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Published: August 6th 2007
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The first stage of our trek through the gorge was almost aborted as we'd heard that the rain that had in the previous 4 days had made the trails treacherous and had left some people stuck in the gorge. After consulting with a couple who had yet to start after 3 days hanging around and then to a group who were not planning to do the same, we decided we'd come far enough and that we could give the first two hour stretch a go and see what happened.
As it turned out it was no problem at all. Armed with umbrellas and led by Jamais, the daughter of Mama Naxi who's guesthouse we were heading for, we got our first glimpses of Tiger Leaping gorge as Jamais glanced upward from time to time to check for any misbehaving rocks. After a night at the Naxi Family Guesthouse comforted by green tea, noodles and beer and where we met a group of 15 or so on a VentureCo trip though Cambodia, Laos and China, we set off at 9am for the 5-6 hours hike through the middle and upper gorge.
We walked and walked and walked and walked
with umbrellas in the pouring rain and only saw two people coming the other way during the 6 or so hours between the Naxi Family and Sean's place. The view from the upper path through the gorge varied between knock out and not at all. We'd see something of the majesty of it and then in seconds it would disappear behind thick mist and cloud. Nature was not having one of her happy days, but we walked and sweated and enjoyed it. We stopped for refreshments at a place called the Halfway House, which wasn't halfway at all, but decided lunch was for wimps and that we'd 'stroll' on to Sean's where we'd heard everything was happy.
When not swathed in clouds we could see some of the greens, reds and black of the gorge disappearing into the distance but most of the time we couldn't even see down to the brown river that rushed through it. That said, we were walking along a narrow winding trail that rose and fell through the gorge taking us past forests of bamboo, around rocky outcrops, through small villages, alongside fields of crops, past goatherds and goats which was exhilarating anyway. The
rain was irrelevant as we were trekking surrounded by such awesome, gobsmacking natural beauty. Just my girl and me as the song goes. A few times there were waterfalls cascading across our path and the possibility of being washed a few hundred metres straight down was not lost on us. We trod carefully. As we began our descent toward the end of the 6 hours my prematurely ageing knees began to sing to me. Cod liver oil and triple strength Ibuprofen please! In the end after "braving" the downhill stretch with Nathalie gaily skipping from rock to rock, we arrived safely at Sean's Place, had a long awaited hot shower, powered up the a/c hot mode then relaxed. We were happy. A great day walking, clouds or no clouds and we got even happier when the happy tea, chicken soup and pizza were served.
The next day the walk back on the low road was a lot more hectic than the upper path we'd arrived on. The low road was basically hewn out of the side of the gorge, meaning that above us were rocks and earth. Not trees and plants and whatnot to hold everything together but just
steeply inclined cliff things and overhanging boulders with a sprinkling of sharp gravel and mud. After the relentless rain that meant that there were rock falls all over the place. We alternated between walking and sprinting, umbrellas aloft, past landslides large and small, scanning the slopes above us for movement. For four hours or more we walked and ran apprehensively past fallen shale, rubble and giant boulders. Thank the god of leaping tigers it ended eventually, as it wasn't the relaxing stroll admiring the scenery we had hoped for. I guess we now understood why people had gotten stuck here.
And where did it end after four hours rock hopping? At the spot where it seemed hundreds of tour buses disgorged their poncho wearing, camera-pack toting hordes. After a couple of days with only us and the gorge (with a few locals, trekkers and hostel owners thrown in), there were hundreds of people tramping up and down the stairs to the low road viewpoint. The good part was that all this activity meant that this last section was not blocked off by landslides and was a safer place to be than where we'd come from. We managed to find
a minibus to overcharge us for shuttling us out of the final 7 kilometres, driving over random piles of fallen rocks as he went.
When we arrived back at Lijiang it was still raining, but we spent our last evening watching the Naxi orchestra which was boring after the first half hour and trying not to get our eyes poked out by umbrella wielding tour groups, which is worth not getting bored of.
Tiger Leaping Gorge. You'll love it whether you're a tiger that can leap or not.
FRENCH
Les Gorges du Saut du Tigre: le nom vient de la légende qui raconte que, pour échapper à un chasseur, un tigre sauta par dessus le fleuve.
Il était 9 heures du matin quand nous avons quitté Naxi Family Guesthouse et commencé notre randonnée... On a marché et marché, pendant des heures et des heures, sous nos parapluies sous la pluie. Six heures et des patates qu'il nous a fallu pour finalement arriver à Sean's Place: la destination que nous nous étions fixée. Pendant notre marche, nous n'avons (malheureusement) pu admirer la beauté des lieux qu'ici et là et de temps en temps, lorsque les nuages se
dissipaient suffisamment pour laisser entrevoir le fond des gorges.
Nous n'avons croisé que 2 personnes en chemin... Pas très populaires les Gorges du Saut du Tigre par temps de pluie... On a mieux compris pourquoi le lendemain, quand on a emprunté la route-route...
En conclusion, c'est une superbe randonnée à faire, mais sous le soleil c'est mieux. Désolée. C'est tout pour aujourd'hui car je me sens un peu fatiguée et j'ai la flemme d'écrire...
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