After pondering for a couple of days in Lijiang, Yunnan, I finally decided to go trek the Tiger Leaping Gorge and I never regretted making that decision.
How to get there:
- Tina's Guest House in the Middle Tiger Leaping Gorge, has a daily 7 am bus picking up people in Lijiang > Upper Tiger Leaping Gorge > Tina's Guest House.
- The journey will take about 3 hours to reach the Upper Tiger Leaping Gorge trekking start point. Along the way, there is 1 stop where you can buy food (tea eggs, corn) and also visit the most primitive toilets for 1 yuan.
What to do with your additional luggage:
- As the trek from the Upper TLG to Middle TLG will end at Tina's Guest House, you can leave luggage you don't need in the bus as they will transport it to Tina's and deposit there until you arrive. (Recommended option as this is the most straightforward and already an established SOP today)
- Alternatively, some of the back packers I met deposited their backpacks at some of the hostels (Jane's) at the start point and collect it back when they make their way from Tina's to Shangrila or back to Lijiang (There is some risk in this option because you need to tell the Chinese drivers to stop at the correct place for you to pick up your bags or you can kiss them good bye)
- Of course, if you feel strong and fit, you are welcomed to carry EVERYTHING with you for the trek but I highly discourage you to do so :)
Finding the starting point of the trek
Some of you may have read about people who miss the start of the trail and I was also a bit worried about not being able to find the trail head. The illustration below will shed some light. Kudos to George, owner of Garden Inn! The bus will stop at Qiaotou (after buying your entrance tickets at the visitor center about 10-15 minutes before) and those who are trekking will alight here.
The trail head will be on the left side of the road and you should see the big blue sign board below - "Tiger leaping gorge hiking highway thus into"
 |
| Simple illustration of where the start point is |
 |
| Walk further to find the start of the TLG trail! |
 |
Drop off point by the bus
|
Start of the TLG trail!
The hike begins at 1890 metres and you will start walking on a sandy and dusty road, dotted with civilisation on your right and stunning valley views on your left. This is the EASIEST part of the trail haha
Takes about 20-25 minutes before you actually hit the real trail! Nice scenery to start off the day!
 |
| See the trail going up the mountain ahead, against the backdrop of the Jade Dragon Snow mountain |
 |
| Panoshot |
 |
| This is where the sweat and tears start to roll down non stop |
 |
| Totally stunning views as you go up higher. Remember to look back! |
 |
| Turns and bends of the mighty Jinsha River |
You will unlikely to be alone during the trek as there will be other trekkers and also the locals who will follow you and attempt to sell you horse rides. They are
VERY persistent and will keep following you until the path gets too dangerous to proceed further. Sometimes I do feel for the poor horses as the ground is so rough and rocky and sitting on the horses could be more dangerous as you have no control if the horse decides to go berserk and fall off the cliff!
Tip: While it will be quite cold when you leave Lijiang for the TLG, you will realise the sun will be burning by this time and I will recommend to trek in shorts if you can!
 |
| First pits stop - It looks like a legit stall selling water/food but... |
 |
| Marijuana for sale - not sure how it helps in the trek haha. This man will tell you it will get more expensive along the way (other stalls) but he also knows that you wouldn't be coming back if he was lying.. and surely he was when we reached the next stop! |
 |
Climbing higher for more views - Spot the landslide
|
 |
| Second pitstop - home grown fruits, water, chocolates and marijuana again! This lady offered a cheaper deal bundled with fruits! Well it's tough work for them to carry all these and trek to setup shop daily. |
 |
| Me with the mountain peaks! |
The jaw dropping nature views will keep you going towards your lunch stop, which is at the Naxi Family Guesthouse. But before you reach there, you will have to navigate down a pretty tricky path, just need to go slow and low.
 |
| Naxi Family Guesthouse on the left |
 |
| Naxi Family Guesthouse - where trekkers on a 2D1N trek will pass here for lunch and some on 3D2N will stay here for the night |
Corn seems to be the most popular vegetable in this region..This is where we also met a big group of Korean trekkers who will be walking with us till the evening.
 |
| In case you can't figure out which one is the Gents and Ladies |
After a simple yet satisfying lunch, we are on our way again, this time going towards the 28 bends. Many stories have been shared on how tough the 28 bends were and after experiencing it myself, yes it's tough but not the toughest. More details in the next post!
 |
| Yes, the horses continue to follow us on the TLG - their shit is everywhere on the trail :D |
