A Week’s Worth of Adventures

“…And the sun shines every day on the birds and the bees, and the cigarette trees, the lemonade springs, where the bluebird sings in the Big Rock Candy Mountains.”

Hua Dian Ba may not offer the lemonade springs trickling down the rocks or blooming cigarette trees, but it does offer a spectacular hike into the mountains of Xizhou. We packed our bags with bottles of water, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, sugar cookies, and fruit before we began our journey. Our eyes were still a little sleepy as we approached the base of the mountain; but it was a perfectly sunny day with no clouds in the sky, so that lifted our spirits as we set off.

The first part of the hike was filled with switch backs on red dusty trails. Shane showed us short cuts that we could take to skip the red dirt paths and climb through more of the forest areas. As we climbed higher into the clouds, the temperature began to drop, and I was thankful that I packed multiple layers of clothing. Once we reached the end of the switch back path, our climbing had just begun. We found ourselves in the middle of a dense evergreen forest on a narrow path, which was slick from the rainfall. The horses and pack mules created the grooved path, which allowed me to skip up the incline while singing, “Oh! Ye’ll take the high road and I’ll take the low road, and I’ll be in China afore ye!”

The air was crisp and clean, which is a rare gift to find in China. We were all huffing and puffing from the hike, but we were all grateful for the clean air.

Along the paths, the water was rushing down to the nearest villages. Lush green trees were surrounding us as we climbed even farther into the mountain. We reached the last stretched of the hike, which was an old stone road that was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. We had to watch where we placed our feet, making sure no ankles were twisted. I was climbing ahead of the group for awhile, so I listened to The Wood Brothers’ song “One More Day,” which made me hike at a steady pace until I reached the meadow of Hua Dian Ba.

Once we knew we had finally reached our destination, everyone immediately collapsed. We were surrounded by bright green mountains to the north of us and navy blue mountains to the south. The clouds were rolling over the peaks, which created the splices of sunlight to dance along the meadow. Our friend, Vinny, not only hiked up the mountain with his provisions, but he also brought his traveling guitar and a thick song book. “When I’m Sixty-Four” was sung in harmony, even though we were slightly out of breath. “The Big Rock Candy Mountain” was also played as we did cartwheels and handstands throughout the meadow. I jotted down notes, wrote some haikus, and took in the peaceful moments of our excursion.

With a four hour hike up the mountain and another four hour hike down, we were obviously tired, but pretty proud of ourselves for completing the hike. I’ll most definitely tackle the hike again, but possibly in the spring. My legs are still recovering!