Hua Shan

Last year on a three day weekend, some friends and I decided to go climb Hua Shan, one of China's five Daoist mountains. When we got to the bus station, however, we changed our minds because of two factors: the hoards of people going somewhere because it was a three day weekend, and it started raining. Since that time a year ago, I've been waiting for a chance to try again, and that chance finally came! The view from the top was absolutely beautiful.From the bottom, we hiked 5 hours of steps until we reached the North Peak, the first of five. Some parts were steeper than others, but almost all of the trail was made of stairs carved into the rock.

This was only the beginning!

taking a break

From North Peak, we climbed over to Central Peak, then East Peak, where we spent the night before hiking the rest.

the sun setting during our hike over to Central Peak

The next morning, we woke up early to see the sunrise. It was somewhat cloudy, but still awesome.
After the sun rose, we headed over to south peak, where I walked the plank. I had seen pictures of this before that looked scary, but when I saw the plankwalk, I knew I wanted to do it! We were clipped in with two carabiners, then walked along wooden planks that were secured along the side of a cliff. On the other side was, well, nothing but a really long fall. It was fun, though!
Hua Shan was beautiful, fun, invigorating, cold, and tiring. I love being outside and enjoying nature, but can't say I'm a huge fan of thousands of stairs! It's certainly not a mountain for the faint in heart, or the not-in-shape. I'm glad I finally had the chance to climb it, though...it was worth it!

You can see more pictures here.