Frozen pond

Blog posting #3. Tuesday, Jan. 2nd. Tuesday, Jan. 2. This morning brought very heavy rains and dense fog. Around 9:00 am the showers turned to drizzle and the fog was shifted by gusts of wind that moved the fog. The fog that I know in California usually exists in calm conditions, slowly drifting. Here, the fog sails with gale force. The constant movement of fog revealed more features of the landscape.

At dawn the landscape appeared placid and everything looked milk white with fog. I was photographing the trees and frozen ponds when I noticed that the peaks were emerging from the mist. I hiked to an area called the West Sea. Leping was already there and phoned to alert me. Cell phones are used to inform visitors of changing conditions. The entire mountain, like most of China is wireless.

My legs, arms and feet are adjusting well and getting stronger. I arrived in record time, while being careful with my footing. The stone steps can be slippery when wet or icy. Leping had saved me a prime spot. It was a narrow triangle shaped overlook that jutted out over an incredibly steep drop-off of 1000 feet. There were sturdy concrete rails (shaped like tree branches) that prevented one from falling to the chasm below. This overlook looked like the bow of a sailing ship, and as the rain fell on my face, it was like the salt spray that one might feel when sailing on the bow of that ship.

The landscape that unfolded before me was breathtaking. Changing by the minute, it revealed itself, then reformed a hundred times during the two hours that I was there. I was delighted to work with the strong vertical shapes the steep narrow peaks jutting upwards through the fog. Since Leping is shooting digitally, he offered me an image of his that he made at that location, as a visual record of what we saw.

Leping's image

Leping and I hiked back together. We were soaked to the bone, cold, tired and tromping in the dark. We went up and down countless of steps. It was exhilarating!

Throughout the trip many of the hundreds of people we passed stopped to admire our photo gear. Once in a while I would hear in English, “Oh, such a big tripod!”

More rain and fog for tomorrow.