This is one of those shots that had to grow on me for awhile.

I moved here to San Marcos from Charlotte, North Carolina in the summer of 2001. That was a very turbulent time in my life. Emotionally, I was under tremendous stress. As a result, I found myself exploring my new home by walking... all over town. There were days I would regularly clock out two and sometimes three hours walks. Often in the very early mornings. Sometimes twice a day. Back then, I lived in the student slums across the street from Texas State. This staircase was practically across the street from my place and was the main stairway of a subterranean parking garage which served the main campus and the library. It was often a starting point for me. I would ascend to the ridgeline of Comanche Hill and walk the spine of the university... throught the great collanade of the library... down through the central campus... all the way to Old Main, situated on it's lofty perch overlooking the city. From there, down the almost endless steps, around the administration building, across university drive into Sewell Park down to the scared healing waters of the river.

The river here saved my life.

There are exactly 836 vertical stairsteps from my apartments to the river along this route.

For the first several years I was here I literally wore a groove from my apartment, up these stairs, and down to the river.