Our 2nd day of hiking, 4th day after departing Chengdu we trekked down the back side of the Yulongxi pass, down into the Moxi valley. Click here to see map. Along the Moxi Valley and up to a Buddhist Monastery located, again at about 4000 meters up the 7,550 meter high Shan Gongga. This Buddhist Monastery, named Minya Konka is your typical Tibetian Stone structure, small windows, no electricity, no heat, with bathroom outhouse located 100 meters down the mountain from the main structure.

It is better than camping, and having to set up and break down your camping gear, having to pack up wet tents after night of snow. But no thrills, always bone chilling cold, you lay on hard beds in your sleeping bag, and when it gets dark that's basically the end of your day- you can't see in the darkness, so nothing left to do. Inside a few rooms there were small wood stove where our cook Ling Dong cooked super/dinner [each night and morning, this was big bonus having Ling Dong cook hot dinners from food supplies we had purchased in Kangding]. The alternative, for do-it yourself hikers is to eat granola bars the entire trip? Finding gas, anywhere in Western Sichuan is also a challenge, and this was advantageous to rely on local guides for knowing the "ins and outs" of procuring supplies.. I had read somewhere that some other trekkers were using liquid gas [gasoline, petro] in their stoves? But we had a large heavy canister of gas that was purchased in Kangding [don't know about deposit for canister and how Matt and Apple return canister] that could only be carried by horses. So, do you want granola bars for one week, or some luxury home cooked meals on your vacation?

The walls are very thin in the monastery, there is no insulation. So sound goes right through the rooms. You will hear the Buddhist Monks chanting prayers and beating on the drum early evenings, and again awakening you in the mornings. One observation is that most of these monks tended to be young boys, and not old men- opposite of what I would have suspected?

Again- I had no energy due to my altitude sickness, and could do nothing but lay in my sleeping bag, turning and tossing all night with pounding headache. It was my third night without sleep. This was some of the worst torture I had ever been through. I knew I had to go down the mountain tomorrow, my body could not take this altitude for another day, and it was not adapting (getting better by staying up). I thought after a couple of days it would subside, my blood would get use to the altitude, but it was not to be. I hoped it would not be sunny and clear on Shan Gongga in the morning, which would give incentive to the group to hike up to the glaciers. This was our original plan. I hoped to be socked in by clouds. It snowed lightly this night, and true to form [Gongga is almost always in clouds, clear days are to be cherished] there was about 100 meter visibility in the morning- we were socked in by clouds.

I would struggle to find some energy in the morning, and make a quick exit down the mountain searching for relief from the altitude. We headed out for Bawah Lake and onto Cao Ker. The first hour of hiking [down] I kept questioning how I could continue, how could I hike for many hours today... I felt pretty bad. But as I descended, by the hour- each and every hour I could notice improvement in both my body's energy factor and my headache factor. It was incremental- I could feel 25% more energy and 25% improvement in my headache [although both were still in effect] each hour. By the time we got to the river valley, I was a new man. All of a sudden, I had the most energy in the group [first time I was not the weakest person of the whole group]. I was cruising, in the form that I had trained for back in the USA. Back in USA I could run up a 3000 foot vertical climb in 2 hours... I could run the whole way... and now I was feeling like superman again. How strange? To start with zero energy, and to pick up as the day progressed. the point here is that it was only the altidude's effect on my body, and not that my body was in bad shape!

Another reason why one would want a professional guide, and this was big one.... after 8 hours of hiking in mist, hail, snow, rain and being soaked to the bone, we exited at Kao Ker which is a small town on the map I percieved that we would end up in a village with a smalll Inn to sleep at. This was not to be, and I am glad I had experienced guides. The trail ended at a hydro-electric dam being built by Chinese governement, way up high in mountains. The goverenment had built about a 30 mile long access road to this hydro-electric dam. Nothing on this road for 30 miles, except at end of road the hydroelectric dam, a small factory cutting pvc pipe for the factory, and a small hut with an old man weaving straw chairs. Our guides Ling Dong and Apple knew exactly what to do... they had already made contacts in the closest town 40 miles away to have a driver come retrieve us. They knew to go down to factory, barge in to use phone, they knew who to call. Yes, we had to wait an hour for someone to arrive and pick us up... but better than setting a wet campsite. Without guide, and local knowledge we would have another two days of hiking. Apple had favorite hotel 1 hour drive away, that had hot springs- hot tubs to soak in and good meal at restaurant.

Matt Ryan had stayed in field, had not gone back to Chengdu two days away, but stayed in Kangding less than 6 hours away. So, Apple made contact, and by 11:00 PM that night our Beijing Jeep had reunited with us. In the morning we would have 7 hour drive back to Chengdu, through many hours of unbelievable mountain passes and valleys.

Other Web Pages:
Yulongxi Village & Yulongxi Pass
Gongga- Main Page
See Detailed Gongga Shan itinerary
Gongga-Public Images & Maps
Detail Reference of Matt Ryan and Apple [DragonExpeditions]
Pay for Guide, is it worth it?

References, Contacts and Recommendations:

Both organizations, and all persons Matt, Apple, and Roland we trust, had great experience with, and hope to trek again in 2008 with. For a personal reference contact me [Tom Patton] gtpatton@gmail.com or business mobile number on East Coast of USA is 401-741-9548

Dragon Expeditions
A3-201 Roma Plaza
Gaoshengqiao Donglu
Chengdu, 610041 China

matt@dragonexpeditions.com
Matt Ryan- mobile number 86- 136 2803 0425
Dragon Expeditions Office Tel: 86- 028 8510 9200 [delete first zero if outside of China]
website under construction: www.dragonexpeditions.com

Western Sichuan Tours
www.wstourix.com
Roland Zeidler
86- 28 6640 6003
mobile number 86 139800 35421