Changbaishan (aka Hey there, over there, North Korea!)

School's out for the summer and because we had a three-day weekend, Onions and I planned a trip to the "Crater Lake of China," called 长白山 which straddles the China-North Korea border up in Jilin Province.  It took some 24 hours by train and bus to get to the park (apparently they've opened an airport) but we got there.

The blue dot shows the location of where we stayed in Erbaihe.  The actual lake is 50km south RIGHT on the border with North Korea!

The two highlights of the park are the lake itself and the waterfall.  Onions and I accidentally were suckered into a waterfall hike.

This was it!  Seriously?  However, it was a REALLY nice walk in the woods.  Peaceful and quiet.  Very much like the Pacific Northwest.

But look closer and you'll see they've installed LIGHTS underneath the falls.  The Chinese love light shows and apparently the entire hike is lit up in colored lights at night.

Hugging a Korean Pine!

And here's the 长白山天池.  The lake surface itself was still frozen on June 1st.

And that's North Korea on the other side.  Hey Kim Jong-Un!

So where the snow is....North Korea!

I do have to report that yes, I got lots of pictures, but it's a total madhouse.  Chinese domestic tourism....

And it's not really a hiking experience.  Shuttle buses and vans take you to a parking lot and then then you stand in line and wait to climb less than a kilometer. 

HERE'S the waterfall!!  The only outlet from the lake is on the northern (Chinese) side of the lake and this is it.