County: Shangri-la, China
Remarks: Day 4, Trekking in Tiger Leaping Gorge 虎跳峽
"Am I out of my mind? Why am I risking my life treking 2-3000 metres above sea level?!"
That was I was thinking when I was trekking at Tiger Leaping Gorge in Shangri-la. I had never thought of go hiking in Shangri-la at all before the trip, but it became one of the most memorable experience I had in Shangri-la.
Tiger Leaping Gorge was one of the deepest gorges in the world. It is about 60 kilometers north of Lijiang Old Town lying between Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (Yulong Xueshan) and Haba Snow Mountain (Haba Xueshan). It is part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas World Heritage Site. Legend says a tiger jumped across the river at the narrowest point in order to escape from a hunter, and hence its name. Tiger Leaping Gorge was divided into Upper Gorge, Middle Gorge and Lower Gorge. Lower Gorge was well maintained and paved and was where most of the tours clustered. Upper and Middle Gorge were relatively more remote with much less tourists, with just a fair number of trekkers.
Tiger Leaping Gorge was not in our plan indeed, but it was on our way from Shangri-la to Lijiang and was recommended by our driver. Why not then.
Our driver brought us to Tina's guesthouse in the Middle Gorge. We stayed there for a night (25 Dec) and rented a guide at RMB 180 to bring us down to the rapids of Middle Tiger Leaping Stone early next morning (26 Dec). The beds of Tina's guesthouse weren’t particularly comfy but they were at least warm.
We dated our guide at 7:30AM, but it was still a total darkness out there. So we waited for the first glimpse of light before descending down the cliff to the middle rapid (at around 8AM). There was essentially no path at all, but a sheer trail descending directly near Tina's Guesthouse to the river bank. The dirt path was extremely friable and dry, as well as very steep. It was very slippery and dangerous. The scenery was gorgeous, but I was too busy to keep myself safe on the path and had no extra hand in taking much photos. The Middle Tiger Leaping Stone was at the middle rapids. It wasn't easy to get down to the very bottom to the middle rapids. Going back up was even more difficult. We had to climb "the Sky Ladder"!! A ladder that was VERTICAL up to the sky, and for sure there was no safety net underneath!! (We only came to know that there was indeed a alternative path to go back, without the Sky Ladder after climbing the Sky Ladder. And the guide told us nothing about the alternative path!!)
The round trip to the rapids of Middle Tiger Leaping Stone took us 2.5 hours. The trip was tough and exhausting. However, when I now looked back after a few year, it was one of the most memorable part of my Shangri-la trip and was all worth it.
PS. What ironic is that while we were walking with extremely causion, our guide was walking very easily in his leather shoes!! As if it was nothing at all.....
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