Changping Valley (长坪沟) Morning hike - Four Sisters
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 4.1 mi
- Elevation gain
- 95 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Moderate
- Elevation loss
- 72 ft
- Max elevation
- 12,098 ft
- TrailRank
- 34
- Min elevation
- 12,007 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Moving time
- one hour 25 minutes
- Time
- one hour 56 minutes
- Coordinates
- 1143
- Uploaded
- April 5, 2018
- Recorded
- April 2018
near Lamasi, Sichuan (China)
Viewed 380 times, downloaded 6 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
Beyond the last hill
By far my favourite hike of the trip.
After whole day hike up to the feeding grounds day before this is a sunrise hike starting at our camp site 13km up into the Changping Valley and taking us further up for another few kilometers.
According to signs the large open plane where the tents are set, the feeding area for horses and yaks is the end of the accessible zone. Night before we overheard local guide of Chinese group of campers requested they don't hike any further - however as it turned out this was rather a suggestion.
After rather freezing night in the tent I woke up 5:30am to observe and photograph the sunrise.
Tens were covered with frost and the ground felt solid frozen - and so was the river surface. Horses were already awake and walking in-between the tents - something they would not dare once people got up.
After boiling water for morning porridge breakfast and heaving an expresso I ventured up north for about 1 hour of non stop rather vigorous hike.
The valley was surprisingly empty from cows and horses that we have seen the afternoon day before.
After few km hike up the valley we did the day before i realised its most enjoyable to simply walk along the river. It does include some occasional mud, but all in all - offers the most spectacular perspectives and is also faster as it doesn't require climbing up and down which due to 3600m altitude did slow me down. Walking along the river i could actually keep a good consistent speed as if i was walking at sea level.
After about 30 minutes of hike there is a small lake completely separated from the river which can be circumnavigated from both sides - but again along the river is faster and offers better views. Bare in mind however we were there in April which is still the dry season. Starting from May the rain seasons starts and there might be much more water in the valley and might not be possible to walk between the lake and river anymore.
After about one hour i have stopped for 5 minutes and turned back hoping to make it in time for 9am. For some reason guide told us we should be leaving the valley around 9am - which again turned out to be only a suggestion. If i knew i would probably continue for another few km up the valley and return around 12 or so.
Eventually I manage to return to camp site around 9:30 i think. Packed our tents and we let the guide take our camping gear down the valley - while we decided to do one more hike up which is recorded on separately together with the 13km hike all the way down to the entrance to the valley.
By far my favourite hike of the trip.
After whole day hike up to the feeding grounds day before this is a sunrise hike starting at our camp site 13km up into the Changping Valley and taking us further up for another few kilometers.
According to signs the large open plane where the tents are set, the feeding area for horses and yaks is the end of the accessible zone. Night before we overheard local guide of Chinese group of campers requested they don't hike any further - however as it turned out this was rather a suggestion.
After rather freezing night in the tent I woke up 5:30am to observe and photograph the sunrise.
Tens were covered with frost and the ground felt solid frozen - and so was the river surface. Horses were already awake and walking in-between the tents - something they would not dare once people got up.
After boiling water for morning porridge breakfast and heaving an expresso I ventured up north for about 1 hour of non stop rather vigorous hike.
The valley was surprisingly empty from cows and horses that we have seen the afternoon day before.
After few km hike up the valley we did the day before i realised its most enjoyable to simply walk along the river. It does include some occasional mud, but all in all - offers the most spectacular perspectives and is also faster as it doesn't require climbing up and down which due to 3600m altitude did slow me down. Walking along the river i could actually keep a good consistent speed as if i was walking at sea level.
After about 30 minutes of hike there is a small lake completely separated from the river which can be circumnavigated from both sides - but again along the river is faster and offers better views. Bare in mind however we were there in April which is still the dry season. Starting from May the rain seasons starts and there might be much more water in the valley and might not be possible to walk between the lake and river anymore.
After about one hour i have stopped for 5 minutes and turned back hoping to make it in time for 9am. For some reason guide told us we should be leaving the valley around 9am - which again turned out to be only a suggestion. If i knew i would probably continue for another few km up the valley and return around 12 or so.
Eventually I manage to return to camp site around 9:30 i think. Packed our tents and we let the guide take our camping gear down the valley - while we decided to do one more hike up which is recorded on separately together with the 13km hike all the way down to the entrance to the valley.
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