Hutiao Xia - Tiger Leaping Gorge

We were finally on our way to do the long awaited hike up & along Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Our bus took us from Lijiang 1 hr & half to the Gorge, which is said to be one of the deepest gorges in the world. It is 16km long and 3900m high.

It was hard work but we both thoroughly enjoyed this hike. Once you get past the 28 bends, all the hard work is over. It is like walking across the roof of the world. At every turn you have to stop and take a breath and take in the shear beauty of this incredible landscape.

We spent 6 hours hiking on the first day and stayed overnight at the Tea & Horse Guesthouse. The guesthouse had hot water, a double bed and was clean and comfortable and warm. The service was good and the views are incredible. This guesthouse served some of the best food we had in China. If you stay here you must try the Dried Yak meat as it was delicious! Wake up to breakfast of pancakes as they are devine!

The second day of the hike was relatively easy, a few tricky waterfalls to cross, but nothing too dangerous. The best investment for this trip was our hiking boots, they really did make it a comfortable hike for us both. We actually found the trek back down the mountain, harder on the body than on the way up, which was mostly hard on the lungs!

There are plenty of guesthouses dotted along the hike, so you can take your pick for overnight or just stop for a break. Our group stopped at one guesthouse for lunch on the first day and for a drink at another on the second day and both were really pleasant, and had good views of the landscape and service and food was good too!

This was the first hike we had done that involved a 'climb' and we would definately do it again! We highly recommend it to everyone.