Testing... Testing.. Testing Tiger Leaping Gorge
Coming up with a challenge for the next Hope in Motion took some planning, so I decided to outsource the creative process to a group of my friends. Luke, a longtime friend from high school, suggested I try to walk the Uinta Trail in Utah, a trail that is 100 miles long. This idea immediately grabbed my attention, and I began making preparations.
From the Boundary Waters Canoe Trip, I realized that Lionel had some difficulty with the portages. With his lack of depth perception, it was difficult for him to see changes in inclination as well as troublesome roots on the ground. This led to some stumbles and stubbed toes. That being said, there weren’t many complaints, and I figured that with a little practice lifting his feet a bit higher and some verbal instruction on where to step, Lionel would be able to handle it. Another challenge of a hike, compared to what we have done in the past, is that Lionel would need to navigate much more of the terrain on his own.
Before setting the stakes on a 100-mile hike, I wanted to check the following:
1. Does Lionel have the endurance and determination for a walk like this?
2. Will he be able to traverse uneven footing?
3. Is he interested in it?
Near the end of December, we decided to see what Lionel could do by going through Tiger Leaping Gorge, a 30 km trek through the Haba Snow mountains in Yunnan. Lionel was joined by his aunt Anne and Uncle Dan, as well as his two cousins, Ben and Kevin. I remember making the hike my first year in China and being in awe of the sheer beauty and lack of safety rails. I knew the walk would be very challenging, but I thought that with the encouragement from his cousins, we could slowly but surely achieve success.
Lionel with his two favorite cousins -Ben and Kevin
To begin training for the hike, Lionel and I stopped taking the elevator up to our 17th floor apartment and opted for the stairs. We wanted to build some climber’s legs for the “28 Bends,” a famous section of the walk that features 28 switchbacks to get you up the mountain.
Lionel was very excited for the trip, and I was apprehensively excited. I knew it would be very challenging, but I wanted to see how Lionel could handle it. As we drove out to the area, we saw gorgeous scenery in the valley. Lionel was excited to get climbing and had no problems when the driver dropped us off at the base of the mountain and informed us that we would have to walk along the roadside for about two hours to get to the start of the trail.
Xiao Hong opted to take the ride to the top of the mountain to get dropped off near where we would be staying, and the rest of us clambered out of the van and began to lather on sunscreen. The beginning part of the trail was equal parts frustrating and pleasing. As I am a sane human being, I don’t love hiking on a paved road for very long. We also saw about 25 cars zipping up and down the mountain, which made us question the validity of the claim that they couldn’t drive us up there.
That being said, the tiring uphill road was at least smooth, which meant Lionel didn’t need much help in the way of handholding or verbal instructions. I was just worried that the hike to get to the hike would take too much out of him and that he would collapse on the trail.
We reached the Naxi Guesthouse feeling famished. After refueling with several dishes consisting of rice, eggs, and noodles and, most importantly, coffee, we were feeling pretty good. Ben busted out his dirtbag, and after kicking it around for several minutes, he nearly kicked it into my poorly placed cup of coffee, which split Lionel’s sides with laughter. We left Naxi feeling good and ready to take on the “28 Bends.”
The walk from this point on would mostly require me to hold Lionel’s hand with my right hand and guide him with a hand on his back with my left. The trail continued to climb the mountain at a somewhat gradual incline until we got to the 28 Bends, where we were greeted by a woman with a donkey who asked if Lionel would like a ride up.
Lionel promptly replied, “Bu Xu Yao,” which translates to “I don’t need.” The woman, who was very familiar with the rugged and grueling pathway ahead, smiled skeptically at what she believed to be a seven-year-old’s ignorance. As we started, she walked behind us with her donkey and reminded us that she was there for when we needed her.
Now, there is no official starting sign or number counter for the bends. Some of them stretch for a very long way, while some of the switchbacks are only several steps. You don’t really know how far you have gone, or how many more bends you have to go.
I do know that Lionel and I stopped to catch our breath at several corners of the climb, but we never once considered taking the donkey. After we were about two-thirds of the way up the mountain, the donkey lady cut her losses and decided to try to peddle a ride to my sister, who was about 20 minutes behind us.
Making it up the bends offered a spectacular view, but it also filled us with a great sense of pride. The path was not easy, and at times Lionel needed to use his hands to help hoist himself up over the rocks.
As happy as we were to have the 28 Bends behind us, we still had a very long walk to go. The walk from here on out would have plenty of climbs and dips, and I realized that as hard as the 28 Bends were, the dips were far worse. Because of the narrowness of the trail, I would often need to determine whether I should have Lionel descend first or go myself. If there were a steep drop-off, I would go first and give him instructions on where to put his foot or hand, or I would just hoist him down. That was pretty time consuming, though, so I usually preferred to have him lead.
