I tried to get some photographs from the summit but the views were not so good: it was too foggy. The winds up here were extremely strong and they made me feel so uncomfortable. I had to try my best to stand firmly on the ground and tried to keep my hands sturdy. My eyes were blurred by the winds and I gave up after a while.

Travel Guide to Trekking Tour to Mount Ta Chi Nhu (Phu Song Sung) Yen Bai

It was around 16:00 that I hurried my guide to descend the mountain. It was a bit more comfortable for the eyes not having to look against the sunlight. The winds were blowing very hard still and the temperatures seemed to fall down quickly as the sunshine got weaker. The mountain peaks around were more visible and their colors were so eye-catching. All looked like a lovely pastoral panorama, very peaceful save the winds.

Foggy view at the summit of Ta Chi Nhu (Phu Song Sung)

Foggy landscape at the summit of Ta Chi Nhu

We arrived back at the campsite at 17:00 and it took us another hour to get the fire on to cook dinner and put up the tent. Cooking in the strong winds was no easy a job and I expected the food to be only so so. We had a chat by the fire and dinner was ready when it had been dark. It was cold but not to the freezing point, but my body was shaking. It was probably due to the strong winds blowing constantly taking away heat of the body. I made dinner just quick and jumped into the tent for shelter. My guide came in a bit later.

A lovely afternoon at Ta Chi Nhu (Phu Song Sung)

Awesome scenery at Ta Chi Nhu

Get the fire on for cooking dinner

It turned out to be a sleepless night for me while the guide had a lovely sound one. The winds struck against the tent making it very noisy all the night. I thought we were about to be blown away quite a few times. Nevertheless we were lucky without the rains; else we'd have had to sit up all night then.

Thanh woke up at around 4:30 in the morning and I crawled out of the tent trying to have a walk. All my warm clothes were on all night and after a couple of minutes I had to go back into the tent. It was so cold! I couldn't understand the reason for this. I had climbed high mountains a few times and never had I felt it so cold!

View looking up to the summit of Ta Chi Nhu in early morning

It was around 06:00 A.M that my guide got up and went about preparing breakfast. He was just a fit boy with thin clothes in the cold. Thanh said he felt cold too, but not too much as he was used to it living here. I jumped out again for a few photos of the mountains in the morning and crawled back into the tent.

Time to break the tent and descend the mountain

We finished breakfast, cleaned the whole site and were ready to descend the mountain at 07:00 A.M. It looked like it was going to be another beautiful day. The sun was coming out and was blurred by the the clouds sometimes. The winds were strong but I started to feel warm after walking for a while.

Beautiful mountaincape on the trek downhill

Lovely nature in the haze

The scenery looked lovely going down the mountain as there were spectacular views of the peaks and valleys below. The footpath was tiny and there were ravines on both sides most of the way. It went down gently for half an hour then we arrived at the tip of a cliff below which the path dropped down steeply. It looked so slippery and there were no trees that I could grab to keep balance. I had to balance myself carefully and pressed my toes tightly against the ground for each step. My shoes were great this time.

A lovely tiny footpath amid the wild nature

There were a few scattered drops of rain and Thanh hurried me to make it as fast as possible. He said the path would be fatally slippery if it rained. It was much better nowadays compared to the past as local volunteers had expanded the footpath recently and created steps to make it less dangerous for trekkers.

Sun rays trying to break through the fog

The easy walkway before the steep gradients

A lovely footpath amid fresh nature

Though I had had a hard time going up yesterday, I did not appreciate the hike that much as I thought it was not that difficult as I had expected. The hike downhill today made me treasure more of the work we had completed earlier going up. It had been a long way and strenuous an adventure that I was so absorbed in hiking and had failed to appreciate my effort. Now it was tough going down too, but I got time to review the whole trip more thoroughly. The thinking helped me with more confidence to proceed.

Then came the adventure!

It'd take a long long time to go down this treacherous mountainside

When you got exhausted and disappointed and about to give up, then came a flat path

It took us 2 hours to get past the steep part of the trek and another hour on the gently sloping mountain side to get back to the lead mine. It was a bit over 1000A.M that I found myself dragging one foot after another on the gravel path to the parking area. The sun was bright and it was getting hot quickly. And that was it another adventure of my life had concluded. I'd come back for some other peaks in Tram Tau Yen Bai later, but now I'd have to hurry to the town for some drinking water first.