Tiger Leaping Gorge

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[Pictures to come. Now actually in Beijing, we're falling behind on our entries - having some trouble publishing them in China - sometimes the site is completely inaccessible, other times not able to upload pictures.]

Around the mountain from Lijiang, the Yangtse passes through a deep gorge, the deepest in the world, and in danger of becoming a hydro megaproject site. Along one side is a high narrow trail that can be hiked in a couple of days, with a few guest houses scattered along it for overnight rests. What a great hike.

We arrived in the small town and blundered across the bridge into sight of the hyper-energetic and locally famous ex-aussie Margo; she had our luggage stored and launched us down towards the trailhead in a matter of minutes. The trail is sometimes local road and other times narrow goat path. Across the river is a steep cliff wall stretching up to a row of snowy peaks and down to the river below, often out of sight. The river really boils through the gorge, but is so far down you can't hear it.

The terrain along the trail varies, sometimes through farmers fields, or a fragrant (red?) pine forest, or a rocky outcropping. The middle section is fairly flat, but the beginning and end are quite steep and rockier in places, so not a straightforward walk. The view is always excellent, and you meet plenty of locals, livestock and other hikers on the way. The guesthouses are converted homes of local Naxi minority people and the first two, Naxi guesthouse and Tea Horse were our favourites. Great hearty food and nice people, they inhabit the areas where it is just flat enough to have some terraced fields and livestock clinging to the slope.

The view is too big to photograph! Need a wide angle...

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