The one I have pics of here are from the second hike which was longer (5 hours), and higher, and of course - MORE STAIRS! It's pretty incredible that someone(s) went to so much trouble to build stone steps up and down the mountains here! But it's probably much better from an erosion standpoint...
By the end of the hike I was soooooo gross and anticipating soreness (the previous hike left me with useless calves for 3 days!) so it was a welcome relief to stop at the hotsprings afterwards. I had never been to a naked hotspring before (men in one, women in the other), so that was a new experience! But I'm trying to get braver these days haha. The hot pool was too hot for my liking, the cold pool was too cold, but Tass and I went between the two and after 30 minutes we felt really nice. Best of all - no soreness afterwards!
