Picture of Deep Tiger Leaping Gorge in the late afternoon (Tiger Leaping Gorge, China)

Looking into the Tiger Leaping Gorge

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One of the most spectacular stretches of nature in China can be enjoyed by walking through the Tiger Leaping Gorge, an at times strenuous but very rewarding hike following the Yangtze River.
We had had a false start in the morning: our bus driver did not care to explain where we had to get off, and we had to backtrack to Qiaotou to start the hike through the Tiger Leaping Gorge. The first hour or so were easy, walking uphill, with good views back over the Yangtze River, on the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, and the brightly green terraces and small villages. After Nuo You village, though, it started. It: the 28 bends we had read about; a steep uphill climb which eventually took us to around 2600m altitude. To be honest, it was not all that bad, and we advanced pretty fast. Since we were protected by the trees around us, the sun was burning surprisingly fiercely on our backs, considering it was end December. Just before we reached the top, a path leading into the gorge took us to a fantastic outlook. From this point, we could clearly see the rocks in the middle of the Yangze river. The name of the gorge, by the way, comes from an old legend which claims that a tiger escaped his hunters by jumping over the river to escape on the other side, using one of the big rocks. We realized we were actually looking at the Tiger Leaping Stone from this very ledge. After a pleasant night at the Halfway with superb views over the dizzying wall of a mountain right across the narrow valley of the Tiger Leaping Gorge, we descended to Walnut Garden and decided to leave our bags there and explore the vicinity for the rest of the day.
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