The stairwell, how we left it last night. The openings are framed out with the double headers. Just need to install the short-spanning joists to the headers.

Here's the 2x4 on the left side of the upper stair section. The nail marks the stair ledger.

The same 2x4, showing one of the markings we made for the tread layout.

At this point, the plan is to have the GSL fully visible inside the back corner of the stairwell platform.

One of our whitetail friends heads back into the woods after observing us for several minutes.

The two joists installed from the rear girder to the stair ledger, including hangar brackets.

The brackets installed on the boxout that Bob built around the east GSL.

Jeff's finished work. The stairway begins at the ledger (far right), descends to the left to a platform at the pole, turns right, and descends to the basement. The double header in the middle of the picture, has been installed at full length for temporary support. Eventually, we'll cut out the left end that passes through the stairwell and place a log post at the inside corner of the platform.