A tale from Hua Shan in Shaanxi province. Sorry this happened, mom. But look! I’m still breathing!

As much as I try to exercise constraint, I simply cannot stop visiting/blogging about mountains. Really, guys, I’m trying. This mountain experience, however, was something else entirely.

One of China’s Big Five

First, some background info! China has a lot of mountains, but 5 of these mountains are more special than the rest: China’s Five Great Mountains. These mountains are the holiest and most significant mountains of Chinese history, specifically when it comes emperors’ pilgrimages and other events of religious importance. They include HuaShan, SongShan, TaiShan, HengShan #1, and HengShan #2. Yes, there are two called HengShan that are pronounced exactly the same and yes, they they are spelled with two sets of characters that mean two very different things. Classic China.

There are also some more important mountains in China, notably the Four Sacred Buddhism Mountains (WutaiShan, EmeiShan, PutuoShan, and JiuhuaShan). They’re not as cool or significant, and I’m only really mentioning them because they’re on this nifty map I found.

Hua Shan, which means “splendid mountain,” is the westernmost of the five great mountains. It’s located about an hour by train from Xi’an, home to some awesome minority population and culture. Hua Shan’s temples date back to as early as 2nd century BC. So this mountain has been adored by the Chinese for over 2,000 years, and the concept of America has existed for a little over 400 years. Think about that over your morning coffee.

We only spent a day at the mountain, but it was a long day indeed. We decided to be the darling budgetiers that we are and opt for a hike up the mountain rather than the “expensive” cable car (it was $10, which is equivalent to 1 or 2 days of meals in China). “We’re young and fit! It will be fun!” we said.

Three and a half hours later, we finally reached the North peak of the mountain, but only after what was one of the most strenuous hikes of my life. The trail was very well-paved with steps, which meant that instead of gradual scaling, we went up, up, and up. It was rewarding at the end and at various points throughout the hike, but man, was it exhausting. We were, of course, treated to some pretty incredible views.

Oh, mountains. Please send some of your kind to the Midwestern U.S. so I can see you beauty more often. Will trade for corn.

After hiking up to the North peak, we then found ourselves in the range of the rest of Hua Shan’s peaks (all are within a one or two hours’ hike of each other, see map below). From there, we had one destination in mind: the cliffside path. We had to bounce across a few peaks in order to get there, during which even more incredible views appeared before our eyes.

The Walk of Death

China’s most dangerous hike, China’s deadliest hike, a hike only meant for crazy people, whatever you want to call it–this thing wasn’t messing around. Before experiencing the plank myself, I thought people were exaggerating about its scare-to-cool ratio. I mean, come on, it’s just a mountain, right? I’ve hiked on plenty of mountains before…Boy, was I wrong.

This mountain strapped you into a questionable harness on a questionable cable. To be honest, if you fell off the path, you’d be falling for the rest of your life (which would be short by that point). We inched our way across the plank, hugging the rock face whenever someone passed us in the opposite direction. Every once in awhile, I’d look down. I’m not one to usually be afraid of heights (thanks to many years as an awkwardly tall youth), but with only a two-foot wooden plank standing between me and a 2,200 meter drop, “fearless” was out of the question. To put it frankly, looking down scared us shitless.

Unfortunately, we didn’t make it all the way to the famous tea house at the end of the trail: the sun was setting, making our glove-less hands on metal chains painfully cold. But, we did get to hike into the sunset, which was pretty unbelievable.

I’m not sure if anyone has ever died doing this hike, so we’ll just not think about that. It was something incredible, and if you ever visit China and spend time in Xi’an, make sure you save a day for this mountain. And, better yet, I dare you to walk the plank. What better way to feel alive?

And, to top it all off, here’s a little YouTube video I put together for good measure. It still doesn’t do the experience justice, but it’s a bit more fittingly bone-chilling than the pictures:

Stay tuned for updates from Huangshan, Nanjing, a spontaneous mystery trip (decided as of today and departing tomorrow), and Yunnan province!