Day 5, 6 and 7-Tiger Leaping Gorge Hike


Advertisement
China's flag
Asia » China » Yunnan » Tiger Leaping Gorge
October 22nd 2009
Published: October 28th 2009
Edit Blog Post

Lots of pictures so make sure to hit the next button and scroll down to see them all.

We woke up around 7:15am to head down for breakfast that we ordered the night before; 2 eggs, bacon, toast and coffee. The van was scheduled to pick us up from the hostel at 7:50am and they were on time. There were 7 of us from Panba Hostel that booked the trip and we picked up 3 more Chinese travelers at along hostel.

Out of the 10 of us going to Tiger Leaping Gorge 7 of us hiked the high path and stayed overnight on the Gorge.

Quick Fact from Wikipedia on TLG(Tiger Leaping Gorge)

Around 15 km in length, the gorge is located where the river passes between 5,596 metre Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (玉龙雪山; Yùlóngxuĕ Shān) and 5,396 m Haba Xueshan (哈巴山; Hābā Shān) in a series of rapids under steep 2000 metre cliffs. Legend says that in order to escape from a hunter, a tiger jumped across the river at the narrowest point (still 25 metres wide), hence the name.

Tiger Leaping Gorge is a contender for the world's deepest river canyon, depending on the exact definition used. The area was officially opened to foreign tourists in 1993,but had attracted adventurous backpackers already in the 1980s.

Hiking the length of the gorge is possible. The hiking path ("the high road") is well-maintained and marked, although sometimes narrow, and is used by the Naxi as part of everyday life. This trail is longer than the lower road, approximately 22 kilometres (14 mi), but more varied. It features a variety of micro-ecosystems, waterfalls, and a fair number of guesthouses for trekkers.

On our way to TLG our driver was stopped by a police roadblock. The local police were pulling all the cars over and checking their IDs. We were pulled over for nearly thirty minutes waiting for the driver to return to the vehicle. It was a good time to get out and stretch our legs since we had already spent close to two hours crammed into the van.

We continued on our way for another 15 miles or so. When we entered the area of the gorge we had to pay 50 kuai each for the park admission. Everyone got out and paid but the lady at the gate demanded to see each of our tickets at minimum of three times. Keep in mind that this was the same lady that sold the tickets to each of us; it was a little weird.

We continued on to the start of the trail which was only a half mile from where we paid for our tickets. The driver pulled to the side of the road and indicated that this was the start of the trail. It was a very unassuming location and if you had no prior knowledge of the trail you would have driven right past it. I thought that it seemed rather odd that the start of this world famous gorge would have been a little bit more noticeable. Instead of a large parking area with sings and info we were standing in a small roadway with a few donkeys tied to some trees. We consulted our small map that we picked up at the hostel and got on our way.

Little red arrows marked out the path. We had read several other blogs to get an idea of what we could expect. In the beginning the path was broad and covered in gravel. It is actually a road way
FarmingFarmingFarming

I thought of my dad when I say this man in the field, I am sure my dad is glad they have tractors in the USA
for cars to go between the small villages. We thought that the hike would be a piece of cake at this point. Small homes dotted the land scape as did terraced fields containing crops and livestock. We walked with an old German in his 70s. We came to a split in the trail and didn't see a red arrow. We figured that we would continue on the trail since we didn't see a red arrow pointing us to the other road. A small pickup truck coming down the road pointed us to head up the trail. I was a little worried that they were messing with us. We took their advice and headed up on the high trail. It wasn't long until the road way ended and the actual trail had begun. The German man said that if we were interested he could take our pictures. I thought to myself that this guy is going to be hurting by the end of the day.

a few hours later we reached the first village and guest house called The Naxi Guest House. It was around 12:30 and we decided to eat some lunch, every one from our van congregated at
Gorge behind meGorge behind meGorge behind me

This was toward the start of our trek
the same table making small talk. We spoke with some hikers coming from the opposite direction and were told that the trail gets much more difficult in a short distance from our current location. The old German man was the first to depart. That was the last we saw of him on the trail. The old man tore up the trail and was actually the first in our group to hit the next guest house.

