I've loved mountains since I was a kid, and growing up in a city with only 99 meters above sea level has always made me feel very bored. When I was a child, I traveled with adults and went to some mountains, but most of them were hundreds of meters high, and the mountains I really liked at an altitude of more than 1,000 meters could only be enjoyed most of the time from television and pictorial newspapers.
Fortunately, when I grew up, I had the opportunity to go north and south of the river and look for the traces of the mountains I had always longed for, so my legs were exercised, my soul was satisfied, and my soul was washed.
The first mountain to climb above 1,000 meters above sea level is Mount Dongyue.
In 2004, the first National Day holiday after graduating from university, I was still immersed in the loss of having embarked on the society and never having winter or summer vacations, so my parents arranged a trip in the golden autumn in October to take me to relax. We took the train, dangling leisurely, from south to north, the scenery along the way seemed to change the season, October Jiangnan is still a piece of emerald green, and to the north, the color began to be like Van Gogh's paintings, gradually dyed from green to golden, that is the real autumn color, people suddenly cheerful.
The train arrived in Tai'an, we turned to the bus to the Taishan Mountain Scenic Area, this should be my first time to the real sense of the northern city, the ears are different rural sounds, in front of the eyes are different street scenes, I look left and right, very curious. At this time, the car made a turn, and the light outside the window suddenly darkened, and I probed to see, wow! A very tall and majestic mountain appeared in front of the eyes, the top of the mountain had been obscured by the sun, and the huge body was like a heavy landscape painting, acting as a background board for the entire city, making the houses and streets unreal.
The bus headed in the direction of the mountain, we got off at the stop closest to the Taishan Mountain Scenic Area, at this time it was already dusk, standing close to the head of the five mountains - the continuous mountains of Mount Tai, a kind of sacred admiration rose in my heart, I really wanted to go up the mountain all night, hug it and kiss it.
But our plan was to stay overnight first, and then go up the mountain the next morning, so the desire to stay at the top of TaiShan mountain was disappointed, so we could only temporarily pack up our mood, walked around Tai'an City for a day, found a hotel, went to bed early, and recharged our batteries.
The next morning, I was woken up by my parents, packed up my things, and prepared to start our journey to the top.
Our uphill route should be the oldest and most traditional line, the central axis of Mount Tai, the Red Gate - Zhongtianmen - the South Heavenly Gate - the Jade Emperor's Peak.
Remember the Red Gate - Zhongtianmen this section of the mountain road is relatively gentle, there is no special scenery along the way, walking a bit boring, from time to time there are local residents on the side of the road stalls, selling water, fruit, and pancakes.
The deepest impression is the fragrant multigrain pancakes, whenever A section of road is tired, I run to the side of the road to buy a cake to eat, brush the sauce, roll on the onion, bite down, the toughness of the dough even the gum bed has been exercised, the spicy onion, the fresh flavor of the sauce, I really eat with relish, it may be that half of the northern genes in the blood have found a home.
All the way to nibble on apples, eat pancakes, but also refreshed, continue to stride upwards, two or three hours later, reached the halfway point of the road up the mountain, Zhongtianmen.
After passing the Zhongtianmen Gate, the cultural landscape began to increase, Qisong, stone carvings, more and more frequency, at the same time, the mountain road also began to become more and more steep, the mountain wind blew, sweat immediately became cold on the body, the footsteps began to be heavy, the thighs began to ache, looking up, can already faintly see the shadow of the South Heavenly Gate, it seems that an effort can go there.
Just this walk, it seems to be more than an hour, usually lack of exercise of the family of three, has been out of breath. Fortunately, there are many notes along the way, strange stones and strange pines, we stop and go, take pictures, so the turtle speed forward, finally before noon climbed to the South Heavenly Gate.
Then we came across a long, winding upward, steep stone staircase that seemed to lead to the sky—eighteen plates. This long ladder, sandwiched between the canyons on both sides, extends upwards like a magic, and the peaks on both sides are pinched left and right, and a huge sense of oppression comes to the face.
At the beginning of the eighteen plates, there is a stone inscription with a brief introduction, a glance to sweep, remember a few shocking information: eighteen plates, a total of more than 1630 steps, the rock formation is steep, the inclination angle is 70 to 80 degrees, and it rises 400 meters in a distance of less than 1 kilometer.
Qi Chengpu of the Ming Dynasty once had a poem describing his scene: "Pull up five thousand zhang of the ground, and rush to the eighteen plates of Xiaoxiao." See the trail in the middle of the bush, the sky is in the middle of the gap. The heavy and tired line is picturesque, and the lonely hanging is like a pole. Life is full of victory, and this day is still cold. ”
After reading the introduction, I swallowed my saliva, but I only felt a dry and painful throat, and the mood at that time was very tragic. My legs were weak, and I was a little shaky as I stood. Looking up, the South Heavenly Gate stands tall at the end of the eighteen plates, looking down at us, there is a kind of momentum that is not angry and arrogant, at this time, it is difficult to swallow a breath without fighting to climb up.
So we took a short break and began the most severe journey to the last and most severe part of Tarzan's ascent.
The hard work of climbing the steps will not be repeated, anyway, the last 100 steps, I am hands and feet and use to climb up, on the one hand is tired really no strength, on the other hand is a fear of heights, because the last step angle is too steep, look down as if it is vertically climbing up, tired and afraid, can only close the eyes and four feet and use, regardless of the image.
It was not easy, finally climbed eighteen plates, came to the foot of the South Heavenly Gate, at this time, I was too tired to stand up at all, simply reflexively sat on the last step, hands on the ground, gasping for breath, and the South Heavenly Gate together to overlook the people who were still trying to climb up.
In ancient Taoist mythology, the South Heavenly Gate is the entrance to the human and divine realms, and if you cross the South Heavenly Gate, you will become an immortal. At this time, after resting for a few minutes, my sanity recovered slightly, at this time, a huge sense of conquest sprang up from my heart, and the huge delayed satisfaction that I ushered in after experiencing a difficult and difficult climb made me feel that the exhaustion of my body disappeared in an instant.
To paraphrase a fashionable phrase now, I feel like I'm really in heaven.
Mom and Dad also climbed up at this time, so we walked through the South Heavenly Gate together and toured the Jade Emperor's Top.
Jade Emperor Peak, formerly known as Taiping Peak, also known as Tianzhu Peak, is the peak of the main peak of Mount Tai, the head of the Five Peaks, and is named after the Jade Emperor Hall at the top of the peak.
The terrain of the Jade Emperor's top is relatively gentle, at this time we are strolling on the top of the mountain, the clear blue sky above our heads, the sun sprinkles golden light on us, surrounded by rolling peaks, we stand on the commanding heights, feeling that we are relaxed and majestic.
After spending enough time at the top of the mountain, you will start the road down the mountain. With the excitement at the top of the mountain, our descent seemed to be very smooth, and we felt that we were physically strong, and at four o'clock in the afternoon, we came down to the bottom of the mountain safely. At this time, we did not know that our legs were about to start striking under such a high-intensity exercise.
At night, the muscles of both legs began to swell and ache, and they could not sit up when they lay down, they could not stand up when they sat, and they could not take a step when they stood up. The most painful thing is to go up and down the steps, the whole form is like a zombie out of the cage, the body is twisted, the teeth are grinning, and the dozen steps on one floor take a few minutes to complete.
The leg had been sore for three or four days before it was relieved, and the awe of the mountain was added to the layer. More than ten years have passed, I hope to have the opportunity to revisit Mount Taishan, and once again experience the majestic momentum of Mount Tai "will be the top of the mountain, a panoramic view of the mountains".