A Spontaneous Trip: A Thousand-Mile Round Trip to Scale Tiandu Peak Overnight

The trip started from a few casual chats. Someone happened to mention that Tiandu Peak on Mount Huangshan had reopened this year!

I casually opened navigation to search, and the total distance was 485 kilometers, with an estimated driving time of 5 hours. I took a screenshot and sent it to the group chat, instantly sparking everyone's excitement. After some discussion, we decided on a weekend trip!

We had one day to plan. Some wanted to visit Tiandu Peak, some wanted to explore the West Sea Grand Canyon, some wanted to ride the internet-famous scenic train, and others even planned to hike the entire Great Loop, covering about 20 kilometers on foot.

So, we just set off.

After work on Saturday, I showered, had dinner, and picked everyone up one by one! Everything was ready; by the time I checked, it was already 8:30 PM, and we estimated we'd arrive at 1:15 AM.

The whole way was filled with laughter and chatter, too excited to fall asleep!

We crossed the river via the Taizhou Bridge, passed through Liyang into Anhui, went through Xuancheng, and arrived at the Tangkou Toll Gate. As scheduled, we reached the Huangshan Hundred-Meter Parking Lot around 1:30 AM!

We set an alarm for 4:30 AM, forcing ourselves to take a light nap in the car, to be ready for tomorrow's sprint!

Early Sunday morning, the sky was barely showing a faint light. By the south entrance of Mount Huangshan, there were already dozens of people waiting. We quickly had breakfast and joined the queue, which had already grown to over a hundred.

By nearly 6:00 AM, a huge crowd was gathered behind us—amazing!

At exactly 6:00 AM, the gate opened, and the sprint began!

We ran all the way to the transfer center, chose the bus heading to the Yuping Cable Car direction, smoothly got our tickets checked, and boarded!

After the transfer bus arrived at the Yuping Cable Car, we chose the hiking route and took the left staircase, then transferred again to a bus bound for Ciguang Pavilion. We arrived at Ciguang Pavilion around 6:50 AM.

From Ciguang Pavilion, we went up along the Lijima Bridge to Banshan Temple, heading straight to the New Entrance of Tiandu Peak. The distance was about 3.5 kilometers, and our trek to climb Tiandu Peak officially began!

The difficulty was beyond words—I had clearly overestimated my physical strength.

I had planned to rush straight to the New Entrance, but we ended up stopping frequently, lying down on the steps out of exhaustion.

During our breaks, we enjoyed the green mountains and clear streams along the way, which had their own charm.

After nearly two hours of hiking, we finally passed Banshan Temple and started queuing about 80 meters before the New Entrance!

Most of the people ahead of us were college students, probably over a hundred, so the estimated waiting time was about an hour and a half!

Tiandu Peak has a daily capacity of 3,000 visitors, with two entrances: the New Entrance and the Old Entrance. The instantaneous capacity is only 500 people. Once full, only one person can enter after another leaves. After 3,000 people or after 3 PM, no one is allowed to enter.

After waiting for one hour and 40 minutes, at 10:20 AM, we finally stepped through the gate of Tiandu Peak.

And the climb began!

In narrow spots, we had to pass sideways.

The slope was nearly 80 degrees, so we had to use both hands and feet, activating four-wheel drive!

From the New Entrance to the summit of Tiandu Peak took exactly three hours. We successfully reached the top around 1:20 PM!

The view from the top was absolutely breathtaking!

I truly felt the unparalleled beauty of Mount Huangshan—as the saying goes, 'After visiting the Five Sacred Mountains, no other mountains interest you; after visiting Huangshan, even the Five Sacred Mountains pale in comparison'!

We could see Yuping Peak in the distance!

The observatory on Bright Summit was very conspicuous.

We lingered on the summit for a while and decided to descend via the Old Entrance, not retracing our steps.

Going up is hard, but going down is even harder. We descended nonstop, not daring to stop for photos.

It took nearly 50 minutes to get out of the Old Entrance, and only then did we turn around to capture the steepness of Tiandu Peak!

It was already nearly 3 PM. Everyone in our group was exhausted, so our planned visits to the West Sea and the internet-famous scenic train were canceled!

After discussion, we decided to climb Yuping Peak (about 1 kilometer away) and then hike down from the Old Entrance (about 6.5 kilometers). So we went via Yuping Peak, enjoyed the famous Welcome Pine, and then took the cable car down!

The weather was great today, and we got to appreciate the beauty of the Welcome Pine!

We took the cable car all the way down, then transferred to a bus, arriving at the South Gate Transfer Center around 4 PM!

We picked up our car and started the return trip!

We drove carefully and safely, arriving back home at 9:30 PM!

From 8:30 PM on Saturday to 9:30 PM on Sunday—25 hours—we traveled over a thousand kilometers to climb Tiandu Peak and back!

We set off with enthusiasm and returned with joy!

Life needs a few crazy things. If we don't go crazy, we'll really be too old!