It was hard, though, because I would try to extend my hand as far forward as I could while also anchoring my legs into the ground. In the case of Lionel slipping and needing support, I needed to make sure I wouldn’t go tumbling down after him. As it turned out, going down took more time than going up and used arguably about as much energy, especially mental energy, as you had to be more careful.
After walking for about another three hours, we made it to the Tea Horse Guesthouse. Lionel was in shockingly great spirits, though once he curled up into one of the chairs at the guesthouse, he took a nap, the first nap I’d seen him take in over a year.
Sitting at the cafe felt amazing. The view was superb, and giving the legs a break felt wonderful. What felt less wonderful was prying myself from the chair for the final two hour walk to our guesthouse. Rousing Lionel from his slumber wasn’t quite as bad as I had imagined, and though tired, he still wanted to be able to say to his mother that he walked the entire way.
As with any journey, the closer you get to the end, the longer it seems to take. In the beginning, you are just walking, knowing that there is a long distance ahead, but at the end you revert back to a prepubescent child thinking, “Are we there yet?”
But I couldn’t dwell too much on thinking about when we were going to get there. The final part had some pretty narrow trails with some gnarly drop-offs below. While Lionel didn’t seem to care (or notice) it meant I had to turn on the hypervigilance and retighten my grip. There were no near falls or slips, but I continued to ensure that Lionel was hugging the inside of the trail, with my left hand gripping the back of his shirt like it was a wrist curl.
As we neared our final destination, we began to see more and more signs for the The Halfway House, which was near to where we were staying. Serendipitously, we met Xiao Hong right at the corner of where we were walking to. We certainly would have missed our turn and gone to the wrong hotel, resulting in a long climb back up the hill.
Lionel, who by all accounts should have been exhausted, ran to give his mommy a hug and retell the tale of the donkey lady underestimating his ability. The view from the hotel room was absolutely stunning. The view was much better appreciated from the confines of a chair on the flat roof rather than from the edge of the trail. As the sun began to descend, the wind picked up and the air cooled considerably. The party moved down to the dining area to warm up and feast. It was an early night, and we hit the mattress hard that night.
The view outside our hotel room window
The next day, we hiked a bit downward to the Halfway House, a brilliant lodge with banana pancakes and a toilet stall with open back walls that allowed you to see the view. As we sat, we debated whether or not we should take a car down. My brother-in-law, Dan, isn’t a very big fan of heights, and Xiao Hong wasn’t too keen on looking over the cliff edges either. There was also a distinct possibility that the route we needed to take back would be closed due to dangerous conditions.
The Halfway House had a wonderful cafe, one in which we sat and contemplated whether we should walk or take a shuttle back down.
Lionel and his cousins weren’t having any of it, however, and insisted that we at least try to make our way down the mountain. We walked for no longer than 30 minutes before we hit a road-closed sign. I thought it was time to turn around, but the guard moved the roped-off cone and motioned us through. He said to hurry because it was soon to be closed for the rest of the day.
I probably should have thought about that a little more before slipping past the rope, but at the time I was just pleased to continue walking. For the next mile or so, the trail thinned, and I tightened my grip on Lionel. After nearly an hour, we got to a real hairy point where the trail seemed to end right at a waterfall.
Many people who were part of a walking tour reached a platform, took a picture, and then returned the way they came. Before taking Lionel, I decided to venture out to see if the trail had disappeared or if I just needed another vantage point. Once I was about 200 meters out, I could see a path that we could navigate, so I went back to tell the disheartened Dan that we could still journey further.
We inched carefully across the trail for a while when we saw four security guards walk through the waterfall area and come in our direction. I thought it was more than likely that they were going to tell us that the trail was closed off.
When Lionel asked them if the trail was closed, one of the security guards asked if he was scared.
Lionel said, “Of course not,” to which the guard said, “Good boy, keep on going.”
We continued up toward the waterfall with a beaming Lionel.
As we got to the waterfall, I was delighted to see that the path had widened considerably. I told Lionel that we were just going to trudge through it and not even bother about getting our shoes wet. The icy cold water felt pretty good on the feet, and the shoes dried relatively fast in the heat of the day.
We stopped at a little shop where Lionel got to make friends with a rooster.
Once we got around the bend of the cliff, the path got a little safer, and we could breathe a bit easier, until we got to the descent.
The descent was about an hour’s worth of having your knees bent at 90 degree and leaning backward. Oftentimes, rather than trying to decide whether or not I was going to go ahead of or behind Lionel, I opted for the third and safest option… the butt slide.
Lionel’s mother employed this option for the entire descent.
Halfway down, I was more tired than I had been trudging up the mountain. That being said, it was nice to have a visual on where we were going and to be moving our way toward it. One of the joys of walking down the route was that the path was littered with goats, who were, thankfully, friendly.
We made it down the mountain safely, while having our big-thrills box checked. It was an incredible climb, and it showed me that Lionel has what it takes to take on a challenging hiking adventure in the summer.
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