Travel Notes on Hengshan Mountain in Hunan—Yuanyuan and I walked through the mountain road we least wanted to take again

 

Note: This article contains a large number of pictures, please wait until you have WIFI before clicking.

First day itinerary: Hengshan

The next day’s itinerary: Hengshan, Shigu Academy, Hengyang Defense War Memorial Hall, Xiangjiang River

 

 

Preface

 

"How did I end up in this ghost place? Why is it so difficult to leave? Oh my God, why haven't I seen the inn yet? How long do I have to walk?"

 

"I'm so stupid. I haven't slept for more than 30 hours. Why do I still come here?"

 

"It would be great if I could lie on the ground and sleep! Even if I can sleep for an hour, that would be great."

 

Readers, don’t laugh. These are what I was thinking and hoping for when I hiked Hengshan Mountain on January 4, 2019. But I didn't say it out loud, as I didn't want to dampen Yuanyuan's interest. She and I have been traveling for a long time, and we haven’t seen many beautiful scenery, but I have seen a lot more of me looking like I’m dying.

 

"Every time I go out with you, you act like this." This is the complaint I heard Yuanyuan tell me the most.

 

We avoided the New Year’s Day holiday this time and chose to leave on the night of January 3rd. Unless absolutely necessary, we would never choose to visit scenic spots during festivals, especially Hengshan Mountain, which has always been famous throughout history. If you come here to take photos during the holidays, I’m afraid the background of the photo will not be the landscape and temples, but the sea of ​​people.

 

If we choose to take the train from Guangzhou the next morning, we will waste a whole morning and have to get up before 6 o'clock. After careful consideration, we planned to take the 23:38 green sleeper berth, sleep on the train one night, and head to Hengshan Mountain to hike to the top of the mountain early the next morning.

 

During that time, my insomnia had reached a very serious level. It should be said that my chronic insomnia is like the seasons of the earth, different every month. If you are lucky, you can fall asleep at night and wake up early in the morning. When I'm not lucky, sometimes it's 2 or 3 a.m., sometimes 7 or 8 a.m., and sometimes I don't go to bed until around 13 p.m. And this time we set off for Hengyang, it happened to be the period when I couldn't fall asleep until 7 or 8 o'clock in the morning.

 

After Yuanyuan and I got on the train, she fell asleep not long after. But I didn't feel sleepy at all. I tried lying down, turning off my phone, closing and opening my eyes, turning over and over, but I couldn't fall asleep. How could I fall asleep in a place like this? I crept down from the upper bunk and sat on the folding chair in the aisle. The curtains had been closed by the conductor, and I opened them again, dumbly letting frames of blurry black scenery outside the window fly past my eyes. Put on the headphones and listen to the song, and your emotions will rise and fall with the song. I posted a picture of my mood at the moment in a circle of friends, and it didn’t take long for someone to like it. It's so late, and there is someone who hasn't slept like me. I wonder if she is also taking the train, or is she worried about work and relationships? I didn't ask her, and it would be best if no one asked me. Just being quiet like this, in a daze, is better than anything else.

 

At 5:16 in the morning, we arrived at Hengyang Station. There is an Internet cafe next to the train station. There is a table in front of the door, which can only accommodate one person. Sitting in front of the table was a woman who looked like a madam, eating melon seeds and scanning the people passing by her table with scornful and greedy eyes. I asked her if I could borrow the restroom, a small one. She said you can just buy water and use it. I said yes, I want a bottle of mineral water. She said 7 yuan. I said a bottle of Yibao costs 2 yuan, but you want to sell it for 7 yuan? It's fine if you sell it for 3 yuan. She didn't respond to my question. She glanced at me contemptuously and continued to eat melon seeds and look at the people passing by.

I turned around and left without saying any more words. At this time, a cleaner appeared in the square, braving the drizzle and doing sanitation work in the dark. He told me that there was a public toilet 100 meters ahead. I thanked him repeatedly.

Yuanyuan and I bought two breakfasts at KFC and sat there until nearly 6:40 before the first bus bound for Hengshan. There is no direct bus to Hengshan. After taking an hour to reach the terminal, you can get off the bus and walk about 1.7 kilometers to the gate of the scenic spot.

