Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) is a world famous series of peaks in southern Anhui province.

Friday, I traveled to the mountain and ascended via a cable car. I spent most of the day exploring various rugged trails, and absorbing the beauty of the rock formations.

My good friend Marlene had visited Huangshan in June. Unfortunately she had the bad fortune to suffer almost constant rain while she was there. (But, she is an excellent photographer and nevertheless got some great photos!)

My experience was different, and Friday was virtually cloudless.

I stayed in a hotel on the mountain Friday night. Along with a hundred others I woke early Saturday morning and stumbled in the dark up a steep series of steps toward the top of Lion Peak. We all waited in the cold for sunrise.

As the sky lightened, a sea of clouds washed up the mountain. It was spectacular!

After what seemed like an hour of beauty, the excitement subsided as the rising clouds settled in over the mountain.
I headed back to the hotel for a quick breakfast, and then checked out.

The thick mist of the enveloping cloud made visibility poor. I had a decision to make: head to the nearest cable car and go down the mountain? Or try to make sense of the mostly useless maps of the mountain trails, and take a much longer route to try to glimpse the famous “Greeting Pine” that provides a visual welcome to visitors.

I selected the latter option- undoubtedly the wrong choice given my advanced age and ruined ankles (in my defense- I did survive… Barely!)

The correct path was often uncertain, and the poor visibility did not help. It was brutal! Extended climbs that had me panting and my heart pounding, descents that had my knees screaming in pain- then, repeat, and repeat, and repeat.

After a couple of hours, a strong, bitter cold wind began to blow. At times it challenged my balance. Other times it tried to send my hat flying. I cinched the chin cord of the hat tighter!

The wind began to create occasional breaks in the clouds, exposing rugged peaks. Eventually the enveloping cloud was gone! But the dramatic and challenging up and down of the mountain path remained.

Maps were bad, and trail signs gave dubious and sometimes contradictory guidance.

Yet somehow I finally made it to the Greeting Pine. There I jockeyed with hundreds of other who also wanted photos.

That done, I fought my way along trails packed with new arrivals to reach the cable car station and head down!