After a couple of days of playing around skyscrapers and dinning at fine restaurants in Shanghai we took a G series bullet train 417 miles southwest to Huangshan National Park. This was a relaxing 4 1/2 hour train ride. Also called the Yellow Mountains, not because they are yellow in color but the area renamed after the legendary Yellow Emperor (Huang Di) in 747 AD.

Linna chose November to avoid the tourist crowds, but beware it’s colder and you just might be hiking in snow.  We had a bit more clouds then we wanted on this two day mountain visit, so Linna and I already decided to come back.  Next time we will probably take the cable car up for a head start.

By the way, on your way up the mountain, don’t ask how much farther….because you will receive inconsistency replies from one hour to three hours.Huangshan is most well known for its remarkable pines and probably has inspired most Chinese paintings and drawings. Matt Kerby took most of these remarkable pictures.  

Stairway to heaven.

The most famous pine in the Yellow Mountains and probably all of China, the Greeting Guest Pine….maybe 1,000 years old.

Huangshan is known for its 60,000 stone steps, carved in the mountain. We might have hiked up 30,000 to 35,000 steps our first day.  We didn’t utilize any cable cars like most people, but we started hiking from the bottom.

One of Huangshan’s wild monkeys.

After 35,000 steps we reached our Huangshan Baiyun Hotel, yes…there are hotels on top of Mt. Huangshan.  I headed to the bar area and sipped on a cold beer as Linna checked us in.  After climbing all those steps, the private cozy room with shower was the perfect way to end the day.