Perhaps it was because of the holidays and the cold rain that the shops in front of the scenic spot were deserted today. Most shops sell sacrificial supplies, which shows that superstition is very strong here.

When passing some shops, someone will shout, "Boss, why don't you buy something and go up and say goodbye? It's very effective." I always bluntly say sorry, I don’t believe this.

I know that people shouldn't be like this, and I also know that saying this can't change them, but I just want to combat this feudal superstition.

Tickets are not expensive, only 80 yuan. But what I don’t understand is why there are no paper tickets? Because when I travel, I always like to buy paper tickets as a souvenir.

01

Nanyue Hengshan

We entered the scenic spot at 8:30, and the light rain in the sky was still falling gently. If it were not for the heat generated by walking with heavy weights, our bodies would probably not be able to bear the cold and wet here after a while.

Nanyue Martyrs’ Shrine and Cross-Strait Exchange Base:

 

 

 

Walk up to the "Chung Martyrs' Shrine"

 

 

I don’t know whether it’s because most people go up by cable car, or because it’s a holiday and it’s raining. The only tourists hiking on the road are me and Yuanyuan. Everyone else we saw were either staff or mobile vendors selling raincoats and crampons.

 

Most of the people selling crampons are middle-aged women. They repeatedly warned us that once we go up, we must wear crampons. Without crampons, you can't go up at all. I feel disdainful. We have been hiking and climbing for a long time. Can we still climb Mount Hengshan, which has a maximum altitude of only more than 1,300 meters?

 

After walking for less than half an hour, I saw the frost left last night:

 

 

This one looks like a Chinese landscape painting:

The road became difficult to walk because the snow on the road had been trampled into ice, or the water on the road had frozen. But at this time we were still confident that we could reach the top of the mountain without crampons.

 

My sleepiness was getting worse and worse, and by this time, I had not slept for almost 30 hours. But Yuanyuan became more and more excited. When she saw the snow, she was like a child, wanting to squat down and play.

 

Yuanyuan is playing in the snow:

 

We walked for more than two hours, it was already 10:30, and we still occasionally met women selling crampons on the road. They did not wear crampons on their feet. It may be that they have been active in the mountains for a long time and their bodies have adapted to the environment here. One woman said, "If you don't wear crampons, you will regret it soon. You won't be able to go up." If you buy it, if I lie to you, you can come to me to return it when the time comes. I am here every day.

 

I saw that what she said was true, and the road was indeed difficult to walk on. I predicted in my heart that the higher I went, the more ice there would be. I asked her, why don't you wear crampons? She said she didn't need it here yet, but if she went up a little further, she would wear it too. But they generally don't go to such high places, and it's difficult to walk even if they wear crampons.

 

We bought two pairs of crampons from her. They seemed to cost 15 yuan or 20 yuan a pair. I have forgotten.

 

Not long after we put on the crampons on our shoes, a small truck slowly passed by on the winding road in the mountains. Its tires were also tied with iron chains, just like the crampons we wore to prevent slipping. Even with the iron chain around, he couldn't get up. Two people got out of the car and pushed hard from behind, and the truck started to move forward like a snail.

 

Mountain Highway:

 

There are more and more ice and snow on the road. After wearing crampons, the height of the soles will be increased, making the shoes less likely to be stained by ice and snow. Because the ice and snow here do not always remain crystallized like in the north. If you put it in your hand, it will quickly melt into water due to your body temperature. People's feet are constantly walking, and the heat generated is very high. If the shoes hit the semi-melting snow on the ground at this time, the shoes will soon get wet. The shoes I wore this time were waterproof, while Yuanyuan wore hiking shoes that are only suitable for summer and autumn. I began to worry that her shoes would get wet after a while.

 

Before going out, I told her to wear waterproof hiking shoes, but as usual, she always said it was okay.

 

Mountain trails:

‍

 

After 11 o'clock, we started to see rime and ice hanging

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even if you wear crampons, the road is not easy to walk, but it is not easy to slip. With every step you take, your entire thigh and core muscles must tighten to maintain balance, which can quickly use up a lot of energy. Coupled with the fact that I had not slept for 30 hours by this time, I felt that my body was reaching its limit and I wanted to rest every minute or two of walking. I was grumbling in my heart, why have I not seen the inn after walking for more than 3 hours? Why is there no inn halfway up the mountain? In addition to the top of Wugong Mountain, there are inns halfway up the mountain. Why aren't there?

