Tiger Leaping Gorge - 虎跳峡
In China, about 99% of the time, hiking is not really hiking. Chinese "hiking" is more poorly carved out stone stairs to infinity and beyond occupied by a zillion other Chinese people.
But Tiger Leaping Gorge?
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| A Naxi Village |
It is 2 awesome and intense days of bring-your-pole & hiking-boots kind of hiking.
IT DON'T PLAY, Y'ALL.
This is obviously the best and only kind of hiking. (There were more foreigners hiking this trail than Chinese people.)
To be real honest, none of us really knew what we were getting into. We had 2 maps but the only thing that was even remotely close to being accurate was the time estimates. We had read that once you got up the 28 bends, the trail flattened out a bit, but the problem was we thought we went up the 28 bends, like, oh, I don't know - 3 or 4 different times. Eventually we were like, "ARE THE 28 BENDS EVEN A THING?! OR ARE THE THE WHOLE THING?!"
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| turns out there was a sign . . . |
Typically people hike the TLG in 2 days - the first day being the heaviest hiking day. In total, we hiked for about 8 hours the first day. It was significantly more intense than we anticipated but also significantly more GORGEOUS. So, tut-tut.
Here's what I want to tell you about the 28 bends: once you climb them, you know. Most of the way up, I would take 6 or 7 steps at a time and then have to take a quick breather. Dan and Emma were quite a bit faster than me, but I didn't care. Hiking the TLG was kind of a sacred, spiritual thing for me. It was intense and rough - but then when you finally reach the top, the entire gorge opens up. The sun came out at exactly the right moment. And then all you can do is just stand there and let it overwhelm you. The TLG doesn't have to try - it's so effortless in its beauty, in its magnificence. That's what I love about nature: it doesn't try to be anything else. It just is what it is.
Our plan was to stay at the Halfway House for the night, but as we hiked along, we saw fewer and fewer signs. The trail is faintly painted on rocks as you hike through Naxi villages. There is hardly a soul to ask, "Left or Right?" - Awesome, #becauseADVENTURE, but also not awesome because the Halfway House was about an hour and a half further than we thought. Thankfully, though, we hiked with a French Mother/Daughter duo the last few hours. This was a nice distraction because by this point, my body was so done.
When the Halfway House appeared after one of the many bends, I was so relieved. I have never been so happy to see a sign in my life. The HH is literally on the side of the mountain and it is by far the best guest house on the TLG. Electric blankets, WIFI OHMYGOSH, a clean shower, awesome food, nice owners, the porch that trumps all other porches, and just an absolutely insane view.
I have never been so acutely aware of all the muscles in my body. Everything WAS SO SORE. I slept sooooooo good that night.
We got up fairly early the next morning and started out on the trail after breakfast. We wanted to hike down to the river but took a wrong turn and ended up hiking just to an overlook area. Dan and I ate at a guest house while we waited for the bus to arrive that afternoon, but Emma went exploring a bit and ended up hiking down with a Canadian guy. She got some awesome pictures. I am really bummed that we took the wrong entrance, but the view still pretty decent.
This picture of us cracks me up every time I look at it. In this picture, we are celebrating because we though we just climbed the 28 bends. WE HAD SO NOT. Think again, you dumb foreigners. 28 Bends be all like: Yeah, okay, SEE YOU IN 3 HOURS. #ohmygosh
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