The Grumpy Sweeper

 

The Grumpy Sweeper's Special Route

The Grumpy Sweeper

I met the aforementioned sweeper on one of my hikes to the 18 Lohans. He was, well, a sweeper of roads, but he was incredibly knowledgeable about local hiking, too! I’d also met a Chinese band of hiking fellows, about 45-50 of them, and they were a great group. This sweeper seemed rather put out - grouchy, even - for what reasons I dared not guess, nor ask. But to my surprise, he made a proposal. He would lead some of us on a hike to the 18 Lohans area. So that we did.

 

His grumpy disposition continued over the first half of the hike: “We didn't know how our country's hikes would come out," he grumbled. "We didn’t know what we were doing, etc., etc.” But he successfully delivered us to the 18 Lohans. Hoping to buck up our crusty leader, but not sure what would, I told him, “Good job!”

 

What he did then was strange and not intuitively obvious. He headed into the forest, on a path I hadn’t seen, in the opposite direction! Off he went, and not wanting to lose sight of him, I headed into the forest after him. A few other Chinese came with us.

 

The path was a bit narrow. And unmarked. But we followed it. It was uphill quite a bit, then  downhill... where was he taking us? The trail undulated, going over ridges, until, somewhat to our surprise, the band of us arrived safely at the village. A great finale, filled with suspense! And a change had come over the sweeper - his mood had lifted! Was it because he had been able to share that "secret leg" of the hike with us?  Was it hearing, "good job" ? Only the forest knows the answer.

Check the Google Earth for location.