Zhangjiajie National Forest Park
It was late at night, about 10pm, on my birthday. I was sitting in my car killing a little bit of time before heading into my climbing gym when a friend sent me a post on Instagram of a national park in China that defied reality. Without much thought, I jumped on Google, found the closest airport and booked a flight to see it firsthand. This was my birthday present to myself. I gave myself about two weeks of prep time to do my research, acquire my visa, and go purchase any last minute necessities.
First things first: I had to go apply for a Chinese visa. This was my first experience applying for a visa beforehand, I’ve only ever been to countries with visa-on-arrival programs. Fortunately for me, there is a Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles so all I had to do was take and print a picture of myself, type and print the application form, bring my passport to the consulate, pay $160, and wait a few days for them to process and return my passport. Simple! For those that live in a place with no local Chinese Consulate, you can apply online through a variety of websites like this one.
Aside from acquiring the visa, I didn’t do much to prepare for this trip. I knew I wanted to spend about a week exploring Zhangjiajie and beyond that I wanted to head North to Xi’an to experience what some people claim to be the ‘most dangerous hike in the world’.
As soon as I landed in Dayong my excitement levels were through the roof. As you walk off the airplane you can see the incredible mountains just a few dozen kilometers away. As I always do whenever I travel, I booked only my first night of the trip so I’m able to get the lay of the land and figure out my next move; whether that be extending my stay or finding a new location. I paid a cab driver $29 to take me an hour North to my hotel ($30/night). Upon arrival I wasn’t overly impressed by the location. The hotel was fine, it’s an inexpensive room in a small town without much around it. However, I knew I wouldn’t want to stay here for more than the one night. I walked around the small town a bit and decided to hunker down and take off early for the parks main entrance.
One important thing to consider while visiting China is that their internet is under the jurisdiction of Chinese sovereignty and, coming from a place like the US, certain permissions we’re familiar with are restricted. My piece of advice is to download and familiarize yourself with a VPN either for your phone or laptop. Especially if you’re considering using your social media or browsing the internet like you’re used to. In addition, I’d highly recommend you download WeChat which is their version of WhatsApp and is incredibly useful for communicating with locals when necessary.
I made the mistake of booking my first hotel on the West side of the park so on day two I hired a car ($42) to take me to the main entrance which was roughly about another hour drive. This is where I should’ve came day one. The town at the base of the park entrance is a bit more lively with local vendors and quite a few lodging options. I stumbled upon this International Hotel ($70/night) and fell in love with it instantly. It is in the perfect location; about a five minute walk to the park entrance, an amazing breakfast buffet, and great dinner menu. I don’t usually rave about hotels but this place was seriously perfect.
The first few days I didn’t get much exploring done due to inclement weather. Being locked in a hotel room for the first few days wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for and I even considered leaving early and returning later on in the year because the forecast called for rain, rain, and more rain. On the third day I figured I might as well make the best of a bad situation so I threw on my poncho and got to walking. The park entry fee is $34 but it’s good for three days so it allowed me entry to the park for the rest of my time there.
Fortunately for me, the rain actually kept most people away from the park my first few days of exploring, something I later realized was a huge blessing. Not only did the cloudy weather add to the dramatic depth of the parks many sandstone pinnacles but it also allowed me to explore almost entirely by myself. Around day four of my time in Zhangjiajie I started to see the crowds roll in. These crowds can be intense. This park is insanely beautiful. I have never been to a place that’s made me stop dead in my tracks to admire the view on such a consistent basis. The pathways that connect viewpoints here are well developed but also very long. I averaged about eight miles a day by foot. The park has done an impressive job of making the park easily accessible, whether it be via elevator, bus, gondola, or the like. They’ve done a fantastic job of this but it also diminishes the majesty of reaching a challenging summit on your own accord.
My last day of visiting this incredible place left me feeling incredibly fulfilled and excited to see what else China had to offer. I had such high expectations for Zhangjiajie and I can confidently say they were blown out of the water. It’s hard for me to put into words just how special this place is. It truly is something that has to be experienced first hand.
Tianmen Mountain
I had a late flight from Dayong to Xi’an which gave me the ability to check out of my hotel early, catch a cab back down to Dayong, and explore Tianmen Mountain a bit. Tianmen Mountain, meaning Heaven’s Gate Mountain, is one of the most visited places in rural China and is incredibly well known because of it’s daunting rock arch and glass walkway high in the clouds.
The cost for the cableway to the top of the mountain is $37 which includes a gondola ride to the base of the roadway, a shuttle ride to the base of the arch, and a gondola ride back down to the bottom where your journey began. Even the gondola ride up through the mountains is awesome and will build your excitement as you move higher and higher through the rocks that seem to jet up out of nowhere. The stairway to the top of the photogenic arch is 999 steps which poses a fun little challenge for the determined. From there you take a system of escalators to the peak of the mountain where you can walk around, enjoy some food and explore the area a bit.
I highly recommend a day trip to Tianmen Mountain if you have the time after visiting Zhangjiajie. You can fit the whole journey into about 6-10 hours depending on how much time you want to spend at the top. The road is windy and the vertigo is real but it’s an unforgettable experience.
Mount Huashan
I caught a redeye from DYG -> XIY at 10pm. If you take one piece of advice from this entire post, let it be this one: DO NOT TAKE A REDEYE WHEN THE FLIGHT IS ONLY TWO HOURS EXPECTING TO BE RESTED AND READY TO ROCK. I landed in Hehua Airport at 11:10pm and I was so exhausted and just wanted to find a place to sleep. The thing about most rural parts of any country is that most things shutdown early and they leave you to fend for yourself. I blame my living in LA for four years for me expecting to be able to move on freely as if it were no problem.
