Happy Pi Day everyone! Let’s all think about how many digits of pi we have learned to memorize. (It’s a lot!)
Part of the package we purchased with our visit to the social-media-famous glass-bottomed bridge in Zhangjiajie was a hike through 大峡谷, the “Grand Canyon”, not to be confused with the famous Arizona canyon!
Let me just say that this was one of the most terrified I have ever been on a hike. The path down is called the Sky Ladder and is composed of narrow, slippery, wooden steps that were just so steeeeeeeep. My legs were wobbling so hard as I gripped the banister to avoid falling. My knees were literally knocking against each other and I was sweating really hard despite how cold it was outside.
So be careful! From the Sky Ladder, you can get a great view of the One Line Sky, where two ridges come veeeery close and you see just a sliver (or a line) of sky between them.
I took kind of a long time to recover but it was a really cool view. (Looking down was precarious though!)
From there, we could look up and see the glass bridge we had just visited before seeing a very nice little waterfall!
At this point, I started to feel really daunted by the prospect of walking down the rest of the way down the mountain, and luckily I didn’t have to! There is a stone slide that you can slide down (for an additional charge). You sit your butt on a little pad so you don’t get butt burn, since it’s not polished to a smooth shine. This is a good thing, because honestly, you don’t want to be slipping down that slide that fast, especially with the risk of flying off the slide and tumbling down a cliff. You also have to wear gloves to protect your hands on the sides of the slide so that you don’t burn your hands, again, on the unpolished stone. In fact, gripping the sides is a good way for you to slow down or stop if it’s too fast, too furious for you.
I also got a chance to take a little zipline down, but this is more for fun than to save any time or climbing down, as it’s not a very steep zipline and it is not too long. But if you like ziplining, it should be worth the fee!
The tour of the Grand Canyon concluded with a boat ride through the river, where we saw this amazing blue water. I kept thinking blue lagoon as we quietly motored through this peaceful, serene river scene.
Also, this is going to be very random, but all along the path were these little messages that… really made me worry about the mental state of the person who wrote them? They started out innocently enough…
But then we got to these signs and… well… is this person okay? Is the mountain okay??
Started talking about physical activity, ended with these giggles.
What are your favorite scenic mountain hikes? I’ve done just a small handful now, but I am finding myself enjoying them more because I do love nature walks so much. (If only hikes didn’t burn so much…)
I’m just about wrapped up my China recaps and I have a lot of fun stuff to share with you all soon, including my recent trip to San Francisco!
Sip of Starrshine 