Tiger Leaping Gorge

This story takes place in Tiger Leaping Gorge near Lijiang, Yunnan Province in China from August 8 to August 9, 2007.

When our flight arrived in Lijiang the weather was warm and the sky was blue. Found a hotel room on the hill in the old town. It was set up like on old style guest house which is typical of the hotels in old town. We asked the hotel staff about Tiger Leaping Gorge and they warned us not to go and it is too dangerous. They wanted us to stay in their Inn for another day. We went down into the old town for dinner. Most of the food in Lijiang is very delicious. After dinner we had time to explore old town before going to bed. Tomorrow would be an early morning.

In the morning we left some heavy bags in the hotel taking the essentials for a two day hiking trip. The ride over the mountain pass had many corners and switch backs. The taxi dropped us at ticket office for Tiger Leaping Gorge in Qiaotou at day break. This is where we started our two day trek through the gorge. The trail is not always clearly marked and there are many side trails and old roads along the way. The clearest markings are red arrows showing the way to various guest houses on the route. We found the correct path and followed it through the mountains past various farms and small villages.

An hour into the hike an old man began to follow us with a horse asking if we were tired and if we wanted to have a ride. We politely rejected him and continued walking. He continued to follow insisting that we would get tired at some point and need a ride. The bell on his horse was really beginning to annoy me. Clang, clang, clang. Here was a beautiful peaceful place with no cars or people and we were being stalked by a man and his noisy horse. We would stop and take a break and he would stop and wait watching our every move. At one point I changed into a pair of shorts because the morning sun was very hot and the man stopped and waited for me to finish. After an hour or so of listening to the bell I turned to complain about the noise and he quickly stuffed some paper in the bell to stop the ringing. At least I was able to forget he was following so close because they were moving very quietly like mice. After about 2 hours he decided we were serious about wanting to walk the entire 30 kilometer length of the trail and he turned and went home. I missed the man and horse when they were gone. The annoying sound of the horse bell was replaced by some type of large insect. The noise from the insect sounded like someone turning the throttle on and off on a dirt bike or chainsaw. There were hundreds of these insects along the way and the sound was sometimes deafening. I recorded the sound on my camera.

The view from the trail was absolutely stunning. The mountains are so enormous it is impossible to describe the feeling. There are green meadows, farmland, small villages, and the river below with the high snow covered Dragon Mountain ever looming in the clouds against the blue sky. The sun was bright and warm (a little too warm) with a cool breeze. The trail was also a little dangerous in places with loose stones or powerful steams crossing the trail and then falling to the depths below. It was difficult to watch the trail with so much beauty in every direction. It is best to stop to enjoy the view and focus your eyes on the trail when walking. I took hundreds of pictures. Thank God for digital cameras!!!

Our first stop was at the Naxi family guesthouse. We stopped here for a light breakfast banana pancake and a cup of coffee. The house is of traditional style with hundreds of corn cobs hanging from a rack and beautiful purple flowers in the courtyard; very restful and relaxing. After buying a couple of bottles of water we were on our way.

The next leg of the trail included the infamous 28 bends which is a part of the trail that rises sharply via switchbacks. The vertical climb is 1,500 feet. The total vertical climb for the entire trail is around 3,000 feet. I was soaked in sweat by the time we reached the top. The view of Dragon Mountain is spectacular here. The rest of the trail after this point is mostly flat or down hill. The way down passes through small bamboo trees which changes into a beautiful evergreen forest. The smell is fresh and the air is cool here.

Through a break in the trees we could see the infamous Tiger Leaping Stone. The name of the Gorge and stone comes from an old legend. A very strong tiger was being hunted and the hunters believed they would catch the tiger soon because he was cornered by cliffs and the raging river below. The hunters were dismayed when the tiger bounded across the gorge to escape almost certain death. After reviewing the river in this area it is said that the only possible way to leap across the river is to first jump on the stone in the middle of the river and then to the opposite bank, hence Tiger leaping stone.

Various farm animals can be seen wandering along the mountainside and on the trail; Pigs, Goats, Cows, Horses, Chickens, and Dogs; another reason to watch your step. All these animals like to mark the trail with their own special smelly markers.

