thx guys for the comments! it's a great place, highly recommended. you could do a day trip, but usually 3 days and 2 nights on the mountain would be good (and you can get great shots at dawn, etc). no, its not a dangerous hike - the stairs are wide enough for 2 ppl. that said, you *could* easily hop over the knee-high railings if you felt like it... in to the abyss...