down.
More pictures...
And this picture shows how far we came. You see here just the second flight of stairs.
UP NEXT: Exploring the trails!
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