Tough but gorgeous
Trip Start
Aug 07, 2008
1
21
79
Trip End
Ongoing
Lijiang,
Yunnan,
China
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
we set off for the village of Qiatou the morning after from Shangri-la on a two hour bus ride south to begin our trek through the tiger leaping gorge. we left the israeli couple in Shangri-la (doesn't sound like a bad place to be left behind, huh?) as the wife was not feeling well. i think it was a combination of a cold and altitude sickness as even eunice and the canadian girl were having headaches the night before (after all, we were at 5500m above sea level ( i think that's approximately 17,000 feet).
we arrived at Qiatou at about noon and began our journey. the total hike is just under 24km (approx 16 miles) and should take us around 7 hours. it starts at 1800m above sea level with the highest point being 2800m... so its a climb of about 3300 feet
another road block
. most everyone breaks up the hike to two days staying at the various guesthouses nestled in the hillside. we ended up hiking 5.5 hours the first day covering 18km or so (11 miles). how was the hike? it was tough but gorgeous. first the tough part. as mentioned before, it had been raining. so the trail was wet in many places, muddy in others making the climb both dirty and slippery. we also climbed about 3000 feet the first day. the highest point being close to 10,000 feet in elevation. that doesn't make breathing easy. the trail itself was not always smooth and nicely laid out. there were rocks we had to climb over, vegetation we had to go through all while being careful not to plunge off the cliff that bordered us on our right side. and, if any of you guys have done some trekking or hiking, you know how annoying steps are... especially uneven steps made of slippery rocks. these just kill your legs! well, a lot of it was that. there was even a part of the trail named "24 bends". i swear there were at least 50!
now the gorgeous part. looking down a gorge carved out by a strong flowing river from thousands of feet up amazing enough. but the gorge is saddled by gorgeous lush mountains on both sides. the vegetation was lush green with the occasional flower bushes here and there. animals roamed in some areas. local sheep farmers, small villages, waterfalls... it was really worth the grueling hike. it was tough to keep a rythm during the hike because we all kept stopping to take pictures. and every step seemed like an incredible picture opportunity. the sad thing is that pictures cannot capture the majesty that we witnessed.
we spend the night at an incredible guesthouse 18 km from the entrance of the trail
bathroom with a view
. Halfway Guesthouse. probably one of the best places i've ever stayed. a rooftop bar overlooking the gorge, our room window opened up to a direct view of the mountains and even the toilets had open windows so you could poop to the incredible view of the mountains and the gorge below. that night, we drank some beers, consumed our fair share of chinese food and had fun conversations with the wonderful people that we met: an american journalist working in beijing, german guy working in shanghai, a chinese-american from SF, and a swedish couple who would eventually end up traveling with us for the next five days. good times. oh, btw, did i mention that the private double bed room we got at this mountain top guest house cost us less than 9 dollars?!!! i know, insane!
anyways, we finished the hike the next morning through more waterfalls, beautiful pictures and conversations about politics, travel and food. we arrived to the stopping point at tina's hostel. from there you can do another 5 hour reverse hike down to the river. the swedes and us didn't particularly like that idea so split with the canadians at that point. eventually we made our way back to lijiang and ended the tiger leaping gorge there.
Comments
Lance Bass
Dude, that canadian guy does look like Lance Bass!
Props to you guys for the awesome adventure on the hike!
random: I'm jealous b/c of the obvious but I'm also jealous b/c you don't have to cook or clean for a while! lucky!