HuangShan Day 2: West Sea Gorge Summer 2020

Day two involved taking on the West Sea Gorge, which was actually very close to where I was staying. I walked up some steps for about 20 minutes before getting to the entrance to the gorge. Again, it stated out as a nice comfortable wide path, very few people, plenty of shade and rest stops.

To give scale.

To show how steep

This however stopped pretty quick as I had to go down stairs for miles and miles. Endless steps with very few easy places to stop and rest. Luckily there were also very few people so I could just stand in place and not annoy anyone.

The whole circular route is up to 10 kilometers but I only did half. By the time I got to the bottom my leg were screaming in agony. So much so, it took nearly 4 days to stop taking an old person noise whenever I stood up. The main problem was the uneven stairs for the second half of ht descent. At points they were ranging from nearly knee high to only a few inches so it was very difficult to get a rhythm going and instead I was braced at all points for nearly 3 hours. Like I say, AGONY!

There was one part in particular that was more terrifying than the others. The stairs here went on for about 400 meters and scared the living daylights out of me. I have no problems with heights but this was different, I clung to the handrail and nearly scooted down. Again luckily there was no one there by the time I had to tackle this so I could take it very slowly.

Once I arrived at the bottom I discovered a funicular railway that shuttled you back to the top. Once I had finished thanking every one I could think of that I didn't have to climb back up, I got in the very short line to the train and made my way back up.


Once back at the top I had to walk about 4 km back to the hotel for some food before going in search of the second of my cable cars for the trip.

HuangShan is a truly stunning place that, despite getting parts covered in guided tours, is a very worthwhile place to visit. I am very glad that I finally made it and can cross it off my list.

My saving train!