Biking out to the qinlings

Trip Start Jun 04, 2008
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Trip End Feb 20, 2009


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Flag of China  , Shaanxi,
Thursday, December 4, 2008

First off, it's 9 p.m. and I am absolutely exhausted. Two weeks ago, Eric, James (our roommate) and I decided to bike to the Qinling mountains. We left at one p.m. We got to the foothills around 4, and then had to turn back as it was gettiing too dark. We decided then that we were going to make a day bike trip out to the mountains, and next time we were going to make it!

Today was next time. We got up at 7, and slammed the snooze button until 7:30. We finally hauled our lazy butts out of bed, and we were on the road by 8. Eric, not feeling up to par, opted out, but was kind enough to make me breakfast and give me the key to his much nicer bike.

We met up with Jason, another foreign English teacher, and we headed out. Last time we set off with the mountains in sight, and just aimed for them. When the roads got confusing we flipped a coin: on heads we went one way, tails the other. Since we had no bike problems this time and since we kind of knew the way, it was much quicker than the time before. Within two hours we were at the foothills of the mountian range. We could see some funky shaped buildings in the distance and we aimed for them. We progressed upwards and we soon got to a huge gate. We had just arrived at the Qinling Mountain Scenic Area!

We paid the entrance fee, took a minivan to the top, and just started walking around. At the tops of the mountains there are multiple temples, although I don't know which religion they belong to. The mountains were cold and had bits of snow in the shaded areas along the peaks. We spent three hours walking around the peaks, visiting one temple after another. There was a small pagoda up there as well. Some of the peaks had excellent views of Xi'an (and unfortunately its haze). Others had good views of the surrounding mountains, valleys, and the river below. The trail up to the peaks, and along the ridgeline, was made of carved stone stairs and it made for fairly easy hiking. There were some parts where the stone stairs lapsed and dodgy bridges connected the two trail segments. After a couple of hours of exploring the peaks and their treasures, we eventually headed back down. We took another minibus from the peaks to the gate, got back on our bikes, and headed back home to Xi'an. The ride back was extremely easy as most of it was down hill. We pulled into Xi'an just before the sunset. Our misson was accomplished: we made it out to the mountians and back in a day. And I am really tired.
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