Hiking photos - Montessori School day trip, 2011/04/17

This was a great spring day for an outing with the children of the Montesorri School of Beijing. For this excursion, we took a route that combined part of the White River walk with a hike up to Longyunshan for beautiful views of the river valley and the surrounding hills.

The hike starts out in the valley next to the White River, which we sometimes cross on foot in the winter when it’s frozen over. Shortly after entering the scenic river valley though, the path rises up to the top of Longyunshan hill. Years ago a movie was filmed here and part of the set, a house and an artificial tree, still remain. On a clear day like this one, the top of the hill is a great place to have lunch and enjoy the panoramic views of the countryside, with its numerous hills, steep, rocky cliffs, and valleys nearby. There’s a reservoir near the top of the hill which, when full, looks like a small lake.

After lunch we take time to walk around it before starting back down. En route, we follow a path that loops around and starts downhill, entering a valley which eventually reconnects with the White River valley below. The valley had a lot of fruit trees which were in bloom with beautiful pink and white flowers. After rejoining the river valley, it’s just a short walk to the nearby town where a delicious home cooked Chinese lunch awaits.