The conquest of Qi Shan
For months it had been tantalizing me, sitting outside my window with its peak seeming so close. Qi Shan--Flag Mountain--stands apart from the other hills around here. It has become a landmark for us, much as Mt. Rainier draws our attention back home. Surely there was a trail to the top, I thought. As the weeks passed, the possibility of climbing it seemed very real. We began taking weekly hikes with other teachers and students. We hiked on Qi Shan, but we always explored the lower trails. Then, one Saturday in October, the opportunity arrived. The group decided to see how high we could go. Unfortunately, our family had a luncheon engagement at noon. We set foot on that upward path but once 9:30 rolled around, the four of us turned back so we could get showered and changed for our important engagement. It was all worth it of course--we got to eat ants after all--but I told myself that the next time I was going to the top.
Well, that was the theory, anyway. In the subsequent months we only came close to hiking to the peak once--and that was the time we again turned back early and got lost. Over time it seems like our hikes have gotten shorter, a bit easier and better catered. Nobody has suggested the big climb. Anyhoo, as our homeschooling schedule started it's final approach into summer vacation, I got the notion to give myself a treat. I had two weeks without school before we returned to the States, so I figured I would take a chunk of one of those days and do some exploring. I had a number of options, but the conquest of Qi Shan was the one that grew on me. I mentioned my idea to Yau Neih and she offered to join me. The kids weren't interested. So since Yau Neih had no classes on Monday, we decided to pack a lunch and make the climb.
The hike itself was pretty uneventful. We set out at 9:45. The weather was nice, partly cloudy with very little haze in the air. Perfect for a hike. We headed up through the village and trod up the path we had traversed before. We had a fairly clear trail all the way up and nice views of the city. The trail was steep, but we stopped for a breather every now and then and managed just fine. At 11:05 we reached the peak. It was a big circle of grass, with a couple of dead tree trunks in the center. There were three cows up there, who seemed rather nervous. They stopped grazing and walked to the edge of the woods where they stared at us. We gave them their space and had a look around. We had been told that there was a flag at the peak, but we saw no evidence of such. Instead we found:
We had been expecting that.
Anyway, since it was only a bit after eleven, we decided to have our picnic on the trip down. The clouds had moved in as we neared the top, so we didn't spend much time basking in our triumph. We rested for a bit and then unpacked our umbrellas and headed down. We got a good dousing for about five minutes, but then the rain let up. Soon after we plopped down and had lunch. It must have been a divine lunch break because we had no more finished eating that the rain started up again. This time it really came down and at one point we stopped and stood under our umbrellas, watching the drops fall from the pine needles and the little rivers marking our trail down. But eventually we moved on again, slowly and carefully making our way downhill. By 2:15 we were home and taking our clothes off. So I could do laundry. A rather mundane end to such a great feat, but such is my life. Which peak shall I conquer next?
posted by John @ 3:17 AM
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