Hua Shan is the highest of China's five sacred mountains. It is 120 kilometers east of Xian. It has five peaks that resemble the petals of a flower. The highest peak is 2180 meters (7085 feet)。
We had had discussions about going to Hua Shan with some graduate students from Computer Science. That didn't work out due to changes in schedules on both sides. Also, they were planning to do the climb at night to be able to reach the peak at sunrise. That did not appeal to us. We wanted to spend a night on the mountain. Fran's department arranged a trip for us, making reservations at the simple hotel on the North Peak. They sent two graduate students to accompany us, though they had not been to Hua Shan before. We met them at 8:00 on Saturday morning and took a taxi to the train station. There we asked around and located a mini-bus. The bus made a couple of stops. One was to see a presentation about the traditional medicines grown on the mountain and a chance to buy some of them. It probably would have been interesting if we understood Chinese. Our guides gave us the general outline about what was said. The other stop was a quick lunch stop.
There are two approaches to Hua Shan. [Chinese proverb: “There is one road and only one road to Hua Shan,” meaning that sometimes the hard way is the only way.] The west entrance involves 10 kilometers of walking on a road before you start climbing. We went with the east entrance, where the bus brings you to the base of a cable car that goes up to the 1500 meter North Peak. Our plan was to walk up to the North Peak, then climb to the four other peaks the next day and take the cable car down.
We started the climb in the early afternoon. The path consists of stone steps with rough chain link handrails in the narrowest areas (we wore our bicycling gloves for hand protection)。 Physically, it is more like climbing the steps of a skyscraper than trails at home. However, the temperature was about 95 degrees and there was not much shade. We brought lots of water, including some bottles that we froze and some Gatorade that we got at the fancy department store in downtown Xian. There are plenty of refreshment stands along the way where you can buy bottled water, the Chinese equivalent of Gatorade, and other drinks or snacks at a premium price.
We reached the North Peak before 4:00 PM and rested at the hotel. Our room was basic, but comfortable and clean enough. Because water is scarce on the mountain, there were neither showers nor sinks available for washing. In that sense the experience felt like camping, but we were sleeping in a big tent!
After dinner at the hotel restaurant, we spent some time talking with our guides. We were a bit surprised to find that they both think of Japan negatively, but like the U.S. It seems that Japan's WWII behavior in China has not been forgotten, and is emphasized in school.
We saw a beautiful sunset and watched the sky become resplendent with thousands of stars, including the Milky Way galaxy. This was the clearest sky that we have seen in China. The fresh air at Hua Shan is a treat!
Our guides had both been planning to get up at 4:00 AM to watch the sunrise. Fran and I made sleep a priority. We did happen to wake up a bit before sunrise (our room faced east) and went outside to watch the sky become rosy. Ironically, our guides missed the sunrise because they had stayed up late watching the European soccer championships on the television in their room
The plan for the day was to climb the other four peaks, but we reserved the right to shorten the route. The first part was a steep climb to Middle Peak. After the low North Peak, all the others are at roughly 2000 meters. There were crowds on the way to Middle Peak – mostly Chinese hikers but we did see a few other wai guo (foreigners) as well.
We visited two Taoist temples en route to Middle Peak. Each one had an altar with incense and offerings of fruit. The friendly monks invited us to say a prayer or to send blessings to loved ones. Fran accepted their invitation. At the first temple, she lit incense sticks and knelt on a cushion in front of the altar saying a silent prayer for our safe journey to the various summits of Hua Shan (the prayer was answered)。 At the second temple, she knelt on a cushion in front of the altar and sent silent blessings to several friends who are experiencing challenging situations in their lives at present. After each blessing, she leaned forward and the monk struck a drum.
