September 24 (Thursday) – Huang Shan

The drive to Huang Shan mountain was about 45 minutes. We left the large pieces of luggage at the hotel in Tunxi and had only our back packs and a small piece with some extra clothes and toiletries. We took a cable car to the top and then walked what seemed to be a very long distance (because there were lots of stairs) to the hotel.  



















After lunch we headed out to see the sights, taking the trail along the Xihai Grand Canyon. The scenery was spectacular and the walk not for the faint of heart or weak of limbs…so I was slow going. The walk wasn’t so terribly far…about seven or eight kilometers (4 or 5 miles) but in that distance we went from an altitude of 5,280 feet down to about 4,526 feet, a drop of 750 feet. I only went down to 4788 feet … I skipped the farthest portion of the trail. The change in elevation required 4400 stair steps round trip (3740 for me). This count doesn’t include the 1200 stairs from the cable car to the hotel in the morning. Many of the steps hang suspended off the side of the mountain. Right out over sheer cliffs. Nothing under them. I could have done without that.
  
Video in a new large window, Mountains

At one of the look outs we bought a padlock, had our names engraved on it and locked it to a chain overlooking the valley. There were hundreds or maybe thousands of the locks on various chains throughout the trails. When a couple puts a lock with their names on it on the chains you are now locked together forever.

We then went to Lion Peak to see the sunset (stair steps required: 860, piece of cake). The sunset was a bust but the clouds were playing with some mountain peaks behind us and we got some great pictures.