Tiger Leaping, People Puffing

By Pete
12-16/04/2019
Lijiang and the surrounding mountainous region is home to Naxi people and is renowned for its beautiful towns, stunning landscape and laid back vibe. Towns like Dali had been back packer hangouts for years. Unfortunately, even at out leisurely pace, we couldn’t find time for all that was on offer so we chose to do the Tiger Leaping Gorge trek.

Tiger Leaping Gorge is one of the deepest gorges in the world measuring 16km long and 3.9km deep from the snow capped peaks of Haba Shan and Yulong Xueshgan to the Jinsha River below and we had heard that the trek along the upper trail was unmissable.

Day one started with a two and a half hour bus trip from our accommodation at MaMa Naxi guesthouse (recommended if anyone does come to Lijiang) to the small town of Qiaotou at the southern end of the gorge. On the bus were a French couple, who were planning to do the whole gorge in one day, a Swedish couple, and a English couple, Lucy and Damian (who we had actually met at the Kunming train station the day before).

While the Swedes headed back to the original start (a decision they later regretted) Bea, myself, Lucy, Damian and the French couple tentatively started up a steep road not sure where we were going. A few hairpin turns later, we were standing at a Y intersection, gut feeling for some of us told us to the left, after much discussion, Lucy noticed a small sign (pointing right) to Naxi family G.H. the point on the map where the old and new paths met, we now staggered confidently up the hill toward the guesthouse 300 vertical metres above us.

The trek started in confusion as no one really knew where the start was. The construction of a massive new rail bridge over the gorge had turned the original start point into a construction site and the alternative start lacked any form of signage.

The final couple of hours was a pleasant downhill stroll through pine forests, bamboo groves and along wind swept ridges. Every where you looked were photo worthy scenes of the rugged snow capped peaks and the raging river below.

We arrived an hour later and found the well marked upper path way and its infamous 28 switchbacks, another 500 vertical metres to the pass at 2670m. To say we were buggered when we finally reached the path is an understatement but this vanished immediately we set foot on the precipice with awe inspiring views up and down the gorge.

We arrived at our overnight accommodation, the Tea Horse Guest house at the respectable time of 3.30 and after a wee lie down to recover, adjourned to the roof terrace to relax, take in the views and enjoy a well deserved beer. Lucy and Damian joined us later as did the Swedish couple who had only just arrived, the decision to return to the original start had added two, dust filled, hours through a building site to their trek.

If day one had been stunning it had nothing on day two for views or exhilaration. The forests of day one gave way to wind swept rock faces, sheer cliffs, knife edge paths and the occasional waterfall. The going was slow but not just because of the terrain, you just couldn’t help pulling out the camera at every turn.

Not long after passing through BenDi Wan village Lucy and Damian veered left toward Walnut Grove (they were spending another night on the trail) and we right toward Tina’s Guesthouse and the bus back to Lijiang.
We both like to trek but no trek we have done so far have ever delivered so many experiences in such a short distance.

Back in Lijiang we used our remaining day and a half to explore the ancient villages of BaoShi and Shuhe as well as Lijiang’s old town, where we again bumped into Lucy and Damian. All these towns are a little touristy now but this does not really detract from the architectural beauty of them. Better the tourist dollar to help preserve them than see them decay.

Yunnan is an extraordinarily diverse and beautiful province and to do it justice would take months (or years) we will definitely need to come back.

The original plan was to head north from tiger leaping gorge to Shangri-La before west into Tibet then further to Kashgar on Chinas far west border. Unfortunately travel restrictions and permit requirements made this idea less feasible and much less appealing. Tibet and Kashgar would have to wait, the new plan was to head south east to the Li River then turn north through Chengdu and Xi’an before finally west. Tibets loss is Xing Ping’s gain.