Epic Trip to Huang Shan

Staring up at the huangshan mountain range. The tram's vertical ascent alone is over 3500 feet!
No worries, we took a tram up, the only problem was the roof of clouds that was waiting for us near the top.
Good times on the gondola
many, many steep steps awaited us upon getting off the tram.
and narrow!
Hiking among the clouds was pretty amazing! It gave everything a foggy mysterious affect. This was at the highest peak of the entire mountain range, Lotus Peak.
The wind would blow the clouds away for a few seconds and then return.
We got lost a little on the way back down and ended back up at the tram.

Frank and Tim came along for the fun.

The clouds started lifting slowly as the day wore on...

Chinese people love jumping in pictures
this lady couldn't resist jumping in.
By afternoon the clouds had almost entirely lifted


Finally we arrived at "the grand canyon of the west sea" it felt like something from Indiana Jones! These mountains had the majesty and height of the tetons, the jagged shear cliffs of Bryce Canyon and the lush vegetation of a rain forest. Truly the most amazing place I've ever seen.


incredible!



The gang at the grand canyon
trees somehow manage to grow in the most amazing places.
more and more stairs...
Walking Fairy bridge was like something out of The Lord of The Rings!
It was even more amazing from the sides. The chasm it spanned was something like 300-400 feet high!

we have no idea how somebody built this temple, it was surrounded by sheer cliffs.


We stayed the night up on the mountain in a little hotel and then woke up at 4:45AM and saw the most amazing sunrise ever.



then the clouds came back for a while spoiling what would be amazing views...
this rock was one of the coolest! It is called "flew from afar rock" because the rock looks like it must have flown there to arrive at the cliff's edge. It is pointing straight up!
more amazing cliffs!
ninja jodi and deb
epic crane!
at lover's point

people carve their names in locks and clip them to the chains that way if they ever get divorced they have to climb back up and cut it off.
jodi was totally shooing people away so we could get a good shot.
Finally we started the epic hike down the mountain instead of using the tram. These guys were absolutely amazing. They would carry 100+ pounds of gear all the way up the mountain (Over 6500 steps!) Their shoulders were misshapen and deformed from the weight.


they had mega calves though

the sight was even beautiful from the bottom. What an amazing trip!