After Middle Peak, the crowds got much thinner. The next was East Peak, which had a steep ladder climbing rock. Fran was dubious about this ascent, but realized that the ladder wasn't so bad and went for it. That was a good decision because we were then able to do a loop and the trails got almost empty at this point. After skirting the top of a cliff with a steep dropoff on both sides, we had a pleasant walk to South Peak and West Peak. There was even a small amount of dirt trail! The summit of South Peak was the highest point on Hua Shan, so of course we asked another hiker to take a photo of our guides and us. The views from the tops of each peak were beautiful. Hua Shan and the surrounding mountains are very rugged and remind us somewhat of hiking in the southwestern United States or the Sierras.
We took a route that eventually brought us to the main line returning down from Middle to North Peak. We were happy to have ascended each of the five peaks (petals) of Flower Mountain.
By cable car (the longest in Asia)， it was just 7 minutes down to the park entrance. We caught a shuttle bus into town, then transferred to a bus for Xian.
Our guides told us that we had walked up and down a total of 4000 stairs! We were glad that we did not have this information when we started. For three days after returning home, our sore leg muscles instructed us to take the elevator to our fifth floor apartment rather than climbing the stairs.
扩展阅读：
华山导游词作文范文【1】
现在，由我来给各位当导游，带领大家参观闻名世界的西岳华山。
华山由一块完整硕大的花岗岩体构成。华山海拔二千多米，由好几座高大的山峰组成，当你快要步入华山脚下时，就会感到它的气势非凡，整个山势雄伟壮观，再加上云雾缭绕，朦朦胧胧，像仙境一般。远远望去，大大小小的山峰高耸立云端，近看，陡峭的岩石，形态万千，看，这一座山峰昴首屹立，那一座山峰插入云天，似乎高不可攀，使人有望而生畏之感。玉泉院是上华山的起点。院内水榭、石坊风景如画，有江南园林的韵味。从玉泉院起步，沿途有鱼石、五里关、天女散花、青柯坪等20多处景点，游人如行道上，美不胜收。
自古以来，华山就以它的山势险要而出名。苍龙岭是一块巨大的岩石，卧在半山腰，它就像一只狮子，占据着方圆几十里的地方，岩石两侧是深圳特区不可测的悬崖，登山的人只能扶着铁链上去。
鸽子翻身是勇敢者去的地方。两边的山峰中间悬着一块岩石，有一条绳子接着，登陆山的人经过这里，必须双脚步悬空，飞跃过去。
华山很险要，清澈的'泉水从山上直流而下，像一条白色的绸带在山间盘旋。一把把黄色的利剑直入云霄，四周有一大片鲜花，在山间构成了一幅美丽的画卷!
大家好!华山参观完毕。欢迎大家下次再来。
华山导游词作文范文【2】
各位游客：
你们好!我是你们这次华山之旅的导游，顾诗吟。我将带你们一起去游览这美丽的华山风光。
我先给大家介绍一下华山吧。华山，是《自然文化遗产名录》里的一处胜景，还是国家AAAAA级景区哦!
我们现在到的地方是玉泉院，关于这里有一个故事。唐朝的金仙公主在山上镇岳宫玉井中洗头时，一不小心将玉簪子掉进了水中。回到玉泉院后，用泉水洗手时，发现了玉簪子，就知道这个玉泉眼与玉井相通。于是给这个泉取名为玉泉，玉泉院也因此得名。
这里就是华山最为有名的地方-长空栈道。你们脚踩的地方仅仅能容下一个脚掌。腰上的铁链可以保护你们，所以不要怕。各位上去吧。
走完长空栈道，就来到了沉香劈山处。这里也有一个传说。三圣母和一个凡间男子相爱并结了婚。由于犯了天条，她哥哥二郞神将三圣母压在了华山下。生了个孩子叫沉香。十年后沉香知道真相与二郞神大战，在众神的帮助下打败了二郞神，救出了母亲。
这儿，就是鹞子翻身，各位游客注意安全，在这儿休息一下吧!
华山的美丽风景太多了，今天看不完。明天再接着游览吧。