igoiseeishoot: Lijiang

13 September 2024

Tiger Leaping Gorge is one of Yunnan’s must see sights located between Haba Snow Mountain (5,396 meters) in Shangri-La and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (5,596 meters) in Lijiang. Around 15 kilometers in length, the gorge is located where the Jinsha River passes between the two mountains in a series of rapids under steep 2,000 meters cliffs.

Tiger Leaping Gorge has three sections: the Upper Gorge, Middle Gorge, and Lower Gorge. The Upper Gorge and Middle Gorge are recommended for their stunning landscapes. The Lower Gorge is usually not recommended due to its plain scenery.

The Upper gorge area offers glorious view of the rapids, torrential current of the Jinsha River as the water squeezes it way through the narrow pathway between the two mountains. Legend says that in order to escape from a hunter, a tiger jumped across the river at the narrowest point at the Upper Gorge area, hence giving the gorge its name.

Statue of a tiger, next to the roaring Jinsha River, can be seen at the Upper Gorge Area. In fact, there are a couple of statues of tiger at this area.

Because it is a tourist site built by the authorities with available road, wooden steps down to the river, secure guardrails and take about 2 hours to visit, most visitors will visit this area when they travel between Lijiang and Shangri-la or visit this as a day trip from either city.

For us, we came to Tiger Leaping Gorge to experience one of China’s best hikes on the high mountain trail on the Haba Snow Mountain side of the gorge. We did the 2D/1N hike from Qiaotou (Upper Gorge) to Tina’s Guesthouse (Middle Gorge).

See these posts for our 2D/1N hiking adventure:

Day 1 of Tiger Leaping Gorge Hike

Day 2 of Tiger Leaping Gorge Hike

We were initially planning to do the half day challenging hike from Tina’s Guesthouse down to the Jinsha River at the Middle Gorge. But plans change and we had to go with Plan B which was to come to the touristy Upper Gorge area to experience the roaring Jinsha River.

Our driver drove us from Tina’s Guesthouse after we completed our hike and alighted us at the large car park as seen in the photo below.

View of the Jinsha River at the Upper Gorge area as seen from the high mountain trail on Day 1 of our hike.

To get from the entrance at higher ground down to the river, we had to walk down about 1,000 steps on a wooden pathway. Getting back up later from the river to the entrance may be a struggle for some. For those who wants to avoid the stairs, there are 2-way escalator tickets available for sale.

Preview of the Jinsha River as we walked down the stairs. We could hear the roar of the rapids as we made our descend.

Our guide told us the bridge and road on the opposite bank is now unused and reconstruction is taking place.

There are well built observation decks with safety barriers along the river bank that allow visitors to get close to the roaring river.

This is the narrowest part of the river and start of the rapids. The river was quieter and smooth flowing further upriver.

The Upper Tiger Leaping Gorge is the narrowest section, and in the center of the river is a huge rock called Tiger Leaping Rock.

Imagining how the tiger could have made it across the river using the big rock in the middle.

Like most tourist places, there are stalls selling drinks, snacks, souvenirs and also amulets that visitors can buy to hang on racks next to the river. There are also people offering photography (for a fee) with the tiger statue.

Amulets that visitors can buy to leave their wishes.

Observation decks on the shores of the roaring river.

The noisy turbulent water forcing its way over the large obstructing boulders in this deep gorge is a breath-taking sight!

Another statue of a tiger on the opposite bank.

Although this place is a little more touristy, it was definitely worth a visit to marvel at the beauty and power of nature. A good way to complete our hike and visit to Tiger Leaping Gorge.

13 September 2024

The plan for Day 2 of our Tiger Leaping Gorge hike was to walk from Tea Horse Guesthouse to Tina's Guesthouse. Tina’s Guesthouse is located in the center of the famous Tiger Leaping Gorge and is the largest and most fully-equipped hostel in the entire Tiger Leaping Gorge Scenic Area. Most people who hike the trail will either stay the night at this hostel or take public bus from there to Lijiang or Shangrila.

The distance of our hike on this day is about 9.8 km and is mostly flat until towards the end where we descended the mountain to Tina’s Guesthouse.

My son and I woke up at 7 AM hoping to see a beautiful sunrise over the mountains but the sky was cloudy. We had a leisurely breakfast of spicy noodle soup and banana pancake, coupled with nice views of the gorge.

Sunrise at Tea Horse Guesthouse.

Korean inspired spicy noodle soup.

Delicious banana and walnut pancake at the Tea Horse Guesthouse.

We started our hike at 9 AM. I enjoyed the easy morning walk through the village with scenic views of corn fields, villagers’ huts and the mountains.

Corn field outside the village.

Drying harvested corn in the sun.

Good morning, Mr. Pig.

