Tiger Leaping Gorge was a welcome relief from the busy cities and Chinese tourist destinations that I’ve been passing through. It's a canyon gorge formed by a river that passes between 5,596 meter Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and 5,396 meter Haba Xueshan. There’s a nice 2 day trek up along a high route above the river.
It appears to be relatively popular with westerners but not Chinese. The Chinese prefer a bus tour to a particular point along the river with a short day walk to glimpse a view of the steep cliffs that rise above the valley. The High Route avoids the circus below and can only be traveled by foot or horse. Along the way you pass through some villages that offer basic but good accomodation and decent food. I spent two nights in the Gorge but kind of wish I had spent a couple of more as there are other hikes aside of the High Route.
The short trek really reminded me how much I like hiking and walking. Right now I think that’s mostly what I’d like to be doing. However, hiking is not well developed in China, good maps are impossible to find, and information dubios. Nonetheless, I do seem to stumble upon some pretty good day walks everywhere I go but there’s nothing like shouldering a pack and heading off for a week, month, or more traversing long distances with everything you need on your back.
As for Tiger Leaping Gorge I’ll let the pictures do the talking…….
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