Trekking in Vietnam: Summiting Mt Fansipan via Cat Cat Route
Mt Fansipan better known as “the roof of Indochina” is the tallest mountain in Vietnam nestled in the northwestern region of the country. It sits at 10,308 ft or 3,142m. At the top you will discover a complex of gardens, pagodas, buddhist statues and incredible views. To access Mt Fansipan you can approach it by cable car or hiking.
The easiest way- Pay around 800,000 dong to take a cable car up to the top. The ride is about 30 minutes and you will start in Sapa and end at Mt Fansipan where you can explore around and finish climbing the stairs to the summit.
Easiest Hike- Tram Ton to the summit is around 6.8 miles. This can be completed as a day hike and a lot of people will hike up and take the cable car down. This route sees the most traffic because of its accessibility. You can also do it as a 2 day trek with a tour company. All hiking routes require a guide.
Medium Hike- San Sa Village across Ba Sin Chai Village is around 9 miles to the summit. This route requires some scrambling and is very challenging.
Hardest Hike- Cat Cat Village to the summit is around 12 miles trekking involving bushwacking, scrambling and steep ascending with no switchbacks.
Now you know if I’m going to fly 33 hours to the other side of the world to trek a mountain I’m going to choose the hardest route. So trek # 4 is exactly what we did!
I wanted to summit this mountain for my 31st birthday. I mean what is more epic than serious Type 2 fun to rally in a new rotation around the sun. Birthdays are symbolic to me. The intention you place upon that one special day a year to celebrate yourself has meaning. So the theme of this year is all about embracing challenge with grace and grit. What better way than to summit Mt Fansipan on the hardest route.
Vietnam requires you to hire a guide to be able to go on this hike. Unfortunately there have been deaths and missing persons with tourists who attempted to complete this hike on their own. As a backpacking guide myself, I see the value in hiring a guide when needed. Trekking in the mountainous jungle of Vietnam was definitely something I was more than happy to have a guide to lead me on.
Not many companies offered this route. A lot of them were trying to sell me on the 2 day Tram Ton hike. I finally found a few companies willing to lead me on the 2 night/3 day Cat Cat Route but decided to go with Joey The Terrible Tour Guide for my trek. Despite the ironic name, this tour company has excellent customer service and answered all my questions in a timely manner. The trip was easy to book, I put down a 70% deposit and paid the remainder on the morning of our trek. All of our meals and water were included as well as sleeping bags. We just needed to bring a backpack, shoes, toiletries, sunscreen, water bottles/bladder, snacks and our clothing layers along for the hike.
This company partners with local minority communities in the area that will be your guides and porters. For our trek we had our guide Susu and two porters from the Black H’mong community. There was a bit of a communication barrier at times but our guide Susu spoke enough English to where we felt seen, heard and understood the objectives at hand. She was a gem and we loved her!
Our guide Susu, Rachel, Me and Craig on day 1 :)
The trail started off in Cat Cat Village and quickly began to ascend with views of the valley and rice fields. We crossed a creek and took a short break before the real work began. This trail was a very minimally traveled route evident by the overgrown vegetation and the amount of bushwhacking we had to do.
Straight up and no switchbacks! Our porters macheted our way through sections of overgrowth. It was a real adventure. Certain sections required us to perform technical climbing moves to get ourselves over terrain. Other sections were so steep I used my hands to crawl up the steps. We were constantly pulling off leeches from our shoes and socks. The rain and wind would come and go. But the beauty of this mountainous jungle was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before.
This was a TOUGH hike. I have a good baseline level of fitness due to my active lifestyle however, I was traveling a lot before this and didn’t properly train like I should have for this trek. I knew I could do it and I knew it would be difficult but DAMN it was so hard. This trek humbled me, challenged me and pushed me to the limit. But it was everything I craved and desired at the time.
You see, some backpacking trips are meant to be lax and chill. Others are meant to push you to what you thought was your breaking point only to come out on the other side and say “I fucking did the damn thing!” This was that trip for me. I was starting a business, turning 31 and moving through some big transitions in my life. I needed the challenge. I needed to get shaky legs and crawl up this trail. I needed to realize my resilience is greater than my perceived limitations.
When the limiting beliefs came up that sent doubt and despair into my psyche, I recognized it before those thoughts took over. Then I reframed my thinking into empowering statements like “I AM STRONG” “I WAS BUILT TO HIKE THIS HIKE” “I AM ENOUGH” “I AM A BAD BITCH” “I CAN DO HARD THINGS” “I AM THRIVING” “I AM GRATEFUL FOR MY BODY” and just like that I was powering through the difficult parts with courage, confidence and grit.
