In the morning I took the local bus down to the train station to find a mini bus that would take me to Mt. Huashan for some hiking. One of the scouts took me over to lady who was quite irritated with me when I said I didn’t want a package, just the transportation. Afterwards I realized it would have only been a few dollars more, but my original intent was not to take the cable car or at least round trip. I was shuttled into a mini bus with just the one seat remaining and a woman that seemed to be talking quite loudly. Little did I realize I had been put on a guided tour bus for Chinese. We stopped at a place where everyone was to rest and eat. The guide managed to find a young lady from one of the other minibuses that spoke enough English to convey this to me. It was her and her friends that I wound up following on the trail later. Because of the length of time getting to the destination and amount of time before departure, I had to purchase a round trip cable car ticket like everyone else.
There was no map in English to purchase of the trail and sights on the mountain. Since the signs weren’t in English it wouldn’t have helped me anyway. Found some energetic Chinese foursome from another bus and followed them figuring they’d do the whole route and if they missed their bus I could tag along back to the city with them. I wanted to do the whole thing but fear of not being back in time for the tour bus made me nervous only because I would have to find my way back and a taxi for a couple of hours especially since I didn’t have my accommodations written in Chinese with me. In this group was the same young lady from the rest area. She was very nice and would give me time estimates to the next sight based on what her fellow had estimated.
I had previously hike two sections of the Great Wall, which were difficult, but not as difficult as Mt Huashan because you are continually climbing up and down. Some steps were so steep and short that people bent over to grasp the chain link fence while place their feet completely sideways and ascending horizontally. Other areas had merely foot holes carved in the large boulders without any railing.
The views of the craggy mountain peaks with the wispy clouds drifting by was breathtaking. As I stopped to admire the view, the clouds would drift by to reveal a hidden pagoda or small temple. You never knew what you might be able to photograph.
Reaching the highest point of 7250 feet, I thought I’d reach the apex of the hike, but there was a very dangerous section just ahead that should have come with warnings in every language.