Quarrymen’s Trail to the Heavenly Lake, 2013/05/11
Photos of hills and mountains hiked on a hot day in early May.
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The Quarrymen’s Trail hike is a good 14km of hill walking, and on this visit we decided to add on the tough climb up to Changping’s own Heavenly Lake, a man-made reservoir atop ‘Python’ Mountain near the Ming Tombs.
The weather was hot, but there was a nice breeze, and quite a lot of the trail took us through forested areas. Some areas were very well-forested, and we had to duck and weave under and around branches in the jungle-y middle section of the hike.
We took a break in the town square of the Tomb Caretaker’s village, where the little local shop must have had a record day of cold drink sales.
And then it was up to the top, a steep climb up the side of Python Mountain, topping out at the Heavenly Lake – a tough way to finish!
Not far from the reservoir was our bus, and we quickly unpacked the cooler with iced beers and drinks. You can believe we drank the whole lot!
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Taking a break on the way up to the first ridge.
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Looking back down the valley we climbed to begin the hike.
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Our camouflaged local guide is almost at the pass at the top of the valley.
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This old tree is a good landmark for us, and it was in flower as we passed today.
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Coming down through the jungle-y middle section.
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We stopped for a lunch break on this access road.
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From the top of the second ridge we could see our path out towards the Ming Tombs area.
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We stopped for a long break in the shade here, halfway up to the Heavenly Lake.
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Looking back on the Heavenly Lake trail.
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From the top of the Heavenly Lake we could see many of the Ming Tombs below the mountains.