Day 49

Today a group of eight left for Tiger Leaping Gorge. In the group were Arjen and Audrey from Holland, Antonio and Nadia a couple from Spain and France respectively, Martha a Canadian, Pieta from Belgium, and Steve and I. The drive was two and a half hours and we got to the gorge at about 11.30am. Tiger Leaping Gorge is in my book as one not to miss - it is a 15km long gorge where the Yangzi river cut through between the 5500m high Yulong mountain and the 5400m high Haba mountain. It's the deepest gorge in the world and is definitely as impressive as the Grand Canyon. We set out to trek the length of it in two days.

01 A young buddhist student on the way

Tiger Leaping Gorge gets its name from the legend that a tiger jumped across the gorge at the narrowest point (still 25 metres) to escape a hunter.

02 The start of the trek

On the way you couldn't help but notice the wild marijuana plants growing on the road sides, at one stop we found some huge plants and took some pictures and one or two cuttings for later! Apparently the locals are mostly unaware of the plant and leave it alone.

We started the trek at 11.30am and were immediately followed by locals on horseback who anticipate people will drop out and use the horse to get the rest of the way. From the outset though everyone was determined not to use them and we tried to explain this to our followers but they insisted on coming along. The first part was a good climb to get us to altitude where we took lunch at a Naxi guesthouse. The next part was the hardest bit of the hike and is called the 28 bends. Here are a series of 50 metre stretches doubling back on themselves gaining height all the way. We lost count but apparently there are more like 34 bends before the top!

03 The view ahead

The views at the top were truly stunning and I hope my photos do it justice. Audrey was struggling so Arjen dropped back with her and we were left to assume they would use the horses at some point. Martha, Steve and I were the group in the middle as Pieta (an experienced hiker) and Antonio and Nadia (both very fit) raced ahead. An Australian who ran a shop near the start advised us to stop at the Tea Horse guesthouse for the night if we reached it after 5pm, but we all really wanted to stay 1.5 hours further on at the Half-way guest house because of recommendations from people back in Lijiang. Martha, Steve and I got to the Tea Horse at around 4.30pm though and found a note from Antonio saying that they had waited here for us but left for the Half-way house at 4.15pm. We downed some more water and pressed on. It was only at the Tea Horse that our horse-followers finally gave up the chase and left to go back to the start. I find it hard to believe that these guys literally waste full days on people like us in the hope of getting paid for a ride. I didn't feel at all bad for them because it's a pest having them follow you.

04 Martha and Steve at the end of the 28 bends

We had a mini re-union with the leading group at the Half-way house and checked in for the night. It's a really comfortable place given its remote location, and it's a place Michael Palin used on his Himalaya series. He made it famous by commenting on the awesome mountain views you get from the toilet - and I can definitely agree. As a surprise to us all Audrey and Arjen were close behind and hadn't used the horses either - that was impressive because it was getting dark and we had guessed they'd stayed at the Tea Horse instead.

05 The Yulong Mountain top

06 Me after the 28 bends

07 Me at a waterfall

08 Through the trees

09 The sun getting lower

10 Movie at the top

11 Another sun set photo

12 The moon and the mountain