Hiking in HuangCaoLing

We were again a whole bunch of nice people from mostly China and Germany going on a hike with the lovely XiaoFei and ZhenZhen.
Both of them have a dayjob 9 to 5 (probably more), nevertheless are preparing trips outside of Beijing with much enthusiasm.
XiaoFei

Zhenzhen

This time we went to HuangCaoLiang, which is located close to Mentougou southwest of Beijing. It is still belonging to the greater area of Beijing but the drive took us almost 3 hours. Some may say: I also had a car like this once, but we only made a pee-break and had no real traffic jam. That shows how big Beijing is.
Our guides find their path with the help of an APP, where other hikers share their experience.
We came home to Beijing pretty exhausted and pumped at the same time after 9 pm.
I fact it was one of the nicest hikes we ever attended although we were not be able to do a loop.
So here are some pics from that trip:

On our way: pagoda and power plant united.
tempelchen2

Our group of hikers (incl. a fellow group who brought the flag)
group-huangcaoliang

Another group preparing for the steep ascent:
warming-up

We had to enter the area passing or rather going through a road plant. We were dwarfed by the big machinery.
hiking-to-work-beton

driving-to-work

this-way2

We had company. The little dog was with us all the way.
BJ-und-Hundi

Great scenery. Elephant´s nose rock.
jan-am-elefantentor

Panorama.
Panorama HuanCaoLiang

The highest point was more than 1700m above sea level.
sonne und berge

Iron rocks.
rock-and-grass

More rock.
rocks panorama

Trees en masse
Brenizer Tree

Brenizer Tree Knee

We had lunch on top of a qing-era-tower. Well, of course this bottle of Killepitsch is the aperitif only. It´s a local drink from Düsseldorf brought on the trip by Peter. You have to screw your nose with the bottle cap, place the bottle between the teeth and look up to the skies. Cheers!
Killepitsch

tower lunch panorama

A view from the tower:
jan-und-katja

This is our whole group from the tower at the edge of the Great Wall.
group

Byebye! BaiBai!
Mountain