Ah, it would be great if there was an inn halfway up the mountain here! Then I can go in and rest, sleep for a few hours, and then accompany Yuanyuan to the top of the mountain to watch the sunset in the afternoon. Hey! How can there be a sunset in this weather? It doesn’t matter. Whether there is sunset or not is none of my business. I just want to find an inn.

Why isn't there even a bench here? Most parks in other countries have a few benches at intervals, so why can’t I see any here? If there is a bench, I can lie down and sleep for an hour first. Even if you let me sleep for 1 hour.

I complained in my heart as I walked.

I'm too tired and sleepy. But I didn't tell Yuanyuan, nor did I say it out loud. I just told Yuanyuan not to walk so fast, I was a little tired.

I'm not only a little tired, I'm about to collapse!

I walked mechanically like this, and it was around 13:20 in the afternoon that we arrived at the mountain inn. It's nearly half an hour's walk from Zhurong Peak, the highest peak. But because of the snow and slippery roads, it takes an hour to get there.

Maybe people will say that I have never seen snow. Of course I have seen it. I have lived in Beijing for several years, and I have also seen snow in Shanghai, Jiangxi, and Yunnan. But this is the first time for me to experience that the road is so difficult after snowfall like Hengshan.

Shoubinan Mountain and Laozi riding a bull

 

I have forgotten the name of the inn where we stayed. But there is a very eye-catching big stone next to the inn, with "Shoubi Nanshan" written in four cursive scripts. It is said that Hengshan was listed as the Zhen star among the twenty-eight constellations in ancient times, and the Zhen star governs longevity, so Hengshan is also called "Shouyue".

 

There is also a stone statue of an old man riding an ox next to the inn. If I guessed correctly, it was probably based on Lao Tzu's departure from seclusion.

 

The inn is in a Taoist temple building. We saw several people wearing Taoist uniforms, and the person who cooked for us also wore Taoist uniforms. They said there was no meat here and everything was vegetarian, so I ordered a fried bean dip with green pepper. Yuanyuan said she didn't eat the food here and wanted to eat some food with hot soup, but there wasn't any. She wanted to order a bucket of instant noodles, but when she heard that instant noodles cost 15 yuan, she said no, she could just eat the dry food she brought with her.

 

When she returned to the room, I quietly ordered a bucket of instant noodles for her. I told the lady boss that she must use freshly boiled water. She said no, and I said that if you burn a little now, it will be over soon.

 

Of course it’s not that we can’t afford it, but because the barreled noodles with a purchase price of 3 yuan are sold for 15 yuan, we feel that the merchant is too shady. And this is still a Taoist temple.

 

Look at this round shape

 

 

 

I'm the one who's cuckolding

Ropeway station next to the hotel

 

Taoist Inn, notice that water is still dripping from the tile trough, because it’s raining

Because I was too tired and sleepy on the first day of the trip, my brain was confused and I had forgotten many things and feelings at that time. I also don’t want to be like others and focus on describing the beautiful scenery I saw at the time with the benefit of hindsight. After all, the so-called beautiful scenery is people’s psychological feelings. What I felt at the time was that I was about to die. You want me to write a beautiful article for you like others, which is too fake. This is not my writing style, and I don't want to write false things. Not long after eating, I lay on the bed and slept. There is no heating in the room, the bed is covered with quilts and there is an electric blanket under the quilt. In people's minds, the colder it is, the drier it is. However, the air humidity here is very high. There are water stains on the floor of the room, tables and chairs, and there are water droplets hanging on the walls. I'm afraid that electric blankets are prone to leakage in such a humid environment. But I'm too tired to care about so much. Let's go to bed first.

Now I finally understand why during the Long March, some people knew that they would definitely die if they stopped to sleep, but they still wanted to sleep.

I slept for more than 3 hours and woke up before 18:00. Yuanyuan and I also planned to go out to watch the sunset. But it was already dark outside, just like Guangzhou at 20 o'clock at night.

Can you believe this was taken at 18:00 in the afternoon?

The big rock in the middle of the picture is "Shoubinan Mountain"