eryan ping trail

The trail starts or ends at 53K beside the 53.1 Homestay minsu where we stayed for 4D3N. Eryanping Trail is very steep consisting of over hundreds if not thousands of wooden, uneven steps to get to just the first two roofed terraces at the top of the mountain (not the highest point of the Trail) at as much as 50 or 60 degree angles.The beginning leg of the trail is surrounded by very dense bamboo trees followed by a big boulder blocking your way in which you have to walk around it in order to go further. There is not much to see because of the bamboo trees blocking your view but when get to the two "scenic lookout" roofed terrace near the top, the view is spectacular, almost 360 degrees panoramic view of the neighboring mountains. Not only that, you also see tea plantations on the same spot where the roofed terraces are.We only been to the first section and we were already extremely exhausted. Knowing our limits that we are not young anymore my wife and I decided that was the end of our hike. The three young girls who stayed at the same minsu as we did hiked beyond the first two roofed terrace at the same morning as we did but decided not to go further as there was no end in sight. From the look of the map, it seems we have only covered less than one-third of the whole trail. More capable hikers may find this challenging. Keep in mind the weather on the mountain changes very rapidly. In the morning it was clear and sunny and a few hours later the mountain was completely covered by moist, dense, moving clouds. Some areas show signs of landslides and there are no railings and no trees to break your fall. If you ever tripped or if the wooden steps become loose and you fell to the side of the cliff, you are done for it. You can pretty much kiss your pretty a_ss goodbye. Oh yes, no trail lights either...one wrong step and you're history. Night hiking is way too risky.Very dangerous. Beware.PS. We've hiked the "499-Steps" trail at Cingjing before. Our trek of the Eryanping Trail feels twice as many steps, much steeper and more dangerous.