This is one if the most popular hikes in China but generally only foreigners will hike it. Very few nationals will trek and only locals also use the path. It is difficult in the ascent and a few spots where coordination is required.
The Jinsha river flows through Tiger Leaping Gorge and is between two mountains: Yulong Snow Mountain and Haba Snow Mountain. There is a huge stone in the center of the river, and a tiger once leaped from Yulong Snow Mountain to Haba Snow Mountain by jumping on it, which contributes to the name of Tiger Leaping Gorge.
We hired a driver for 500 kuai ($71) to take us there, wait for us, and bring us back to Shuhe old town. We started at the Naxi Family Guesthouse and started along Haba Snow Mountain. The first part of the hike took 2 hours up the steep switchback called 28-bends. There were arrows and signs along the way to help guide in the right direction.
The views are unbelievable and unforgettable.
We then arrived at the Tea Horse guesthouse to have a Naxi bread sandwich with eggs and vegetables another hour or so later.
We continued until we were at Halfway guest house but stopped at a little place selling cold drinks on the first part of the village instead.
We only saw a handful of people and they were all locals carrying goods or herding their goats and cows.
Along the way there were great views of Yulong Snow Mountain and the Jinsha (Golden Sands) River Valley below. You could actually break up the hike over many days and stay at these guest houses.
There were lots of spray paint signs just when you thought you were possibly lost.
We hiked down to Tina’s Guesthouse (about another 2 hours) and passed through some pretty waterfalls and canyons on the way. There were a few rockslides to maneuver around.
In total it took us about 7 hours. We carried plenty of water but there are great places to stop along the way. We were grateful for good weather as rain would make this more treacherous. You could spend more than one day meandering and stopping at guest houses. This eventually takes you to Shangri-La.
Of course at the beginning there was some construction to stop traffic so we had a late start. Then there was more construction when we were leaving to view the gorge along the viewing platform. It had just closed when a bunch of people begged the guard to let them in to get a picture. When he did we snuck in too. We could not go down to the bottom but we did get some pictures. There is a place where the tiger statue is on the rock. We did not get to see that.
Not far from the gorge we saw a rainbow. It had rained at the bottom of the mountain.
In this hike there are also caves with cave paintings on them but we should have tried to figure out where those were.
We also saw insects that I could not help taking a picture of.
We also saw wildflowers.
And more grave crypts.
