Friday, May 26, 2006
May 26: Zhonghe Shan, 4092m
On Thursday afternoon (the 25th) I packed up my valuables (read: crapola, some of which isn't even mine) and got on a bus for Dali. The plan was to spend the night at a mountainside guesthouse, and proceed to Kunming the next day. Basically, I'd see Dali from a distance.
The guesthouse, the Higherland Inn, is really very nice. The girls working there are wonderful, and they fed us a massive barbecue dinner. "Us" in this case was a Canadian couple from the Hammer, an older (retired) Dutch couple working in Chengdu (he's teaching MBA students, she's a bon-vivante) and another Dutch couple, John and Meike, who are on a trip around the world (destinatiosn they're already visited include Bolivia, Patagonia, Antarctica, New Zealand, and some others).
Anyway, when I got to the Higherland Inn I saw signs saying there was a route up to the nearby summit, Zhonghe Shan, that would take 5 hrs up and 3 hrs down. Zhonghe Peak is at 4092m, and you start climbing from about 2700m. The choice was to hike the trail the next day, or to see the Stone Forest on Saturday. I hummed and haa'd a little bit and then I got a random phone call from Katie who said "go hike!" and that's when I had the epiphany: I'd rather spend a day climbing the mountain than a day going to another tourist trap, no matter how nice.
Later that night two guys showed up at the guesthouse looking haggard. They came and disappeared, and I found them in my room sleeping on the two spare beds. Turns out they went up the mountain that day and near the summit both started to feel the altitude quite badly, and had a nasty descent that incorporated a fair bit of puking. Altitude sickness is not fun.
The next morning (the 26th) John, Meike and I set off around 8 on this hike. There are only a few words to describe the trail adequately: steep, long, and in places a bit technical. For instance, there is a substantial section of the trail that goes over some boulders, which are both steep and have very few footholds. You can't get around the boulders, and you really don't want to fall. Plus, it rained in the morning, so the vegitation was wet, and in the afternoon it started pouring rain. Hiking at its best.
We made the summit in just under 5 hours, and took another 5 hours to get down. In other words, we climbed about 1400m (4600 ft) in 5 hours - not bad. I spent most of the day in the lead, setting pace - it worked out very well, since all three of us were roughly the same level of fitness and walked at roughly the same pace. It was a very long, very consistent 5 hour ascent. What's at the top? Typical Chinese horror - a TV tower of some sort (really a sattelite dish) and an ugly building. The people in the building were unfriendly and claimed not to have any tea when I asked. It's like a good movie with a bad ending.
The way down was long, wet and pretty rough. The aforementioned boulder sections of the trail were quite tough to get down, and took a very long time - I was in the lead, so I got to make the mistakes and show Meike and John what not to do. I also got to be the one figuring out the best way down the rocks, which in a lot of ways was kinda fun. However, it was definitely hard. Whereas going up is a matter of being physically fit enough, the way down is a matter of concentration. The trail is slippery and steep; a misstep can lead to a sprained ankle or a nose-dive into the mud or the bush or something.
The verdict is that the trail is awesome. In a lot of places it reminded me of hiking in Southeast Alaska: a forest-covered mountain trail, and very wet. John and Meike were terrific hiking partners, too. I think I've had more physically exhausting hikes (like the Tiger Leaping Gorge) but I don't think I've ever hiked a trail that was quite as technical. It was great fun. The Stone Forest can wait.
Today I'm taking a bus to Kunming, and the next day I'm flying to Shenzhen and taking a train to Hong Kong. Then, I'm off to India. Two weeks from today I'll be walking through the Indian Himalaya with sun in my eyes and a smile on my face.
The guesthouse, the Higherland Inn, is really very nice. The girls working there are wonderful, and they fed us a massive barbecue dinner. "Us" in this case was a Canadian couple from the Hammer, an older (retired) Dutch couple working in Chengdu (he's teaching MBA students, she's a bon-vivante) and another Dutch couple, John and Meike, who are on a trip around the world (destinatiosn they're already visited include Bolivia, Patagonia, Antarctica, New Zealand, and some others).
Anyway, when I got to the Higherland Inn I saw signs saying there was a route up to the nearby summit, Zhonghe Shan, that would take 5 hrs up and 3 hrs down. Zhonghe Peak is at 4092m, and you start climbing from about 2700m. The choice was to hike the trail the next day, or to see the Stone Forest on Saturday. I hummed and haa'd a little bit and then I got a random phone call from Katie who said "go hike!" and that's when I had the epiphany: I'd rather spend a day climbing the mountain than a day going to another tourist trap, no matter how nice.
Later that night two guys showed up at the guesthouse looking haggard. They came and disappeared, and I found them in my room sleeping on the two spare beds. Turns out they went up the mountain that day and near the summit both started to feel the altitude quite badly, and had a nasty descent that incorporated a fair bit of puking. Altitude sickness is not fun.
The next morning (the 26th) John, Meike and I set off around 8 on this hike. There are only a few words to describe the trail adequately: steep, long, and in places a bit technical. For instance, there is a substantial section of the trail that goes over some boulders, which are both steep and have very few footholds. You can't get around the boulders, and you really don't want to fall. Plus, it rained in the morning, so the vegitation was wet, and in the afternoon it started pouring rain. Hiking at its best.
We made the summit in just under 5 hours, and took another 5 hours to get down. In other words, we climbed about 1400m (4600 ft) in 5 hours - not bad. I spent most of the day in the lead, setting pace - it worked out very well, since all three of us were roughly the same level of fitness and walked at roughly the same pace. It was a very long, very consistent 5 hour ascent. What's at the top? Typical Chinese horror - a TV tower of some sort (really a sattelite dish) and an ugly building. The people in the building were unfriendly and claimed not to have any tea when I asked. It's like a good movie with a bad ending.
The way down was long, wet and pretty rough. The aforementioned boulder sections of the trail were quite tough to get down, and took a very long time - I was in the lead, so I got to make the mistakes and show Meike and John what not to do. I also got to be the one figuring out the best way down the rocks, which in a lot of ways was kinda fun. However, it was definitely hard. Whereas going up is a matter of being physically fit enough, the way down is a matter of concentration. The trail is slippery and steep; a misstep can lead to a sprained ankle or a nose-dive into the mud or the bush or something.
The verdict is that the trail is awesome. In a lot of places it reminded me of hiking in Southeast Alaska: a forest-covered mountain trail, and very wet. John and Meike were terrific hiking partners, too. I think I've had more physically exhausting hikes (like the Tiger Leaping Gorge) but I don't think I've ever hiked a trail that was quite as technical. It was great fun. The Stone Forest can wait.
Today I'm taking a bus to Kunming, and the next day I'm flying to Shenzhen and taking a train to Hong Kong. Then, I'm off to India. Two weeks from today I'll be walking through the Indian Himalaya with sun in my eyes and a smile on my face.
# posted by Alex Perel @ 9:28 PM 
