Tiger Leaping Gorge

The evening before our hike

A short detour on the more traveled route through China is a two to four day trip to Tiger Leaping Gorge from Lijiang.  TLG (as we'll call it from here on) is so named because according to legend, a tiger escaping a hunter leapt across the giant gorge at its narrowest point (25 meters), clearing the mighty Yangtze in the process.  TLG is considered the Grand Canyon of China and is a contender for the world's deepest gorge.  Not for the weak or acrophobic, a trail leads through TLG from one end to the other. Most people hike in two days, while others break it up into much more leisurely chunks and hike it over the course of three or four days. We hiked most of the trail in one exhausting and exhilarating 13 hour day. (We think about 10 or 11 of those hours were actual hike time.)  Once we made the trip and the ensuing hike, we could easily see why so many travelers list hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge as a highlight of their time in China.. 

The side trip to TLG took two nights and introduced us to a few characters - some were travelers, some

"Want to come with us?"

were TLG locals, and some were dogs.  Yes, nearly every backpacker we met who was doing China for more than two weeks hiked TLG, but this particular backpacker experience was not overrated.  The hike was moderate to easy the entire way, with the exception of one section near the beginning called the "dreaded" 28 bends, a series of vertical switchbacks.  The views, however, ranged from spectacular to breathtaking.  We were consistently awed during our 13 hour, 22 km trek.  The trail would rise and fall along one wall of the canyon.  We never really got up to the tip-top, as you do at the Grand Canyon, but the sheer cliffs, steep drops, towering mountains, and raging river below did seem best viewed from our middle-road course.

After one hikes such a remarkable path, a path that could easily be the best hike of his or her life, one may want to meet the individual responsible for creating such a wonderful thing.  We had that opportunity, and, to be honest, it was a little sad.  Sean is a legend around TLG.  According to painted signs on boulders along the trail, "SEAN IS YOUR TRAILBLAZER!"  The Lonely Planet book for China (apparently in need of an update) notes that Sean is one of the true characters of TLG and made his guesthouse, toward the far end of the trail from where we started, sound like the ONLY place to stay.  We were so excited to have a beer with fellow hikers and swap stories with the legendary Sean.  His reputation most definately proceeded him.  His reputation also failed him.  Rather, he failed his reputation.  The Sean we found was cranky and bitter.  He spent much of the time we were there on the phone, we think trying to get in touch with Lonely Planet.  He ranted to us a bit about how the section in Lonely Planet about his Guesthouse was inaccurate.  He said it needed to depict his digs better.  We looked around.  We were the only people staying there, and, worst of all, the lively and fun-loving Sean that LP had promised was missing.  The one we got was clearly a bitter shade of the original Sean.  

Sean was complaining and moaning and wining about injustices others did him, but it seemed clear to us that he was the reason for the slump in his business.  His bitterness bummed us out and ensured that we would recommend staying almost anywhere else to other travelers we encountered.  It was sad and fascinating: We watched him dig his hole deeper in just the few short hours we stayed with him.  The most sad part of Sean's bitterness and general gloom is that TLG is one of the most beautiful natural scenes we have seen.  How can someone be so bitter while being surrounded by such magnificent natural scenery?

A river runs through

We shook Sean and his grumpy cloud of bitterness off and did not let him bother our overall experience.  We marveled at the small farms and clusters of dwelling we had seen. We chattered about the sweeping and surreal views.  The mountains felt like they were on top of us!  We enjoyed watching goat herders at work, and delighted in some surprisingly tasty food served up by cheerful faces running guesthouses along the path.  We loved that we saw so few other hikers.  We walked for an hour or two a couple times without seeing anyone.  We took photos and stopped to smooch and hold hands, awe-struck by the amazing path an ancient, enormous version of the Yangtzee carved in the giant rocks.  Nature, we thought, is our true trailblazer.  Yes, we could not have walked the path without Sean, or someone like him, to formalize the trail.  But the raw beauty we saw on our TLG hike reminded us that nature, not us, not Bill Gates, not Barak Obama, or even Sean, the trailblazer, is in charge.  Nature creates and destroys.  Natural beauty trumps all and makes life worth living.  We hope that Sean will look around at his amazing surroundings, his heavenly backdrop, someday soon and remember why he blazed that trail in the first place.


Whew! That was a lot of words.  But still not enough to accompany all of our favorite photos. So here they are, over-spill style!