Tiger Leaping Gorge

Tiger Leaping Gorge, one of the deepest gorges in the world, is located in the Hengduan Mountains, one of the two most densely populated canyon areas in China. It is the most unruly and wild section of the Yangtze River, and is a world-class canyon along with the Grand Canyon in the United States. The snow-capped cliffs on both sides of the gorge are difficult for birds to cross, and the huge altitude difference forms the most intuitive and spectacular vertical vegetation belt in the world. The Hengduan Mountains are a series of closely arranged north-south mountains in the eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Between the mountains, there are river valleys, forming a huge mountain plain with alternating ridges and valleys. The elevation of the mountain plain decreases from 4,500-5,000 meters in the northwest to 3,500-4,000 meters in the southeast. Below the mountain plain, from north to south, the rivers gradually cut deep to form continuous canyons, with a height difference of up to two or three thousand meters between the ridges and valleys. The formation of canyons is not only due to river cutting, but also to the uplift of the terrain, i.e. the cooperation of the terrain. Therefore, China's canyons are mainly concentrated at the turning points of the three topographic steps of China's terrain, and Tiger Leaping Gorge is located at the uplift of the second step to the first step. This two-day Tiger Leaping Gorge high road hiking route is the main section of the high mountain gorge formed by the Jinsha River being squeezed by Haba Snow Mountain and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, with a maximum altitude of 2,680 meters, a total distance of 20 kilometers, and a total ascent of about 1,000 meters. From the time when American explorer Rock first recorded the high road hike in the last century, to the time when the global traveler's bible "Lonely Planet" rated it as one of the top ten hiking routes in the world, the Tiger Leaping Gorge high road hike has attracted hikers from all over the world to experience it for decades.