The Summit of 28 bends is at 2670 meters=8759 feet and 10 inches. The path started at 1850 meters=6069 feet. Way above Denver's altitude we were that day at the summit. Our legs and lungs were burning as we headed up the steep narrow trail. On our way we encountered a pack of goats grazing along the trail. In the distance we saw a structure that we believed was to mark the summit of the trail. I woman greeted us on the trail in her broken English. She only really knew a handful of words so that people would sit, but even those words I don't think she truly understood. She was selling water, snickers bars which she called choco, and something that sounded like marijuana. She repeated the later; "ganga, smoke, smoke, ganga, you buy?" Ha ha. We graciously declined. My buddy Marty headed up the trail a few weeks before and told us about this aspect of the hike. That was funny too us but what wasn't so funny was that we hadn't even come close to the summit. Damn. It was going to be more climbing and over an hour before we reached the summit.

By the time we reached the top we were exhausted. Along the way I encouraged Elyse by telling her that it wasn't much further, yet I reality I had no idea. Reaching the top we both felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and joy. It was clear that we we out of shape and possibly over our heads on this hike. At the summit we had found another little structure with a woman inside selling the same stuff as the woman down the hill. I had bought some shoes specifically for this hike, but they turned out to be awful. I felt every rock and pebble on our assent up the mountain. My fee were killing me. We decided that we needed to take a little longer break at the top. We saw a portion of the trail that was blocked by a tree branch. On the other side was a little path 40 meters long that jutted out from the cliff and had a spectacular view. The branch was placed there so the woman at the top could charge people for going to look out there. I negotiated and paid 10 kuai for Elyse and I as well as a couple form Holland to head out on the separate path. Elyse and the other girl got half way down. I am afraid of heights and was freaked out as we walked down the path that was only 3 - 4 meters wide and had at least a 1,000 ft drop on each side. It was worth the 10 rmb to get that picture.

From here is was nearly all down hill. At the Tea Horse Guesthouse we first took showers and settled into clean clothes, during this time there was a hornet in the room that appeared on Elyse's right forearm as she was packing our clean and dirty clothes away. She hadn't been stung since she was a little kid when she
Thanks 70 yr old German manThanks 70 yr old German manThanks 70 yr old German man

for taking our picture along the trek. He beat us all to the end, best shape for a 70 yr old I have ever seen
was attached by 7 wasps from her teeter totter. She took some Ibuprofen to reduce any swelling but didn't have any antihistamine. We only packed the smaller backpack and left the larger one back in Li Jiang to lighten the load while hiking which is where the antihistamine was at. We hiked with a couple from Holland for part of the path and they had some bug bite relief gel so I put that on the sting. Her arm is still a little puffy and red after 4 days.

We talked with the couple from Holland for about 4 hours having dinner and beers(not too many since we were hiking another day) and enjoying the beautiful stars in the sky. Oh how we miss seeing stars in the sky from all the light pollution. The starts reminded us of the sky in Yosemite National Park this summer for John and Julie's wedding weekend. There were hikers funneling down into the village from the trail periodically. Some stayed while others headed on to the Half Way Guest House. The name is a little deceiving since it is closer to 3/4 of the way done. One guy said that he was
So BeautifulSo BeautifulSo Beautiful

words can not describe it and pictures can't do it justice
staying at the Tea Horse because the view at half way was better. He said it in such a way that it was simply a matter of fact. As I glanced back to the snow capped mountain peaks that reminded me of the me of the Matterhorn at Disneyland I thought to myself; has this guy even opened his eyes to what we were looking at, or was his sole goal and mission to make it to the Half Way Guest House. As the sun went down the appearance of the cliffs and mountain peaks changed every ten minutes or so as the light cast different shadow patterns on virtually a wall of rock.

It is hard to describe this massive stone structure. Even pictures only capture a small glimpse of this mighty canyon since it is in such close proximity to the other side. In certain spots as you peer into the gorge you can look straight down as you look at your toes and still not see the bottom. Then you can look straight up and in you line of sight you see the the tip top of the cliffs.

We woke up around 9:15am when
Naxi VillageNaxi VillageNaxi Village

our first stop for lunch
the sun finally come over the mountains. We had an omelet(great) and banana/mint pancakes(not so good) for breakfast then set out on the trail again around 10:30am. At 11:49 am we arrived at the Half Way Guest House and had a snack and drink before starting out on the remainder of our hike for the day. I was happy to know that the view, in my opinion, was better at the Tea Horse. The view from Half Way was amazing yet it didn't have the snow capped mountains that the view from Tea Horse had. At 12:15pm we left the Halfway house with a DEAD camera battery BUMMER!!!!
On the trail before reaching the Half Way Guest House we read, "Come visit Half Way Guest House, Food, Hot Shower, Inspiratonal Toilet View". No that is not a misspelling on my part, that is how it was spray painted on the large bolder in the trail. Lucky for me that I am such a bad speller I often look right past these spelling mistakes and understand them immediately.

