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Minecraft: Island in the Sky
In my previous post about my first experiences in Minecraft, I mentioned I saw a floating island in the sky and I wanted to go there. Folks offered some ideas on how to reach it, and I decided it was my next goal!
I set about learning how ladders worked in this game. This is something I’m familiar with since I have done a whole lot of mining and building in 7D2D, and it has a similar ladder system. If you build a nice enclosed 1-block chute upwards or downwards, you’re pretty safe to stay on a ladder no matter how long you make it. So, I set about doing just that.
Of course, this didn’t come without a few casualties….
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First, I built a little base in a hollowed cave area in the hillside up under the island. I moved my spawn spot there (since baddies seem to like to creep up on me while I was working), and this helped a whole lot.
I made a path up to the top of that hill and cleaned it up, lighting it as well as I could (thanks for the tips, everyone). Then, I built a little safe station from which my ladder-tower would extend. Surprisingly, I got it right where it needed to be up under the island, which I didn’t expect.
Block by block, I started to build upwards, making a safe chute with a ladder within. From time to time, I stuck a torch in the wall to keep it lit.
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It wasn’t the prettiest construct, but it progressed slowly day by day.
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It was neat to look upwards and try to judge how much closer I was inching to the bottom of the island.
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…And watching the land grow smaller and further away…
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….as the tower got taller…
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I tell you, even in games I’m afraid of heights. I ended up putting away all the stuff in my bags except for building materials out of fear of falling and dying. I know nothing that terrible would happen, but man, this made me nervous.
Shakey hands. Sweaty palms.
I knew I was getting up there when I started seeing clouds going through my tower!
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And then, suddenly… there it was! My tower had reached a connection to the bottom of the island! As I said, I couldn’t have planned it better — just a little more in any direction would have required me to build a platform to reach the island. This was the perfect spot to tunnel up at the very edge of one side.
![](../../../pic/2016-05-09_00-04-35.jpg)
But, when I pulled myself up on the ledge, I realized I was only on the bottom area of the island. I had a long way to go to reach the top, still.
![](../../../pic/2016-05-09_00-05-39.jpg)
Whelp. More ladders!
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When I finally reached to top, it was night, so I lit the area up as much as I could and waited for the sun to rise.
![](../../../pic/2016-05-09_00-28-53.jpg)
The top of the island is a lot smaller than I thought it would be. But that’s okay. I can expand and build on it anyhow.
The tower I built is quite impressive from a distance… and most importantly, it’s safe.
![](../../../pic/2016-05-09_01-05-15.jpg)
The first thing I experimented with was creating a waterfall from the island, of course! XD
![](../../../pic/2016-05-09_01-30-26.jpg)
It even looks pretty awesome where it meets the ground.
![](../../../pic/2016-05-09_01-30-29.jpg)
I haven’t decided exactly what I’m going to build on top of the island yet, as this is as far as I’ve gotten. But reaching the island was a success, and I never even fell once! 🙂