The next stop was at the Tea Horse guest house for lunch. Part of the trail that we had been hiking on was an old route for transporting tea to Tibet by horseback. At this point my shoulders were sore from the back pack and my feet were also very sore from 6 hours of hiking. I took off my hiking shoes to air out my sweaty feet. Lunch included three Chinese dishes with rice. Three young Englishmen came into our little dining room for lunch. They were traveling around China for the summer. We would see them on the trail from time to time for the rest of the day. I paid the bill, purchased a couple of bottles of water, put on my shoes and pack and off we went.

The next part of the trip was easy. The trail was very flat without any change in altitude. Some areas were a little dangerous where the trail becomes very narrow with a steep drop off to the river thousands of feet below. We were lucky and did not get lost at all. There are many forks in the road and most are marked with red arrows showing the way to the next guest house. At 2:30 PM the bright sun became very hot and unknown to me at the time it was burning my neck. I was often applying sunscreen but I also had a constant stream of sweat pouring from my body. We could see the ever present Dragon Mountain looming above on the other side of the gorge. We passed through a few villages and I noticed that every cornfield had sunflowers growing with the corn. For the next few hours the scenery is just fantastic and unimaginable getting better around every bend.

After passing the famous halfway house we entered a part of the trail that was even more treacherous than the previous trails. The trail was cut into a very high cliff and was too close to the edge. Along this trail was a group of horses feeding completely blocking the way. I made my way past the small herd and threw the branch they were feeding on to the side. The horses followed the branch and this made room for my traveling companion to get by. Another point on this trail was covered by a high waterfall with small smooth rocks underfoot. The drop off was straight down on the right side with the pounding waterfall on the left. I scrambled over the wet stones and through the cold water that was disappearing over the cliff on the right at a very rapid rate. I was relieved to make it to the other side. One wrong step could mean death. There were a few spots along the trail where large streams and waterfalls needed to be crossed. My shoes are water proof so my feet remained dry.

After a short upward climb we could see our destination, Tina’s Guest house located on the winding low road. Still another hour away and it was around 6 PM. We started at 7:00 AM. Arriving at Tina’s we washed had dinner and slept soundly. I can remember feeling very tired with a lot of pain in my legs and hips but the hike and view were worth it.

Toll bridge

The bridge bounced under my weight

From this spot it is a continuous climb along the river and back up to the low road. I was extremely tired and slowly took one step at a time. The whole trip took around 4 or 5 hours. The end consisted of walking on top of a stone wall through cornfields and farms. We finally made it to Woody’s guesthouse for a beef burrito lunch. Mexican food here? It was tasty and relaxing and again I was drenched in sweat.

Now it is 1:00 PM and time to try to make it back to Lijiang. Our plan was to go to Daju and take a bus or hire a car to take us back to Lijiang. Daju is on the other side of the river and there are no bridges so we have to take the ferry which is a long distance downstream from Woody’s. We talked to the staff at Woody’s and they called a car for us. It was 10 RMB per person. A French couple was walking along the road and they flagged down our car. They were very happy to find someone else who speaks English and I found out they were also going to Lijiang and planned to take the bus. One problem is the last bus leaves Daju at 1:00 PM or 2:00 PM depending on the information source. We agreed to share the cost of hiring a car to Lijiang if there is no bus.

We traveled quickly along the winding mountain road high above the river when to our dismay we found the road completely blocked by a massive landslide. The road is absolutely impassable and covered with giant boulders and rubble from the cliffs above. The car stopped just short of the slide and the driver asked for his 10 RMB. We nervously left the car and paid his money when he told us there would be another car on the other side we only need to scramble across the landslide and wait. The sun was bright and we waited for the other car to arrive. There was no sign of any other people, houses or cars. My neck was burning so I took my sweat towel and wrapped it around my neck for added protection even though I had already applied generous amounts of 40 SPF sun-block all through the morning.

Rock slide blocking our way to the ferry. The boulders are as big as a car.

The small van on the left dropped us off then we scrambled over the rock slide.

