Huang Shan (Yellow Mountains)

Hello all,
Last weekend I went to Huang Shan, or the Yellow Mountains, for my last big trip here in China. I return to the mother ship on Sunday, so this may be one of my last blog entries... I doubt that I will continue my blog after I get home. I'm not one for writing my day-to-day stuff in an online journal-type thing. BUT who knows...

Huang Shan was beautiful. At our highest point, we were at roughly 6000 ft. in altitude (~1860 meters). So yes , we were hiking through thick clouds that were rolling in and out of the valleys. At points, the clouds would completely hide some of the largest peaks in a matter of a few seconds. It was pretty amazing and it shows you how dense clouds can be. On our first day we hiked the western trail, which is the longest and hardest path. It certainly did not fall short of our expectations; the first day was about a 10-12 mile hike. It doesn't seem like much but in those 10-12 miles we climbed--as I said--about 6000 feet. That's quite a few feet per mile, if you break it down. So as you can expect, we were exhausted when we reached the top... so we took showers at a neighboring hotel (because our room did not have showers), ate some dinner, had a few shots of Jamo that Owen brought, and we CRASHED. We had a dorm-style room, which means that we shared our bedroom with 12 other old chinese people that were very loud both awake and sleeping. I had a guy snoring right in my ear for most of the night, and another guy farting like it was his job in the bunk above me (I think that's who the culprit was). Lets move onto some pictures.....



This was our first night when we stayed at the bottom of the mountains in a town called Tunxi. Very clean and small city. This was the old town... your basic junk stores with some good food. We had Korean BBQ this night and these photos are of a little cafe/bar that we found with tables set up outside (a rarity in China). We met the owner Frank, and a few other foreigners that are going to school in Tunxi/Huang Shan.

This was our bus ride up to the entrance of the mountains... we almsot got in an accident on the way back from the hike. Very hairy ride... and these drivers FLY through these roads.

This is the early stage of our hike... that railing is what we followed up most of the mountain.

This is a view down the valley that we started our hike from.

One of the peaks low on the range.

Most of the following pictures are just some peaks that I found interesting... I will only comment when necessary...

OK I couldn't rotate the picture... but this is me at a lookout point... We sweat out a good portion of MSG this day.... I hope.

Tree's growing out of rocks.... amazing.


Getting into the clouds....

This particular peak was windy as hell.... below me is nothing but rocks... good thing I'm not starving out here, or I may have blown off that peak...

New hair do...


Clouds hiding a huge peak...

The 'Welcoming Tree.' This tree sybolizes Chinese hospitality and friendliness... the plaque told me so. I think this tree was over 1000 years old.

Walking the plank.... probably about 5000 ft high



I will NEVER complain about my job again. These guys carry beer, concrete, food, sheets, bags of flour, statues, etc., etc., to the top of the mountain with these yolks. So basically they hiked the same trail I did with about 200 extra pounds. Oh and it's their job... Crazy.

Nearing the top...



Steps to Lotus Peak, which is the highest peak in Huang Shan. The peak was closed due to shabby steps and wind, but off to the side of the steps (on both sides) you only have a few feet to walk before it drops off. One of the few times I felt a little vertigo creeping up on me...

Path up the mountain.... those ants are people...


Bonzai!! This tree reminded me of Katarte Kid, which reminded me of my youth, which ABSOLUTELY deserves a picture!

Thumbs up for not being able to see where you would fall!

This is the next morning when we were trying to see the sunrise. This was about 4am at the Purple-Cloud Peak; one of the best spots to see the sunrise. However, the morning was very foggy (as it usually is), and we weren't able to catch a sunrise. Still a pretty cool thing to be climbing mountains at 4am....

Same peak after the crowd parted ways...

A path.

Same path.... that's Owen way up there.



Foggy peaks.

The following pictures are further down the mountains, when the clouds started clearing up.



Around 8-9 on our way down the East Trail. It only took us about 3 hours to climb down the East Trail. That was with a bummed knee, so it coulda been quicker, maybe.... But who's in a hurry?!

Blue skies!!
This is our ride home. AKA the 'National Lampoons Bus Ride Across China.' The 2 hour ride from Huangshan to Hangzhou turned into a 4 hour ride because we were pulled over by the police for having too many people on the bus. For the first half hour or so Owen and I were sittin on stools in the middle of the aisle. Then the bus driver made someone get up for us in case we were pulled over. Well shortly after we changed, we were pulled over and all of those sitting in the aisle were esccorted to a police van and dropped off down the road 3 miles. Well if we were in that situation, it would have worked out because 3 miles down the road, our bus picked up the people AGAIN and continued on down the side streets to Hangzhou. If we took the expressway, we woul have been pulled over again...... this is not unordinary by the way!!

So that concludes my trip to Huangshan. We had a blast. If we climbed 1 step then we climbed a million... my knee is still a little tender, but it will be OK. It was worth the scenery.

Before I leave China I may post some more random pictures of my last few days here, as I'm sure there will be many gambays and a couple large dinners to go.

I have enjoyed writing in this, I hope you have enjoyed reading it.

See ya!