Tiger Leaping Gorge (a.k.a. Tomato Man)

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This is the story of the man who went up a gorge...and came back a tomato face.

It was with a little trepidation that we got up early, finished packing our bags and headed out to the bus stop to get us to the gorge. We managed to arrive early, quiet a feat as we weren't sure where we were going and found out that we had time for some breakfast. Grabbing some local street food, some sort of breadesque base with a fried egg and spices, (which was great) we boarded the bus and headed off to Tiger Leaping Gorge.

The views along the way to the start of the trek were amazing and we were happy when we stopped off at a photo spot to grab some early morning piccies of the snow capped mountain. The break was also welcome as the road to Tiger Leaping Gorge is, by and large, missing so it was nice not to be bounced around for a few minutes!

We arrived at the Gorge at the same time as a lot of other tour groups. However, we were lucky to be at the front of the bathroom queue and we were soon heading off away from the large groups and up to the start of the trek. After scrambling almost immediately off the road we were a little disappointed to find that the trail actually followed a road up the mountain for the first section. However, it was not long before we had left the road and we were back heading out along the trail.

It was great to be away from all the tour groups as it made it really quiet up in the gorge. We had been worried about the weather we would have for the trek, but it was a glorious sunny day with hardly any clouds in sight for the entire day. I really did not know what to expect before I entered the Gorge but it was already become one of the highlights of the trip so far. The views of the Gorge were simply stunning and none of the many photos that we took that day really do it justice.

We made good time in the morning and arrived at the Naxi Guest house in time for lunch. Suitably fueled up with the biggest bowl of rice I've ever had and some lovely potato and pumpkin soup we headed out for what it renowned as the most difficult part of the trek, the 28 bends.

So named as the path bends... well 28 times...as it climbs sharply to a height just shy of 2.7km above sea level. It was a shattering climb and it was not until bend 21 that Steph pointed out that someone had numbered them all and you could count them down. It was an amazing view from the top of the bends and it was only slightly ruined by the privatisation of part of the path that prevented you from seeing the infamous lower tiger leaping stone which the gorge is named after. Both Steph and I thought this was a stone shaped like a leaping tiger but no it is the stone the tiger used to leap across the Gorge.

After a well deserved rest our small little group, as we had met people along the way up the bends, started the slight descent down to the Tea Horse Guest House were we decided to stay the night. The room was nice, though a problem with the generator meant that we had no lights in the evening until it suddenly started at about 10:45pm, just as we were settling down in the evening. Luckily we had followed the normal advice and taken a torch with us that evening.
Despite the problems with the lights, the guest house did have a perfect little terraced area where we sat out in the evening, swapping stories with other travelers as we watched the sun set over the snowcapped mountain and the stars emerge in the sky at night. It also gave me my first experience of Yak meat, which is actually pretty nice if a little tough. All in all it was a fantastic way to end what had been a fantastic day.

We got up early the next morning and after the slight disappointment of the early breakfast, a chocolate mint and banana pancake for Steph (too minty) and a cheese hash brown for me (not enough cheese) Steph told our fellow travelers how to get hot water out of the shower. Alas the information came to late for me who started the day with a cold shower. However, all of these setbacks were forgotten as we headed out for our second day in the gorge.

Our second day was a cloudy day with a bit of rain thrown into the mix. That said it did help pack down the dusty path and probably made it easier to walk on it. Even better were the views of the clouds rolling around the mountains opposite and the gorge ahead. This gave the Gorge a totally different beauty to the day before and took your breathe away in a completely new way.

After the difficulty of the day before, the going was relatively straight forward and we were soon at the Halfway Guest House. After consulting every map we had I still can not figure out what it is halfway between but it does do a good cup of coffee. Even better, after reading about the “scenic toilet” on all the rocks on the way I can officially say that the view from the toilet is amazing. You can forgive a trench toilet when the views are that good!

After our quick stop we continued our descent down the mountain. Fortunately the rain was not bad enough to make the waterfall which crosses the path too treacherous. Unfortunately that did not mean that I completed the path unscathed as a rather innocuous rock was enough to cause my left knee to flare up and I ended the descent moving more like an elderly man than an overweight youngster.

Arriving at Tina's Guest House we had two options available to us. Either we could head on to do another part of the trek, and take another night in the gorge, or head back to Lijiang. Largely due to a pained knee we decided to head back to Lijiang.

That said, after a quick bite to eat I was soon descending down the steep path to get right down beside the river itself. My knee actually held up quite well as we descended the steep sides, going down ladders at some stages as the path was too steep. Unfortunately we didn't quite make it to the actual middle tiger leaping stone as we had to head back up in order to get the bus out of the gorge. That said, we probably still wouldn't have made it on to the stone as you had to pay extra for the privilege.

As we sat on the bus on the way back to Lijiang I had the chance to reflect on the absolute stunning beauty of the Gorge and that, if everything goes ahead, it might not be there for much longer as the Chinese government are already in the process of damning the river. No one seems too sure what the current plan is and it may just be a smaller dam being built, but it will be a sad day if others no longer had the chance to trek the gorge and experience the true majesty of it for themselves.

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Comments

[Kate]

Tiger Leaping Gorge
It looks Spectacular! Hope the knee is ok now??