Mt. Huashan
This morning we met at 8:00 for our trip to Mt. Huashan. The bus ride took about 2 hours. We first stopped at a shop outside the visitor’s center where we could buy gloves and maps. Our local tour guide suggested the gloves for holding on to the rope or chain railings while on the trails, but our tour company said they hadn’t used them in the past and didn’t really need them, so I just decided to buy one pair of gloves ,instead of two (just in case).
After getting our tickets at the visitor center, we took a cable car up to the North Peak. We were given 4 hours to hike the trails at the top. Several of us took the trail to the Plank Road which is a 2 foot wide, 100 meter long plank drilled into the side of the mountain. We had seen pictures of this before we came, and were up
for the challenge.
The hike to the Plank Road took about an hour and a half mostly all stairs going up. I think we walked up more stairs here then we did on the Great Wall. It was a cool, grey day which actually was perfect weather for the hike. Tom was excited to use his Google Translate app to have a conversation with a Chinese man along the way.
When we got to the plank road there was a line waiting to get harnessed up. It cost 30RMB to rent a harness. We left our backpacks and camera with the harness people and started down the metal steps. I was so incredibly nervous. About 3/4 of the way down, we were told to stop so people leaving the plank could go up past us. As I was death gripping the very skinny metal step for over 5 minutes, my brain had gone into overdrive with fear and after looking down at the next precarious step, I decided to not hang out any longer and go back up. At this point I was happy to have the gloves as the metal rungs were really cold. Tom must have hung out on that ladder for at least 20 minutes. He said he could have used the gloves. Oops guess we shouldn’t have been so cheap and bought 2 pairs.
Once I got back up and got my harness off I was surprised to see Leah coming back up the ladder. I didn’t even know she was at the plank road because she had walked on ahead of us. She said from the time she stood in line for the plank, to going on the plank and off the plank, it took an hour and a half. At his point it was about 2:45 and we were supposed to be back to our meeting spot at 4:00. I had no idea it would take that long, but Tom was already hanging on to the side of the mountain so we knew we wouldn’t make the 4:00 meet time. Luckily Lysette and Leah were just coming off and they knew exactly where we were and knew we would be late. Jeff and Mollie were also still standing in line (just before the harness area) for the plank road and had no plans not to do it, so we knew they would also not make the meet time.
I left the crowded line of the plank walk and went up to an observation area. I was really happy that I could see Tom go down the remaining ladder and on the plank. It actually worked out really good that I didn’t go so that I could take pictures of him. Thank goodness for the zoom on our lens! It took Tom about 20-30 minutes to get back up off the plank, and for a minute I thought I might have missed him and was worried that maybe I was standing around waiting for him but he was already headed back to our meeting spot. I was happy when I got a glimpse of him still coming up the ladder.
When he got off the ladder we began the hike back at 3:50. We knew we would be late to the meeting point, but still made good time. It was a lot easier coming down than it was going up, and we made it back at 4:40. Jeff and Mollie were not too far behind us and got back 10 minutes later. Leah said she wasn’t sure how she felt about the plank walk. It was crowded and nerve racking. As you went one direction, other people would be headed back going the other direction and you would have to go over them. Everyone said the plank was sturdy and didn’t have any real fear on the plank. I think if I didn’t have to stop halfway down the ladder and would have kept going I probably would have made it onto the plank. Later when I saw Mollie, she said she had made it about as far as me as well, and had gone back too.
We took the cable car back down the mountain and were soon on the bus back to our hotel. We hadn’t really eaten while we were hiking, so we dove into our snacks. The Finger Licking Braised Pork potato chips tasted more like regular BBQ chips. The Spring Onion Meat Floss bread was interesting and I didn’t really care for it. Jeff, our human garbage disposal, took care of it. Leah’s wasabi peas did not have any wasabi, but they were good. Our pound cake muffin things were really good. We didn’t realize that we were going straight to the restaurant from the mountain, so by the time we got to the buffet dinner Tom really wasn’t hungry.
At dinner I tried a Chinese Hamburger (chipped beef on a hard bun), Chinese noodles, and various other dishes. The meal was good, and by the time we got back to the hotel at 9:00ish I had enough time to do some laundry and write a couple of blog posts. I enjoy seeing the historical sites of China, but I really also enjoyed the hiking today.