My solution: sleep in the airport. I found a few open seats that’d allow me to sprawl out and threw out my travel blanket. Sleeping in an airport sucks. If you’ve never done it, I wouldn’t recommend working it into your travel plans. t’s confusing, it’s uncomfortable, and most of all, it’s unnerving.
I ‘woke up’ around 8am and hitched a taxi to take me to the town nearest to Mt. Huashan. The taxi from the airport to town cost me $100. Yes, one hundred dollars. Almost as much as the plane ticket required to get me to Xi’an. This was a mistake. There is a high speed train that can take you between the two towns for ~$5 and will get you there in less time.
I arrived at my hotel ($30/night) around 3pm and decided to take the day as a rest day because I knew the following morning would be an early one. For the curious, there are better hotels and closer hotels to the ‘trail head’ but this one was perfectly adequate and I have no complaints whatsoever of my experience. From here, I ventured out to local markets to prepare for the day ahead by purchasing a bottle of water, some nuts, and dried fruit.
My alarm, rang at 1am and I set off for the peak of Mt. Huashan. It’s a funny feeling waking up so early and setting out on such a long mission My immediate goal was to make it to the East peak by sunrise; that gave me about 4.5 hours to get there. The information online was so incredibly misleading there was no reason to have ever read it in the first place. I read articles saying I had to start climbing by 8pm the night before, sleep on the mountain, or take the tram up first thing in the morning in order to catch the sunrise. Full disclaimer; I am quicker than most on my feet and I do move through these hikes faster than normal but it took me roughly four hours from top to bottom. That is with only a few stops and navigating my way past slower hikers. I hiked about 16 miles this day (according to my iPhone Health tracker) and gained about 5,000 feet in altitude.
This hike was A BLAST. Of course I got tired as it went on and on but there were so many distinct sections; the beginning where it’s just a general incline, then a roped steep stairway, then a semi-exposed ascent among many other tourists who must’ve slept on the mountain the night before. This experience is a fond memory I hold and I hope anyone else that gets on this mountain enjoys the winding trails and interesting steeps as much as I did.
I hit the East facing summit at exactly 5:10am and hooooly cow was it crowded up there. To be honest, I have no idea where all these people came from. I passed at least 100 people on the ascent and it felt like I was one of the first to hit the trail head which can only mean that these people must have slept somewhere on the mountain (or started hiking the night before like I read on the internet).
As soon as the sun breached the horizon I noticed a significant decrease in population density. I imagine it’s because the masses dispersed along the mountain rather than sticking solely to the East peak. I hung around a bit longer until I decided to head to the entrance of the aforementioned ‘most dangerous hike in the world’.
I got to the entrance around 7:20am, roughly forty minutes before they opened the area for the day. I got lucky here because they only let about 20 people on the ‘hike’ at a time and I was number twenty on the list which meant I wasn’t stuck waiting for the first group to finish their mission. It’d be difficult for me to recommend anything other than trying to be part of the first group there. Not having to wait around made the experience significantly more enjoyable.
The journey out onto the wooden planks was an incredible experience. I was the caboose of my group, meaning I carried up the end. I’m unsure whether or not I liked this because I wanted to be in front and lead the charge but also it was nice being in the back and getting to sit back and watch everyone else cautiously navigate the planks. It could’ve been the fact that I saw a few others move so precariously but I almost felt no fear walking out there. I wanted to savor every moment. It was exactly why I was in China and it felt like that’s exactly where I belonged in that moment. A quick walk out about 100 meters and then a return trek and it was over as quickly as it had began. This was an awesome experience, one that you won’t soon forget. But it’s important to remember that via ferrata’s are common all over the world and this one is no different.
I took my time exploring the other peaks on the mountain but my main tasks had been accomplished. I saw the chess pavilion, I did the ‘most dangerous hike in the world’, and I saw the sunrise on the East peak. From there I elected to take the gondola to the base of the mountain and prepare myself for the journey back to Xi’an to catch my flight to Dayong in order to ultimately return to LAX.
My one regret was not giving myself enough time to see the Terracotta Army just outside of Xi’an. I talked to a party on my last day just after they visited and they said it was one of their most favorite experiences. In hindsight, I should’ve had that taxi take me from the airport in XI’an to the museum which is along the route and about an hour drive.
Final Thoughts
China. Was. Awesome. This was one of the coolest trips I’ve ever done in my life. China is so different than the US and the culture is so unexpected and unfamiliar that it makes coming to a place like this so awesome. I traveled alone and, it being rural China, I didn’t interact with a single English speaker until my last day. That’s exactly what I came here for! A complete immersion into a culture unlike any other I’ve ever experienced.
China isn’t an easy country to travel to because it’s not as ‘popular’ as most of Europe of Southeast Asia but it is so awesome here and the fact that it is difficult makes it so much fun to experience. Come here expecting not to speak with anyone while you’re here. Download Google translate, understand your maps, be willing to get lost and struggle with directions. I guarantee you will come out the other side a happier, more complete, and incredibly fulfilled human being. I spent ~10 days in China but, truth-be-told, I could’ve been here for quite a few more months.
China, you rock!
Please let me know YOUR final thoughts on my trip to China. What do wish I spoke more about? What could I have done differently or better? Your feedback is incredibly important!