Sphinx Lakes in Kings Canyon

The hand hewn steps serve as a foreground to the backdrop to the depths of Kings Canyon.

The Stairway to Heaven

And stairs! Big steps, little steps and long steps. At the top of one section you could look down and see nothing but snaking switchbacks and the bottom of the canyon. One wrong step....
All this is very tiring, though I personally prefer going up than going down. This trail is a real breath-taker. After a number of horse-steps (steps only a horse would be comfortable with going up) you are completely lung heaving and gasping for air. Sometimes you are able to walk on the sides of the horse-steps up the rock ramps of the trail work as a change of pace, but other times it is just too step and narrow and you just have to haul up the steps. But for the entire slow pace, boy do you gain the altitude fast!