So when I tell you, I get where you’re coming from. It's not a fluff statement. I really do understand what it’s like. And even though I am a professional backpacking guide, thru hiker and empowerment coach- I AM STILL HUMAN. I still experience my own darkness that tries to shadow my light. But because I have been doing this inner-work for a while I am able to overcome the disempowering thought patterns quicker than I used to. The work never ends. The contrast, challenges and circumstances beyond your control will come. That is a part of life. It encompasses the balance of the human experience.
After the first day of trekking we set up camp in an old abandoned shelter with blown out windows. It was dusty and dirty but we had the most amazing views of cloud inversions over the mountains in the distance. Our guides quickly got to work on setting up our beds, collecting firewood and cooking dinner. We slept on a thin foam mat on planks of plywood with a sleeping bag. I used my pack as a pillow and sunk into this bed like a plush cloud in the heavens. We were all so exhausted and filled with pride, joy, eagerness and excitement for our morning summit.
The next morning we woke up and were served coffee, tea and a hearty noodle soup breakfast.
Susu kept us well fed with huge portions that had eggs, chicken, and fresh vegetables that her and the porters foraged for on the first day of our trek.
After breakfast we packed our stuff, got ready and then set out to begin a new day. By 7:30 am we were hiking to the summit of Mt Fansipan.
It was immediately very steep and my legs were already so sore. I was having a hard time with the smoke from the fire the evening before and I could feel my lungs struggling to gasp for air at that high altitude. I took lots of breaks. I was the slowest in our group. But I did my mindset redirect work and kept a positive attitude. Even though my body hurt so bad and every step was a shaky legged mess, I was blissed out about what I was doing with my two close friends in the mountainous jungle of Vietnam for my 31st birthday.
The terrain became a playground where we were hopping over giant tree roots like a ninja and balancing on logs and rocks to move forward. A few times my porter held my hand to support me through the obstacles. We were a team and even though we couldn’t communicate there was still a mutual understanding through eye contact, gestures and body language. It was a beautiful experience and put me in the shoes of how my clients feel under my leadership when I take guests into the backcountry.
The higher we ascended the more we became socked in by clouds and beat with hurricane force winds. The bamboo forest vegetation would smack you as you walked through it and you just had to push forward. It felt very poetic when compared to the trials and tribulations of life. Sometimes as you move forward towards your goal, a force of resistance appears out of nowhere and creates obstacles you weren’t expecting. Do you give up? Or do you find the courage to push harder and channel that inner-strength.
Eventually we hopped a stone wall that signified we made it to the summit mountain complex. We were suddenly surrounded by buddha statues, pagodas and tourists who smelled of fresh laundry detergent. Susu handed us a certificate of completion from the Vietnamese government and a medal. We then climbed what seemed like 1,000 more stairs through crowds of people to reach the official summit. Reaching the peak released every dopamine and serotonin molecule I had. I was on cloud 9- literally and figuratively. I shed happy tears, busted out some silly dance moves and hugged my friends tight. Tourists even took pictures with us at the top and cheered us on because it was very clear we had just hiked a very difficult mountain that they took a cable car up to. I legit felt like an olympic athlete with that medal.
This was the most beautiful and inspiring adventure and so much more special than I ever thought it could be. To be in Vietnam on my 31st birthday with amazing friends trekking through the jungle for 3 days was the most extraordinary experience. I realized then how the resistance I faced to get to this mountain happened FOR me and not TO me. It was all a part of the journey.
This is why I choose adventure. I flew 30+ hours in 4 different planes, took a 6 hour sleeper bus to a village and then trekked up the tallest mountain in all of Indochina because I could. Because despite the difficult logistics of reaching this goal, I knew I could do it and so I did.
After spending lots of time at the summit and exploring the various pagodas and sacred areas of the mountain complex, we descended to our 2nd and final camp. We had a delicious celebration dinner with fresh vegetables, rice, pork, and chicken. It was quite the spread! Susu whipped out “happy water” which is homemade rice wine and we indulged in an evening of laughs, cheers and team bonding.
Adventure parallels life in many ways. Nothing worth having or achieving comes easy. People don’t trek up mountains with everything on their back because it’s easy or comfortable. We do it because the feeling of strength, resilience and gratitude that follows is 100% worth every step. It will feel like a game of mental gymnastics at times and you will face moments where you are wondering why you chose to do this to yourself. But the end result and reflection is EVERYTHING AND MORE.
Unlike inside the construct of your normal societal routines where you may just get overwhelmed and choose to numb or distract yourself in the midst of chaos, out here it’s quite the contrary. On an adventure you HAVE to surrender to the chaos and continue forward. You CAN’T give up. That isn’t an option. And that, my friends, is why backpacking is an incredible tool for developing a courageous and resilient mindset that will carry over into all aspects of your life. You can, you should and you shall.
Happy Trails xo Dee
