I remember, years ago, I was sitting on Facebook when a link came up with pictures describing the World’s Most Dangerous Hike. I spent the entire night researching and mesmerized of the pictures that came up. From that night, I told myself I would do this hike. Two year later, I was on a plane going to China.

I remember not knowing much about the hike itself, as a lot of information varied. Some said there was a tea house at the end of the hike, others said you could take a cable car up, while others explained a gruesome hike up. Hua Shan is one of China’s five Sacred Mountains, standing at approximately 2100 Metres high.

Hua Shan is about 120 Kms away from Xian, a Chinese City that also has the popular tourist attraction the Terracotta Warriors. We took a high speed Train from Xian North Railway Station and arrived at Huashan North Station. The train is on the Zhengzhou-Luoyang-Xian line. It only took about 50 minutes. When you get off, there are tons of green minibuses that will take you to the base of the mountain.

At the base of the mountain, we paid our 180RMB to enter the park, and off we went.

Being one of China’s sacred mountains, the base had a little temple area prior to the hike. It was quite beautiful and peaceful, with many monks around.

The hike started fairly easy, with light elevation and some beautiful sites. Soon however, my legs started to get tired and the stairs seemed endless.

As we kept going, the stairs kept getting steeper and more narrow. What was mind boggling to me was that there were food and water vendors at certain points of the hike. I never understood how they got the food and supplies up there till I ran into a man carrying a load full of goods climbing up the mountain. There was a men carrying at least 6 cases of red bull on his back, and this guy carrying three full bags of fruits.

Some parts of the climb to Hua Shan are literally vertical, and if you fall it would likely be some serious injuries. On our climb we didn’t run into many others making the trek, as most people seem to have opted for the cable car route. However the hike was tons of fun, and we eventually made it up safely.

Once we finally reached the top, it was take to take on the plank in the sky. I strapped on my Gopro, paid 30 yen for a mandatory harness rental, and off we went.

I always get asked, is it really that dangerous? Is it really that scary? Is it worth doing?

Honestly, with the harness and two points of contact, I felt fairly safe. The only scary things was crossing paths with others, as its one way traffic on the plank. So someone has to take the outside route of the plank, and for some reason it always ended up being me. It was an awesome experience and my blood was pumping the entire time.

Was it worth it?!?!

Absolutely. Not to mention that I won a sweet picture contest for the selfie on the mountain.

Tips when hiking Mount Hua Shan:

• Water. Don’t make my mistake, I didn’t bring any water and was absolutely dying by the time I made it to the top where water was being sold
• Bring food!
• Bring good shoes! its a long hike and you deff want to be prepared
• The last train runs at 6pm so manage your time wisely, we barely made the last train home
• Students get half off the entrance price
• take lots of pictures!