Crazy Paths @ Huang Shan

Having been to a few mountains in China I knew we would be climbing tons of steps, but there were so much more than I expected. The path just kept twisting up and around the mountains. For every step you walked down you knew that was one step you will have to take up to get back to the "dorm." Tommy and Tao insisted on making the 2.5 hour climb up the mountain. Thankfully, I decided not to follow them and instead took the 15 min. cable car or else they would have had to abandon me in the middle of the West Sea Canyons. The views were amazing but I was even more fascinated by how they created the paths. Some of the paths are carved into the mountain. And the others were hanging off the sides of the cliffs.
I think the funniest part of the trip is the last few hours on the walk down the mountain, people walking down kept suggesting to those walking up to give-up on trying to climb and take the cable car up. There are 3 different entrances to the mountain and of the 2 main ones the "Easy" path takes 2.5 hours and the "Hard" path takes at least 5 hours to climb. The guides all suggest to climb up the "Easy" side and descend the "Hard" path. On your walk down you just feel so guilty watching all the hikers struggling to make their way up, knowing they have so much more to go just to get to the beginning of the circuit at the top of the mountain, which takes several hours in itself. I wonder if they knew what they were getting themselves into.


Tao was great at climbing all the steps, but a little nervous when the steps were hanging off the sides of the mountain. She hung in there and just took her time on scarier parts.