Stairway to Heaven
Sep. 27th, 2021 09:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerSierra Buttes, Calif - Saturday, 25 Sep 2021. 12:45pm.
It was a short but strenuous hike from where we parked near the top of Sierra Buttes to the actual top. But reaching the actual top would require another change of modality. Ascending the tallest spire involves climbing about 150 stairs on a series of metal catwalks anchored to the quartzite rock.
As you can see from this picture, it's a pretty busy day today. In the few times we've been here before I don't think I've seen it even half this busy. Most of these hikers came up from a parking lot on the shoulder of the ridge, cutting in half the nearly 3,000' ascent from the lakes below. Of course, we cut down the on-foot portion of the trek to just a few hundred feet of ascent.
A few were amused by how far we'd driven our car. "I coulda taken a bus?" was my favorite remark. And as I mentioned before, we could've driven even farther. With our 4x4 we could've driven right to the base of the stairs. I didn't because it's pretty narrow up there and I imagined that it might be crowded— which it definitely is!
While there was a crowd relaxing at the bottom of the stairs there weren't as many people going all the way to the top. The steep stairs, where you could sometimes see 3,000' to 5,000' down under your feet, intimidated some.
The stairs didn't bother me. I've climbed worse. 😳
Next entry: up the final stairs... to the lookout tower!
It was a short but strenuous hike from where we parked near the top of Sierra Buttes to the actual top. But reaching the actual top would require another change of modality. Ascending the tallest spire involves climbing about 150 stairs on a series of metal catwalks anchored to the quartzite rock.
As you can see from this picture, it's a pretty busy day today. In the few times we've been here before I don't think I've seen it even half this busy. Most of these hikers came up from a parking lot on the shoulder of the ridge, cutting in half the nearly 3,000' ascent from the lakes below. Of course, we cut down the on-foot portion of the trek to just a few hundred feet of ascent.
A few were amused by how far we'd driven our car. "I coulda taken a bus?" was my favorite remark. And as I mentioned before, we could've driven even farther. With our 4x4 we could've driven right to the base of the stairs. I didn't because it's pretty narrow up there and I imagined that it might be crowded— which it definitely is!
While there was a crowd relaxing at the bottom of the stairs there weren't as many people going all the way to the top. The steep stairs, where you could sometimes see 3,000' to 5,000' down under your feet, intimidated some.
The stairs didn't bother me. I've climbed worse. 😳
Next entry: up the final stairs... to the lookout tower!
