Tiger Leaping Gorge
China’s greatest river, known by Westerners as the Yangtse, is called Jinsha Jiang by the Chinese. It’s origin is in Tibet and runs through Tiger Leaping Gorge near Lijiang, east to Chongqing, on through the Three Gorges and Wuhan and then dumps into the South China sea at Shanghai.
At the small town of Shigu the river takes a turn at what is called the “First Bend” and runs from south to north. It is on this stretch of the river that Tiger Leaping Gorge surges through one of the deepest gorges in the world…the entire gorge measuring 16 km and 3900 meters or about 11,700 feet, from the water to the snowcapped mountains of Haba on one side and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain on the other.
The entire gorge can be hiked in two days over narrow trails high above the water with modest guesthouses along the way for overnight stays.
We agree that it is difficult to compare Tiger Leaping with the Grand Canyon…the snow capped mountains on each side of Tiger very deep and beautiful….but the sheer granite walls dropping to the water of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon much more dramatic.
We are happy to report that we survived the incredibly dangerous road trip, the way the coyboy driver was driving, along the curvy narrow one-lane road full of rocks that had fallen from the cliffs alongside the River all the way to the end of the Leaping Tiger Gorge that finally ended at the small town of Qiaotou. During a ten minute break there, Jana bought a bowl of delicious vegetables and rice and paid Y2 for the bowl so she could take it on the bus with her. Then the bus turned east toward Lijaing through a beautiful yellow-leafed forest that reminded us of home in the fall.
Tags: China, Climbs & Walks, Excursions, Lijiang, Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yangtse River, Yunnan
Zoe
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