In China there a lot of misspelled words. I gathered that the views were inspirational, and that they also had toilets for
there is a man under the cornthere is a man under the cornthere is a man under the corn

they cut it and move it by hand back to their homes
the hikers. The sign was accurate in that the view from the toilets were quite inspirational. The Half Way House and village is dug into the side of the mountain and the property is terraced down and up the hill from the main courtyard where the trail leads you through. The restrooms were on the lower portion of the terrace and aligned on the wall facing the gorge. I opened the door to see a trench like toilet with a small stem wall may be 36" high and no other wall opposite of the door. It was completely open to the canyon. This was the greatest toilet I had ever seen in my life, the only thing that could have made it better was a western toilet.

We hiked with Nicki, from England and Nick, girl from Holland, for part of the trail down towards the next guest house. Nicki agreed to send us a CD of her pictures since she spend the evening with us and the next day on our hike. We arrived to Tina's GH at 1:50pm had lunch amazing Naxi food and hung out until around 3pm then decided to hike the lower trail/now road
Pete and the roostersPete and the roostersPete and the roosters

we walked thru a handful of Naxi Villages with chickens, goats, cattle and pigs
to Sean's GH for the evening to stay our 2nd night on the gorge. Nick from Holland and the 70 yr old man from Germany decided to head back to Li Jiang as they only planned one night in the Gorge. The Old German had woken up early and hiked all the way down to the waters edge and back before we even finished our lunch. That was an additional 2 1/2 hour hike. The guy is an inspiration to me and I hope that I am half as active as he is when I am his age.

Tina's Guest House was the main guest house that all the day time tourist visited. It was the starting point for the main trail that leads down to the river. It lacked the charm and had more of a gimmicky tourist trap vibe. We decided that we didn't want to stay there that night. We walked 2 km to Sean's Guest House. There were rooms for 60 kuai with no bathrooms in the room. The public bathrooms were much nicer and contained western toilets. I wanted to hike to a big waterfall and bamboo forest but discovered that it was a four hour round trip hike. We decided to follow the road for about and hour then turn back. On our way back the wind really picked up and whipped through the gorge. It was difficult to walk up straight at times. That night we sat around under the starts and talked with some other hikers. A couple from London, but he was originally from Seattle. There was another couple from England that was on holiday for six months, and an American that had just finished a teaching contract in Japan.

We got up had ham omelets for breakfast and OJ then set out on the last part of the trail which was the lower part between Sean's GH and Tina's GH. This path was less traveled and was really nice since it was the lower part of the gorge near the river. We left around 10:45am and got to the middle of the gorge where the tiger jumped across around 1pm. On our way out we were escorted by the Guest House Dog. He was a smaller dog that ran around and looked excited to see us. As it turns out the little dog stuck with us the entire hike. We herd that there were a few tolls along the trail. We negotiated these for our crossing. We were supposed to pay 10 kuai per person but only paid 20 for the three of us. There were a series of ladders that we could have taken to exit the canyon but that meant we would have had to abandon the dog, and I wasn't going to do that. The most difficult section of the trail was climbing up the STEEP mountain to get to Tina's GH where we would have lunch and catch the 4pm bus back to Li Jiang. We got to the top around 2:30pm.

I made sure that the staff at Tina's Guest House contacted Sean's Guest House to let them know that there dog was there. At the end of our lunch we didn't see the dog again so we assume he was picked up by the owner. I bought our tickets for the bus ride back at 4 pm. Nicki was unable to get her ticket in time despite the fact that I had told the ticket person there were three of us. I only paid for two and in the ten minute
Naxi GHNaxi GHNaxi GH

where we ate lunch
period it took for Nicki to buy her ticket they had apparently sold out.

That night we returned to Lijiang and went to bed early. We had to be up early for our flight back to Shenzhen.




Additional photos below
Photos: 27, Displayed: 27


Advertisement



28th October 2009

day 567
you two are so brave and adventurous!!!!!I am sure I would not have had the energy the 70 old man had!!! Your pictures are gorgeous!!!!
29th October 2009

Yunnan Tour
maybe i will also take a trip to Yunnan. The pictures are really good!

Tot: 0.623s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 20; qc: 84; dbt: 0.4472s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.3mb