Arrive in Lijiang

First a ride from the old town of Lijiang to Qiatou, our trek starting point. Reach the tollgate of Tiger Leaping Gorge at Tiger Leaping Town after a couple of hours' ride. Pass a school and the views of the Tiger Leaping Gorge shows itself gradually as we walk in the path right on the side of Haba Snow Mountain. Across the Jinsha River(Upper part of Yangtze River) is named the Yulong Snow Mountain(both soar over 5000 meters high) or locally Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in between the Jinsha water rushes down in the very narrow gap the narrowest of 25 meters--considering the No.1 river that flows across south China thousand miles towards East China Sea. Ascent the 28 switchbacks after lunch we get good views of the gorge: a total of over 3500 meters fall from the mountain top to the water surface within this gorged valley. Continue walk to Tea-Horse Naxi Guesthouse to have an overnight stay. Excellent mountain views from the guesthouse. (Approx 6 hours)

In the early morning, continue hiking to Tina's Inn (2 hours) after another hour walking down the steep cliff to the bank of Jinsha River to the Middle Gorge (Middle Hutiao or Middle Rapids), worship the dangerours shoal of "Starriness", it is the most narrow part of the gorge, where a tiger can easily jump over the Jinsha River. Lunch at the Middle Rapids or where it is more suitable or convenient.

There are 3 roads from the Middle Rapids back up to the Gorge to Walnut Grove. One ends at the left of Woody No.2 (using the main road for tourist coaches, Y15 for "road crossing" fee). Another ends near Teacher Zhang's Guesthouse (through Tianti which takes 2 hours, Y5 "road crossing" fee), take the third which go through  ends near Chateau Woody where you see a sign advertising Xia Yin Gu's guide service. Take the third one which goes through Yixiantian but takes 3 hours as the scenery is the most spectacular in the entire Tiger Leaping Gorge. Notice that on this third road close to the rapids there is a very dangerous section of a few dozen meters long called "Tiny Sky" (and you need to pay between Y2-5 depending on the condition to cross that). Note at the rapids itself, there are two places charging "road crossing" fees of 15Y each: one for a small bridge leading to the first road, the other for crossing the wooden plank to the Middle Tiger Leaping Rock.

From Half way Guesthouse to Middle Hutiao or Rapids will take between 3 to 4 hours. Then climb up the gorge to Walnut Grove (Woody’s Guesthouse) using either the Tianti or  Yixiantian route. Depending on how tired, choose the one to suit on the day. So from Middle Hutiao to Walnut Grove will take 2 or 3 hours and hence the total for the day from Halfway Guesthouse to Walnut Grove will be about 5 to 6 hours.

After breakfast, drive along the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain to Mingyin Town and pay a visit the panoramic view of the 13 peaks of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain from a far.Continue the driving to Baoshan Stone Town, a small town with one hundred families on the top of a gigantic rock. This town was built in the late 13th century (Yuan Dynasty).Below this stone town and towards the eastern side, lies the Jinshajiang River. The other three sides are steep cliffs. The top of the cliff becomes a guarding post for the town. In this town, you may feel amazed at the sight of many household equipments which were make of stone. In most of the houses, their household items e.g. table, bed, water tank, fire stove are all carved out of big stones. After breakfast, explore the old stone town on foot. Overnight in Mu.s Guest house or the similar(two-bed, no private washroom).

Experience the Naxi village in the morning and after breakfast we walk out this village along the Yangtze River valley. We gradually ascend for 4 hours or more, elevation gains over 700 meters until we reach the top at 2500 meters by passing two tunnels at Taizi Pass. Before the tunnels we walk on a narrow trail cutting on the edge of the cliff. The tunnels, one 60 meters and the other 90 meters long, at the pass are the only passage that connects the villages from each side of the pass built in 1960s. They are very basic tunnels that were rather made for Asians, so be care for not bump your head against the roof in the tunnels. Panoramic views of the Stone village at back and in front, we have grand views of the Jinsha River. The gorge here is reputedly "the second gorge" after Tiger Leaping Gorge in terms of views and sudden plungings. After the pass we descend in the forest. Stay overnight in the Naxi family in Liuqing. (Approx 6 hours)

Wake up early in the morning to catch the great sunrise view in the valley. Great views of terrace landscape and Jinsha river along our gradual trail. Pass by the Naxi villages and sometimes with a group of children running around. The village on the other side of the river looks isolated. It is a different ethnic group over there. This area has an obvious small population as we can only find resident in the villages, for most of the time we walk in the forest or open field or just arid slops. After a long trail walk we reach by the ferry site named Genang. Get across the Jinsha River on a very basic boat and reach our today's overnight spot, a Mosuo village named Labo. (Approx 7 hours)

This is a hard day. Up ahead is the uphill trail leading into the scattered bushes or rocks, behind us is the Jinsha river and the randomly folding landscape we have traveled. We pass the Yi, Han, Pumi and Lisu group mixed village of Gewa halfway. Outside of the village are fields and dried ditches on the slopes. Be aware of the scotching sunlight in a sunny day. Ocassional steps on a very basic road that during the rainy season usually gets flushed away by the rain in some parts. More houses and fields there and here and more open view of the Jinsha River behind as we ascend. Zhuangzi, a small village of Lisu people, is the place where we stay tonight. Feel the unique construction and weaving craft in Zhuangzi.(Approx 7 hours)

Last day trek starts by ascending from Zhuangzi in the morning mist or clear sunlight. Pass the primary forest at the mountain pass at an altitude of 3500 meters. This part is an extremely less-touched part of the trek. Stream will be frozen if travel in winter, prayer flags(also called wind horse flags) of Tibetan Buddhism are hung at the pass like at every pass elsewhere in Tibetan Plateau. Across the pass we get open views of the Ninglang area, the Lugu Lake is about to be in sight. It is a green world(only golden in winter) here. We keep descending on the yellow earth, passing a group of villages, forest sometimes until we reach a road, which is also the terminus of our Tiger Leaping Gorge and Lugu Lake combined trek. Ride to the lake check in the hotel in Lige. (Approx 7 hours)

Enjoy the morning at Lugu Lake before transferred back to Lijiang. Tiger-Leaping-Gorge and Lugu Lake Trekking trip ends in Lijiang.

Departure from Lijiang