23-Oct-2004 -- 41 N – 119 E Hebei, China

Visit Date: October 23, 2004

This line hunting trip was part of our weekend visit to the city of Chengde in the Hubei province. Chengde is located 250 km away from Beijing, and was set up as summer resort for the Emperor of the Qing dynasty. Only the core group of the Y-B Group went on this trip.

After a pleasant visit to the famous imperial summer resort during the first day we devoted a good part of the second day to hunt for 41N-119E, which is located 100 km straight east from Chengde.

We followed the National Highway 101 and crossed the border of the Liaoning province. Shortly after we entered Liaoning, the GPS led us to a side road which put us about 1.5 km from the point. We found the point 120 meters from this side road next to a village.

The point is within 200 meters from a little village with about 50 households The point was in a cornfield whose husks had been cut. This is apparently a common practice in this area. The cut husks are used for fuel. During the trip, we had kept passing carts pulled by donkeys or humans full of them stacked very high.

This was a very easy hunt in a hilly area. Interestingly, the village name is Shang Yin Shou Zhang Ze, which is part of the Yang Chu Lin Townships located in Hebei.

The near by mountain is called Lie Hu Lin(Tiger Hunting) mountain (the left one – photo 1). According to a villager, one of the senior leaders of China named Li Chong Chun was held up in this mountain during the liberation war.

We returned to Chengde by mid-afternoon. One of the scenic sites we visited known as the Sledge Hammer rock. The rock is located 2.4 km from 41N-118E which we could almost see but we did not have time to visit.

Rating of this hunt:

Degree of Challenge: 1 – a straight drive to 120 meters from the CP (Scale: 1= very easy - drive to the point; to 5= a death march – glad it is over)

Scenery: 3– Mixed farmland and rocky mountain (Scale: 1= not interesting at all; 5= take your breath away)

Culture-social factors: 2– typical rural northern China (Scale: 1=dull; 5= most stimulating)