From Lijiang we took a minivan to a guesthouse at the one end of Tiger Leaping Gorge, where we left our big bags and started our 2-day trek through the mountains.
Tiger Leaping Gorge has been designated a Unesco World Heritage Site. It is a very deep valley cut by a river into the mountains. A road runs along the base of it, from where you can see some of the rapids. A small trail runs parallel to the road along the entire gorge about half way up the mountain from guesthouse to guesthouse.
On our first day we hiked for about 4 hours. Overall the hike was quite easy, because it was partially cloudy and we’d luckily done some hiking (and eating) already. The views were stunning, especially once we crossed over the highest ridge and we saw the entire valley, the rapids at the bottom and the snow covered mountains on the other side. The guesthouse we stayed in was fairly new and again we were thankful for the electric blanket. It was great to have dinner with the other travelers there and we stayed up late chatting and sharing our travel experiences. After enjoying the sunrise the next morning we continued down the gorge past some nice waterfalls and small villages and across grazing areas for cattle and sheep. After descending to the road we continued a bit further and stayed at one of the most beautiful hotels so far. We had a gorgeous little room that was so new it still smelled like wood. In front of our window was a cute terrace with patterns laid with little cobbles of different shapes and colours and decorative flowerbeds. From the terrace we had a stunning view onto the mountains on the other side of the gorge and we enjoyed the sunset down the valley and the millions and millions of stars at night. Too bad we had to leave the next day.
Our “bus” to get back to the guesthouse where we had left our bags was a truck usually used for transporting gravel and other goods that we shared with some locals who were hitch-hiking in the same direction.
That afternoon we caught a bus north to Shangri-La.
Tiger Leaping Gorge gets its name from a local legend wherein a hunter was chasing a tiger, but the animal escaped by jumping over the river at the middle rapids and thus naming the gorge. It’s a beautiful place to hike, but sadly we were some of the last people to see it because the plan is to build a large dam to flood the entire valley to produce more hydroelectricity. So go see it before it’s too late!