A four door truck finally arrived and agreed to give us a ride to the Daju ferry for 10 RMB each. I threw my backpack in the back of the truck and hopped in the front riding shot gun. The ride took us out of Tiger Leaping Gorge and into a large flat area surrounded by high mountains. After about 30 minutes he took a right onto a rough dirt road, drove a couple of kilometers, then stopped in the middle of a cornfield. We could not see the ferry or the river and there were no signs showing the way. The driver pointed towards an old dirt road and told us to start walking. After walking for around 15 minutes the trial split into around five different trails with no signs telling which way. We were in the middle of nowhere and it was difficult to believe there would be any ferry at all. We finally found something that looked like a main trial and followed it. It was going in the wrong direction but I convinced the French couple that it would probably switch back since we were still so high above the river. I was right. It was about a 30 minute climb down to the river switching back and forth across the very high river bank. At the last leg the path hugged a large cliff and the stone path took us down to the riverside and we could see the ferry on the opposite side. There were no people or signs or anything to show us we were in the right spot for the ferry pick up and the path appeared to have been swallowed by the high river. It was the middle of the rainy season and the river was at a high point. We yelled across the river to some people who looked like they may be the ferry operators. The people turned and went into their little house that was built in a cave in the side of the cliff. We saw smoke and realized it must be lunch time. I sat on my pack and we waited, and waited, and waited.

Soon the men on the other side of the river came down to the boat and started the motor. I watched as the small boat headed upstream fighting the strong current and finally it cut across to land at the bottom of the cliff face. There was no dock. I guess it had been washed away by the recent rains. We had to jump down to the boat which should not have been to hard except I had been walking for hours and hours the last two days. My legs were tired and my pack was heavily strapped to my back. I landed with a thud but was able to keep my balance in the rocking, moving boat.

The River Ferry. The doorway just above the horse is the operator's house.

The ferry operators ate lunch in thier cave while we waited on the other side.

Once we landed on the other side of the river the men lead us up the opposite bank, through some fields and to a small village. The sun was hot and no trees in sight; just flat land and fields of corn all surrounded by high mountains. A man led us to a comfortable place called the Daju Inn. We sat at a table in the courtyard and I drank two bottles of ice cold water. Again I was drenched in sweat. We were told that a 19 person car headed to Lijiang was due to arrive in 15 minutes. After 15 minutes we were told to wait longer until finally we were told the car would arrive in a couple of hours. This was a plan by the Inn owners to keep us in their Inn until it was too late and we would be forced to spend the night. One girl I met in this inn stopped here for the night and ended up staying for 4 nights. We realized the scam and grabbed our things in an effort to find the bus station thinking there would be a private car for hire somewhere near the bus station. We found an old woman who told us the bus station was straight 20 minute walk down the dirt road. A man in a doorway told us there was no bus station and we could not hire a car or leave by bus. Just then a bus drove by but in the wrong direction. Further down the road we came across an old man with an ox and his grandson in the cart. He said the bus station was straight down the old dirt road. We finally came by another Inn with English words stating car to Lijiang for hire. We went inside and told the wife that we needed a car ASAP and she called her husband who arrived 10 minutes later to take us to Lijiang. It was more than a 3 hour ride and half of the trip was on a very bumpy cobblestone road over a high mountain pass via many switchbacks. We passed a famous tourist spot of a river coming from the snow melt on the other side of Dragon Snow Mountain. The water was a very vibrant blue color and the water flowed over some strange looking round steps. I question if this area is 100% natural or something created by the government as another tourist trap because there were so many buses and people. The entire trip was filled with beautiful mountain scenes and small remote villages.

We arrived in Lijiang around 7:00 PM recovered our baggage and moved into a hotel in the old city. Lijiang is split between the old city and the new city. The new city is just like any other city in China. The old city is set up to take you back through time. There are no cars on the narrow stone streets. There are many waterways and bridges. The local Naxi people in Lijiang wear outfits that remind me of the Amish in the USA. The old city is filled with gift shops and thousands of Chinese tourists. They even have a bar street with loud music and people screaming and yelling and Dancing. The look of the city and the activity do not match. The best time to see the city is very early in the morning when most of the party animals are still asleep. This far West in China the sun stays up a lot later then in Eastern China because the whole country is in the same time zone. We had time to walk around and explore the old town trying to get information about our next trip to Shangri-La and Meili Mountain. Everyone warned us not to go and to stay in Lijiang. They say the weather is bad or the roads are closed or something bad to try to get us to stay. I found that the hotels and inns always tell stories to try and keep you in their establishment.

