In Vietnam’s Dalat, I made two serious hiking mistakes

In this first of 3 installments, the saga of my hike in a foreign land

The road not taken. . . at least up.

My second mistake was taking the wrong trail.

My first mistake was deciding to forego the road and follow directions I had assiduously downloaded from a travel site.  Truth be told, I should confess that I tried to follow the directions.

One of my chief reasons for visiting Dalat in south central Vietnam in late March was to climb a mountain called Lang Biang and gaze down on the city and the surrounding countryside from an elevation of 2,167 meters (1.35 miles) above sea level.

Unfortunately, I got lost in the pine woods as wispy trails vanished and discernible, but vaporous, ones beckoned me onward.

Lang Biang deceptively low in the foreground seen from the marked trail.

I could have retraced my steps perhaps, as though every landmark I had memorized would materialize from the opposite direction.  Instead, I stubbornly pressed onward until I came to understand that I truly was lost.  Lost!  In the woods!

It is possible to spend the equivalent of a few dollars to be driven from the entrance, where one forks over the equivalent of 90 cents for admission to the foot of the mountain.  One can join others for a jeep ride that ends approximately halfway to the peak at a cost of $2.25. From a point close to the ride’s end, the only way to get to the top is to take a well worn and well marked, if challenging, trail onward for another 90 cents paid to an attendant at a hut.

Not for me such a wan approach as the jeep promised  — I, who never made it past “Tenderfoot” in the Boy Scouts.

Next: Sets of directions, no map, no working phone

E-mail: malcolmncarter@gmail.com