A Hike Up Emei Mountain

[the trailhead, clearly marked]

Around this time last year, I hiked Emei Mountain in Sichuan province, one of the four holy mountains in China. Over three-thousand meters of untouched natural preserve—not even the Cultural Revolution touched it—and away from any hint of the hustle and bustle of ordinary life, the mountain did have a sacred feeling. The lush, snowy silence was interrupted only by the occasional chanting and rising incense from ancient monasteries that dotted the ascent, from Crouching Tiger monastery to the one I eventually slept at Immortal Peak. After several hours of hiking, nothing tasted better than hot, fresh monastery food.

[the best meal $2 can buy]

Perhaps because of the cold weather, there was not much competition for the rooms at night. In fact, except for the few nuns and monks in the living quarters, I had the whole Immortal Peak monastery to myself at night, alone, that is, with the various gods and statues. There was no fire to heat my room, so at night they brought me an enormous thermos, triple insulated, which did the trick and lasted through the night, and even in the morning I was able to pour myself a hot cup of tea. I was also grateful for the blankets, which were as thick as the bed mattress itself.

As all the locals warned, halfway up the mountain lived a group of Tibetan Macaque monkeys. The prospect of encountering wild monkeys both delighted me but also somewhat frightened me, so I came prepared: I found a big stick, and I was not afraid to use it. As it turned out, they were smaller, cuter, and pudgier than I had imagined and only “attacked” if they saw a snack they liked. I saw one monkey snatch a sandwich straight from the hand of a 10-year-old girl, and then proceeded to munch on it in front of her, as if it was rightfully his.

The foliage, the wildlife, the emerald lakes, and the age-old monasteries all contributed to make the hike up Emei Mountain very memorable. One of the trail signs said it well: the trees and grass do “entertain you to joy and happiness.”