Take flight from Beijing to Lijiang, meet and greet at the airport and transfer to a garden style hotel in Dayan old town
Breakfast at the hotel. After, we take the transfer (110Km/4 hrs) from LIjiang to Guole Village located on Jinshajiang (the Upper stream of the Yangtze) and upon arrival, we grab some lunch in a local restaurant.
Our trek will start from Guole Village (1680M) mostly uphill through the farmed terraces which the local Naxi ethnic tribe use to grow crops on the steep side of the mountain. After about 12—15Km/3 hrs, trekking, we’ll see Rock City (1,720m altitude) from a distance.
It looks like a huge mushroom uprising from the ground and on the huge rock. We’ll also see hundreds of houses that were built to face the grand valley of Yangtze River. No words can describe the feeling we’ll experience when we first see the Rock City – a truly amazing sight.
This morning we continue with our challenge and trek towards Taiziguan (the crowned Prince Pass) located about 10km north to the Rock City and has an altitude of 2,500m – expect a challenging day, not just of the ascent and altitude, but also because our trail is quite sandy underfoot. We enjoy lunch whilst we push on ascending.
We then continue trekking through the primitive forest, where we’ll hear the monkeys playing in the trees and if we are lucky, we’ll even get to see them! Once we get out of the forest, we trek down to the wheat fields dotted with 2 small villages. We eventually reach the Upper Liuqing Village (Guomei) where we then rest in our home stay after the most challenging day of our whole trek.
After our breakfast, we don our boots and push on with the challenge – destination Fenglian (or Fengke). The trail today is all downhill and it won’t be too long until we reach No. 3 Liuqing Village, where we plan to take a break. If there’s time, we’ll make a short visit to the local primary school – it’s very rare for the students to meet western tourists so please try to bring a few little gifts!
After our lunch, we continue trekking down hill while being careful and watch our feet as the trail drops to one side into the valley. After this challenging section of around 1 hour, the trail becomes wider and we’ll trek for about another 2 hours to Fenglian Village (1,900m), where we stay in our home stay and enjoy the great view of the entire valley.
After breakfast, we take a local transfer to the local ferry to transfer us across the Jinsha River. The cars will go over the river with us, drive the group to the trail head. Then the hike starts.
The other side of the Jinsha River is known as Ningland County – home of the Pumi and Mosuo people. Upon arrival in the riverside town of Lakaixi, we continue hiking for about 4 hours up to Gewa Village located on the mountain – with stunning views all the way up!
Our support vehicle will be waiting for us on the top of the trail (山顶小卖部) and will then transfer us for about 30 minutes to the rough road to Labo Zhuangzi (2,680m) – a beautiful village settled next to a forest and home to the Pumi people.
The Pumi people are known as an official minority nationality unique to Yunnan, with a population of around 30,000. After an evening meal, we rest at our home stay after a magnificent day.
Our last days trekking and the final push to end our spectacular trekking challenge! Ascending through the dense primitive forest we trek for about 3 hours up to Yongning Pass located at, 3,700m above sea level with colorful prayer flags blowing in the wind.
After conquering the pass we then descend for about 2 hours to the trail end where we meet our support drivers and travel to Yongning County Town to visit Zhamei Lamasery. Originally built in 1556, Zhamei Lamasery occupies an area of 24,000 square meters and is certainly a fantastic place to visit.
We then take the very short transfer to Logu Lake (2,690m), where we celebrate our trekking achievements at our FAREWELL DINNER.
We enjoy some free time to take in the sights and sounds of Logu Lake this morning, before taking the transfer (4-5 hrs) back to Lijiang ancient town. Tonight, have dinner in a traditional restaurant with our local guides.
A free day in Lijiang, we transfer to Lijiang airport, the end of tour.