Huang Shan etc

The night before last I returned from Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain), back to Nanjing. The trip was something else, and the mountain was spectacular. I took over 700 pictures, and am still in the process of editing them. The pictures will probably do more justice than my writing about it would, but I can try. This should be the link to the photo set of the pictures of the mountain. The initial ascent was probably close to 5,000-6,000 steps up, and over the course of the weekend we estimated that we probably took over 10,000 steps. For all you PNW hikers, I do not mean footsteps, I mean stairs. The mountain has staircases built into it's sides, making the climb not only easier, but possible in some places. It was the first time, I think, that I've been on a mountain that had not ever been a volcano, which was an interesting realization the second morning at the top. Both mornings I got up early to see the sunrise, which was lovely as we were above the clouds, but honestly nothing more incredible than I have seen over the bay in Port Washington. What was remarkable though were the thousands of other people up for the sunrise, clamoring for the best spot to see the show, and the laughing and cheering that ensued as the sun showed it's bright face through the clouds. I guess if you live in Shanghai or Seoul, you wouldn't get to see that much. The scenery was all around gorgeous, and seeing the mountains lit up and colored by the sun this way was certainly special. It was nice, too, to get out of the city and breathe some fresh air. As much as I am a city person, Nanjing can be a little intense. While I climbed up the mountain, and hiked around the days I was there, I decided to take the cable car down and save my knees which were a little achy. Since we had to carry up all our stuff for the weekend, my back was thanking me too by the end of the day. The cable car was it's own adventure, and while well regulated, I don't know that it would ever feel safe riding a box attached to a thick string so many feet in the air over forested granite. Luckily I was in a car with three other people, and my little freakout didn't last too long.

As for the hike itself, I'm finding it really difficult to describe. It was hard, and steep, and sweaty. The mantra is that when you hike, you hike, and when you look at the beauty, look at the beauty--otherwise you might fall off the mountain. This is very true in some places for sure. There were hundreds of porters we saw walking up and down the stairs, carrying loads of various things on their backs--from steel plates to huge bundles of plastic to canisters of propane. We stayed in two hotels at the top for the 2 nights we were there, and the enormity of the buildings, with the fancy marble (or faux marble) floors and counters was humbling when I realized how all the materials had to get up the mountain. We asked our guide, Hu, if they really carried everything up and he kept insisting that they did, piece by piece. Knowing this, and the insane amount of work that must have gone into carving and building all the steps was really humbling--in addition to being among rocks larger than I have ever seen. Despite all this, somehow the other tourists, mostly Chinese, were still really crass, spitting and yelling and playing their radios and talking on their cell phones. I'm surprised more people don't get hurt on that mountain considering all the distraction. There's a small poem in the works about it, because this might have been the most remarkable human related part of the hike.
Ok, since pictures are worth 1000 words, I'm going to do some more work on editing my photos so I can get them up. More later about the rest of the trip, and my adventures today.