Huashan and China's Most Dangerous Hiking Path

We got the train from Luoyang to Huashan North Station, which was as short taxi ride away from our hostel. 

That night we bought our food for the next two days, because you can't buy food in the park - not even instant noodles. You can buy overpriced meals there which would undoubtedly be of very low quality anyway. We bought self-heating rice meals, instant noodles, peanuts, and enough water for the trip. 

We asked our hostel staff about different ways to get up the mountain. They said there was rain in the forecast and the woman we were talking to suggested we just cancel the trip! We were shocked and frustrated. We stopped listening to their advice after that. 

The next morning we walked to the bus station and started the journey by vehicle up the mountain. Under different circumstances I would have just walked up the mountain. I think it takes half a day (and it's stairs all the way up!). But we had all our bags with us - I had a backpack with 4 weeks of stuff in it. We took the cable car up.

It was pretty expensive for China, but the views were so worth it! We got there fairly early so it wasn't *that* crowded.

The ride up gave us some of our best views and we started to get a feel for the magnitude of this mountain, which juts out from a flat plain and towers over the surrounding hills. 

We stayed at a hotel on the north peak. It was pretty basic, but it was well located to see the park. 

By this point we realized we got the best weather and air quality imaginable. This park isn't very far from Xi'an, one of the most polluted cities in China. 

We dropped our stuff and headed to the Changkong Cliff Road and the Thousand-food Precipice. We got there at about 11am and had to wait about half an hour to get to the path, because they thankfully limit the number of people that can go at any one time. By the time we left, the wait looked more like an hour and a half. I would recommend getting there early.

To go on this path, you pay about $4 and they put you in a harness and teach you how to use the carabiners and everything. That was more safe than I was expecting to feel. 

Because we were at the end of our group and everyone else seemed to want to rush to get on and quickly off the path, we had the place mostly to ourselves!

I think the planks just look like they're stapled together and glued to the mountain, but the whole thing felt pretty secure - even when people are passing you. Yeah, this path is a two-way path!

Some of the path is just holes cut into the mountain! I liked that. 

Here's a video I compiled of the footage I took while walking on that path. I had a GoPro strapped to my chest and you can kind of tell how crazy the path was. 

After that, we rested and took a shorter hike in the late afternoon. The rest of the park is pretty tame compared to that, but there are some parts where you can choose to go down these ladders.

That evening, before we went up to watch the sunset on the peak, we met a painter right in front of our room, who was painting the sunset. He said he's been painting that every day for a month. He would just stare at the painting for a while, add a brush stroke or two, then repeat. He was really lovely, though, and I chatted to him for a while. 

The sunset wasn't very spectacular, but we sat up on the peak until after it got dark and we were all chatting and having a good time. 

The next morning, we woke up crazy early and went up the same peak next to our hotel to watch the sunrise. Luckily the sunrise was way better than the sunset. 

After that, we basically packed up and headed down the mountain. While we were there it never rained. We actually had incredibly good weather! I can't believe the woman at our hostel told us to cancel our trip. This became our joke for the rest of the trip.

We then headed to Xi'an. The bus from the park dropped us off right in front of an empty bus about to leave for Xi'an! It took a couple of hours, then we had the afternoon to get to our hostel, and chill out a little bit. 

Again, if you didn't see the video I made of China's most dangerous hiking path, here it is: