The most difficult trek I did in my whole life. It was very unsafe, one mistake and you can easily go down the cliff, and very intense in terms of physical effort. First we took a bus to Qiaotou, which took about 2 hours, so we were at the main entrance of the TLG at 9:30 am. Then the most difficult parts begun: the first area ant the 28 bends.

All the papers and information leaflets guesthouses and hotels will share with you say that the whole trek (from Qiaotou to Tina’s Guesthouse) can be done in 7 hours, but it took us 9 hours to finish it.

The first area starts with very steep paths and not easy grip points, so it’s very easy to slip and fall back. There are many men with donkeys that would be happy to walk you up if you pay. This part took us approximately 2 hours, when it’s supposed to take 1. I need to say that we aren’t professionals and we stopped a bit to recover our breath. We also stopped for lunch at Naxi’s Guest House (where we spent an hour). Small stalls of people selling bottles of water, nuts and marihuana can be found along the first 2 parts of the trek (it’s advisable to buy water just after finishing the 28 bends, as it’s the last selling point).

The second area is the 28 bends, which you might think you started already, but believe me, you haven’t. There’s a stall that indicates where it starts very clearly, with a banner that reads “get some energy for the 28 bends”. Buy a big bottle of water there. The bends are really fucked up, but if you survived the first part, you can do this. This took us approximately 2 hours after so much resting.

After that, the trek is quite okay if you don’t care too much about walking on the edge of a cliff that is 30cm wide and that leads to emptiness (4.000m high). You will find shepherds walking their sheep and goats, a lovely view and you will rarely see other people. From there the trek is quite steady and it can even go down at some areas! After you pass the 2 waterfalls, you will be really close to Tina’s, where you can spend the night and, next morning, walk down the hill  (1 hour) to see the Tiger Leaping Gorge itself. You will find the entrance to the Lower Leaping Gorge very easily, a family custodies the entrance because they claim to have built it to make it easier for tourists so they ask for 10¥, we paid after struggling and trying to find an alternative way. You can try getting in from the farm after the entrance. That entrance leads to the Ray of Sunshine way, but there’s another way: the Sky Ladder (which is a ladder built closer to Tina’s and apparently it takes less time).We took the Ray of Sunshine on our way back as well and we found the same guys we saw taking pictures at the very TLG rock getting out of the ladder, so I guess it also takes 1 hour to do it (and 15¥ extra).

The view is stunning of course and, yes, we believe the tiger could have crossed the gorge with one vigorous leap 🙂