Inspired by Gooshin's
Russians invade Killarney!!, I've decided to do a similar photo writeup regarding a recent hike I took at the Tiger Leaping Gorge.
A bit about the Gorge:
Tiger Leaping Gorge is located near Lijiang, in the province of Yunnan, southwestern China. The gorge, believed to be the deepest gorge in the world, is about 15Km in length, and is flanked by the 5596m Jade Dragon Snow Mountain on one side, the 5396 Haba Snow Mountain on the other, and has the Yangtze river running through it.
There are two paths at the gorge: the lower path, which is a sealed road, and the upper path, which is the hiking path that I took. Here is a map of the gorge:
We caught a bus from the town of Lijiang, and about two and a half hours later, at about 4:30pm, we got there and began our hike.
Looking out the window of our bus on the way towards the gorge
Starting out. My three travelling companions are up ahead.
Mooooooo
Hiking
And hiking
and still going
Looking back
and looking down
Looking into the gorge, and the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain
A small village. By about 6:30pm, we had reached the Naxi Family Guesthouse, located in the small village pictured. We could either stay there for the night, or press on and try to reach the next guesthouse. We would have to go through the 28 Bends, and according to the people at Naxi, the journey there would take about three and a half hours, three if we were quick. There would be daylight until around 8:30, so if we were too slow, it might mean a long walk in the dark.
I decided to keep going, cross the 28 Bends and do the hard yards today, and have it a bit easier tomorrow, while two of my companions decided to call it a day.
On the way up towards the 28 Bends
One of the "bends" at the 28 Bends. The 28 Bends was a painful zig-zagging upward climb, and I could've sworn there were way more than 28 bloody bends in the road!
Looking back upriver
The road ahead
The Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, across the gorge
Although we kept a pretty fast pace, daylight was fast fading away, as can be seen by the above few photos. By 8:30pm or so, we were walking in the dark, and I was glad I had bought a torch along. We finally got to the next guesthouse, the Tea Horse Guesthouse just after 9pm, and after dinner and a beer, decided to call it a night.
The cheapest, dorm style rooms at the Tea Horse Guesthouse. At ￥20 RMB, or under US$3 a night for the bed, with communal hot showers and toilet, it was a bargain. After all, I didn't need anything 5-stars, just a bed to rest in after all that hiking!
Waking up in the morning, I took a few photos before we had breakfast and headed off again.
Two of the residents of the guesthouse.
We continued our hike, and the path didn't prove to be too hard. Really, once we got past the 28 Bends, it was quite okay.
Feeling as if we were walking amongst the clouds
I got to thinking how much of an effort it would've taken to construct the power lines there
Looking down. There's actually a car on the windy road there. At 20mm on my 10-20mm lens, this was as close as i could get.
Goats. They belong to one of the villagers living up in the gorge.
and still hiking
A dog and it's owner, enjoying the view (the owner, not the dog. The dog was barking at me)
We had to cross a few small waterfalls
By noon, we had reached Tina's Guesthouse and from there began our descent into the Middle Leaping Gorge.
That's my feet, and that's the way down
That bridge up there is the lower road, and Tina's Guesthouse is just up the road from the bridge
The sign says Middle Tiger Leaping Gorge
Upriver
I managed to get right down and up close to the river
Having gone down, we had to make our way back up. We did this via the "ladder" route
What's this shot about? Although it's impossible to tell from this small version, you are looking up towards the ladder. Click on the photo and I've labeled where this ladder is.
This was the path up towards the ladder
The fabled "Ladder". What you climb is actually the steel ladder, which they have built over the original wooden one. Although the steel makes it safer, I think climbing the original wooden ladder would've been more fun.
There was also a second, shorter ladder further up.
Taking a look back down towards Middle Leaping Gorge
Almost there. The buildings are where we would board a van back towards town, on the lower road
Looking up the gorge
Shortly after the above two photos, we took a small van towards the town of Qiaotou, at the start of the Tiger Leaping Gorge, and from there a bus back to Lijiang. It was actually a good choice to press on the day before, because on our way out of the gorge, it started to rain really heavily. Had we stayed at Naxi the previous day, we would most likely have been stuck at Middle Leaping Gorge, and been soaking wet, not that my K10D would've been complaining too much.
To finish off, here are a few stitched panoramic shots:
Taken early in the hike
Middle Leaping Gorge
Hope you have enjoyed reading, and the photos too!
And I really really really should get a CPL for my Sigma 10-20mm, which I used for most of the above photos, considering how much I use that lens.
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