Dêrong County is a county in the west of Sichuan Province, China, bordering Yunnan province to the west. It is under the administration of the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Continue reading... From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The wake up call was for an early morning breakfast at the hotel and then to be on the road by 7:30am. Our guide, Andy, decided to leave the decision up to the drivers as to which route we would travel to Yading. One route The short cut was to save us 4 hours on a possible 8 hour trip. The only problem is that the roads are not passable in bad weather. Should the weather hold good we would take the short cut to Yading.
We set out on a main paved road that appear to be a little more than one lane for traffic and pedestrians. We stopped at one point to take a few photos of the sun raising over the plans. Then we continue until the drivers turned off onto what looked like a dirt road. No apparent signs indicated that this dirt road was part of the ancient Tea Horse Tail dating back Hundreds of years.
This turned out to be nine hours of travel over a the mountains in to Scheuzan province. The route would take us from about 3,100 meters to a high of 4,900 meters and then back down to a low of 2,100 meters. The day would end at Yading Suntime Hotel at 3,100meters.
A the height of the 4-wheel drive adventure we were able to see the two highly regarded spiritual snow covered mountains. The trail we followed is called the Da and Xing Snow Mountain Pass.
At mid day we stopped in, yes, Shanglai and had a wonderful dinner. Rested awhile then continued our dirt road travels into Scheuzan province and then on into Yading. After checking into our hotel we had a wonderful dinner. I must admit, I was too tired to really enjoy the treats. Bed time was early as we plan on another full day into the mountains. Horse back to an attitude of 5,000 meters.