Leaving the village, we came to a fork in the road where some hikers may chose the wrong path. The correct path is the left fork with narrower path that leads uphill. There is a sign with Chinese words that is not very prominent.

Choose the left fork at this junction or you will have to backtrack or end up lost.

We continued on a mountain trail with views of the Jinsha River and the surrounding mountains.

We were the only ones on the trail.

This part of the trail from Tea Horse Guesthouse to Halfway Guesthouse is extremely scenic. I am glad we stayed in Tea Horse Guesthouse and hiked this part of the trail in the morning. The rays from the morning sun shining though the clouds and over the mountain made the scenery so much better.

Have to be careful on the narrow path with steep cliff.

Like the earlier part of the trail, there are stalls selling drinks, snacks and stuff along the way. Some of the stalls provided chairs to hikers to rest. It was OK to rest on these chairs even though we did not buy anything from them.

Enjoying the warm of the morning sun at a rest area.

Cosmos in bloom and enjoying the morning sun as much as we do.

Rock with the side profile of a human face.

One of the stalls and rest area on the trail.

The wordings on the flag says “Shan-gri-la, Tiger Leaping Gorge”.

More goats seen on the trail.

Goats blocking the path.

Village woman came rounding up her goats.

View of the trail ahead.

One of the most scenic parts of the trail.

Narrow switchback road leading up to the Bendiwan Village where Halfway Guesthouse is located.

Appreciating one of the deepest gorges in the world at a maximum depth of 3,790 meters from river to mountain peak.

View of the Bendiwan Village.

We arrived at Bendiwan village and Halfway Guesthouse at about 11 AM. Halfway Guesthouse is one of the originals in the valley and most well-known. There are quite a few construction of new guesthouses taking place. In the years to come, this place would be overrun by tourists who will come by cars and maybe even tour buses without any need to hike.

In fact, this is already happening on a small scale today. People could travel by cars using the narrow switchback road we saw to Halfway Guesthouse to have lunch We actually saw paid parking lots next to Halfway Guesthouse!

Entering Halfway Guesthouse where we will take a break.

Halfway Guesthouse is popular place for an overnight stay for those doing the 2-day hike. We stayed at Tea Horse Guesthouse because we were not abe to book a room at Halfway Guesthouse.

Like Tea House Guesthouse, there is a big terrace overlooking the gorge and has splendid views of the mountains.

The cafe, named Tigerbucks, served good ice coffee and cakes,

There were many people at the terrace posing for photos. We had to wait for our turn to take photos at the terrace with the iconic H A L F W A Y signage.

Iconic terrace at Halfway Guesthouse.

We also went to check out and use the toilets which has a nice view of the mountains too.

Loo with a view. Typical toilet design (a drain and bucket of water to flush) in the rural areas.

From Halfway Guesthouse, we continued our hike on a paved road for a while.

Paved road leading out from the village.

This part of the trail is busier compared to the earlier section. Some hikes on a shorter 1 day hike may choose to start their hike from here.

Many hikers on this part of the trail from Halfway Guesthouse to the waterfall.

The path continues along the gorge and we soon saw a beautiful waterfall after rounding a bend in the mountain.

We have to walk across the waterfall, over water flowing though the rocks and stones beneath our feet.

Tread carefully, look out for slippery rocks and don’t slip over the side!

It looks dangerous but is actually quite safe.

Further up, there is a smaller waterfall.

Scrambling past rocks across a small waterfall.

Once past the two waterfall, the trail is mostly downhill, with some parts pretty steep and narrow.

Steep and narrow path on the way down.

By now we have aching knees as we descended towards Tina’ Guesthouse that is visible below us.

Our arrival at Tina’s Guesthouse.

We arrived at Tina’s Guesthouse at 2 PM. Overall, it has taken us about 5 hours to hike from Tea Horse Guesthouse to Tina’s, including an hour break at Halfway Guesthouse.

Entrance to Tina’s Guesthouse.

For those who have more time, there are trails from Tina Guesthouse to the Middle Rapids of the Jinsha River where it is said that a tiger once jumped across the river, hence the name. It would take about 2 to 3 hours to hike down and up the steep cliffs from the vehicular road down to the river bank.

We had our lunch at Tina’s Guesthouse. Here, we met the same solo hiker whom we met at Naxi Guesthouse on Day 1. He told us he had made it down to the Jinsha River. Unlike him, we had to forego this since we do not have time (and energy) to do this on the same day. Instead, we will have a close look at the raging Jinsha River at the Upper part of the gorge. This is where most visitors on group tours will go when they visit the Tiger Leaping Gorge.

On the way to the Upper Gorge, we made a brief stop at an observation deck to view the Jinsha River at the Middle Gorge.

Observation deck at the Middle Gorge area.

View of the Jinsha River at the middle part of the Tiger Leaping Gorge. We could see the steep cliffs leading down from the vehicular road to the river.