The Hike - Huangshan, China

Woke up early and started out on the the big hike. The first two hours was a sadistic uphill climb. Fortunately, it was pretty early and actually kind of cool. There were plenty of folks already on the trail when we arrived at 8:08. Upon completing that two hour stretch, we arrived at a scene that reminded me of a train station here. There were thousands of people everywhere at a kind of crossroads of different trails. The omnipresent tourgroups were extremely well-represented. And since there is no smoking on the trail, this was the chance that seemingly all the Chinese men had been waiting for. I'm not kidding. There is a redline painted on the ground where the trail ends and this part begins to indicate where you can puff away and where you can't. It was quite the scene but absolutely nothing compared to what we'd stumble across soon enough.

The next hour or so was pretty much a level hike, but the number of hikers on the trail seemed to be getting bigger. It was. After that, the next couple of hours were spent in what could be best characterized as L.A.-style freeway gridlock. There were times where we did not (could not) budge for a minute or two at a time due to the insane numbers of folks on the trail. Part of the problem was the width of the trail itself. Also, there were folks who sat in throne like carriers being carried up and down the darned trail by some pretty stout dudes with calves like cannons. But seriously, the big culprit was the quantity of hikers. In my naivete, I thought that I'd be enjoying a nature-bonding experience more or less on an intimate level. I simply didn't fathom that there would be (easily) over 10,000 people out and about doing the same thing. As we apporached points of interest, the bottlenecking began and it was surreal, at least for this American. There came a moment at THE most popular site, that I decided that I was over it. I couldn't deal with the numbers. Imagine Disneyland on a typical summer day, but out amongst the mountains, I guess.

It has to be noted that the scenery was spectacular, which explains the bedlam on the trails. The cloud cover, rain and fog kept me from getting the pictures I would've preferred, but also kept us reasonably cool. The last 3 hours-plus was spent going down and down and down. This was a knee-popping experience, but mercifully more peaceful as the majority of the hordes had opted for taking the cable car back to the base. I would love to come back here in the slow season or even in winter with snow all around. The place merits all the hype it gets!

Tomorrow I have one more bus ride of the six-hour variety into Shanghai as I round third and head for home. I can't believe it took me so long to throw in a baseball metaphor. I'll be back once for sure and then again when I get back to the OC.

Cheers.