Pictures

Tiger Leaping Gorge Pictures

Lijiang
IMG_8842.JPG 2007-08-03

Tiger Leaping Gorge

IMG_8902.JPG 2007-08-04

Looking back towards Qiaotou

A hay stack
IMG_8924.JPG 2007-08-04

Flower on the high trail
IMG_8896.JPG 2007-08-04

Naxi Family Guesthouse
IMG_8935.JPG 2007-08-04

Naxi Family Guest house
IMG_8943.JPG 2007-08-04

Naxi Family Guest House
IMG_8948.JPG 2007-08-04

Dragon Snow Mountain
IMG_8949.JPG 2007-08-04

Red Trail Marker

IMG_8962.JPG 2007-08-04

Without these we surely would have become lost. There are many roads and side trails.

Drogon Snow Mountain
IMG_8987.JPG 2007-08-04

View just before the 28 bends
IMG_9009.JPG 2007-08-04

Tiger Leaping Stone
IMG_9041.JPG 2007-08-04

View torwards Daju
IMG_9058.JPG 2007-08-04

Flower on trail side
IMG_9047.JPG 2007-08-04

One of many goats in the forest
IMG_9062.JPG 2007-08-04

One of the many horses loose on the trail
IMG_9079.JPG 2007-08-04

View in Daju direction
IMG_9067.JPG 2007-08-04
Farm

Farm
IMG_9090.JPG 2007-08-04

View of farms in the gorge
IMG_9095.JPG 2007-08-04

Pig on the trail
IMG_9108.JPG 2007-08-04
Farm

Farm
IMG_9114.JPG 2007-08-04
Farm

Farm
IMG_9115.JPG 2007-08-04

Horses near the edge
IMG_9128.JPG 2007-08-04

Cliff near trail
IMG_9139.JPG 2007-08-04

Wild flower and Dragon snow mountain backgroud
IMG_9146.JPG 2007-08-04

Me and Dragon mountain
IMG_9147.JPG 2007-08-04

Dragon Snow mountain
IMG_9153.JPG 2007-08-04

Part of the trail
Most of the trail was similar to what is shown. What cannot be seen in this picture is the drop which is very high and shear 2007-08-04

Tiger Leaping Gorge
This is a common view from the trail 2007-08-04

Sunflowers trailside
For some reason every corn field has sunflowers in or around it 2007-08-04
Berries

Berries
Someone was picking berries and left this basket on the side of the trail 2007-08-04

Run Chicken Run
These chickens ran down the trail to escape me. The tree branch above has some berries on it. 2007-08-04

Water heater?
The trail hugs the property of a farmhouse 2007-08-04

Mountain road
Here the trail is wide and in good condition 2007-08-04

Pine forest
View from the pine forest 2007-08-04

IMG_9206.JPG
IMG_9206.JPG 2007-08-04

The Trail
The trail is quite high 2007-08-04
Horses

Horses
Some horses blocking the way. 2007-08-04

Waterfall
You can see the trail passing through the waterfall 2007-08-04
Tina's

Tina's
Tina's guesthouse is a typical motel style place 2007-08-05

Tiger Leaping Gorge
Looking back towards Qiaotou 2007-08-04

Middle gorge
The water is brown from the recent rains 2007-08-05

Low Road bridge
The bridge on the low road seen from the bottom of middle gorge 2007-08-05

Toll bridge
Need to pay 5 RMB to cross 2007-08-05

Middle Gorge
View from rock in the middle of the river 2007-08-05
Rapids

Rapids
To fall in this raging river would mean death 2007-08-05

Middle gorge
View down middle gorge 2007-08-05

Rock Slide
The rockslide covering the road to the ferry could only be passed by foot. The villages on the high and low road were completely cutoff from both sides of the gorge 2007-08-05
Daju