The Mercersburg Academy Outdoor Education Program (MOE) recently led a trip to Shangri-La China. No, not the Shangri-La of James Hilton's novel, though it was inspired by it, and easily fits into the geographic realm of Hilton's story. In 2002, the Chinese government issued a contest for a county to be re-named Shangri-La, mostly, I would guess, to attract tourist money. This location, deep in the mountains of southwest China, won. After a 14-hour flight from Toronto to Shanghai, we took another 4-hour flight to Lijiang, and then a bus ride to Shangri-La. A journey only slightly less harrowing than that faced by the characters in Lost Horizon. We ended up in the corner of Yunnan Province, a stone's throw from Tibet. After touring the old towns of Lijiang and Shangri-La, we embarked on our six-day hike through the mountains.
On the first day, we entered the mountains on an old dirt road, often used for the transportation of logs for homes. But the terrain is such that you can't really get trucks into the mountains, so teams of yaks haul the logs through ruts.
After climbing the long, dusty road for a couple hours, we descended into a lush basin with a few old huts and plenty of grass for grazing animals. These mountain pastures are the summer stomping grounds for the semi-nomadic people of this area. During the winter, they live in a house down in the towns and villages. In the summer, they bring their animals up into the mountains for grazing, staying in the huts as they travel from pasture to pasture. I loved the motorcycle by the hut: horsepower, old and new.
The group crosses the basin to our campsite, just to the right of the hill ahead. Click to enlarge.
We contracted with a group called Wild China to lead the trip, and they would have our group tent set up every day when we arrived at our campsite. Tea time!
In addition to our Tibetan guide, several people accompanied us on our trek. Here, two of the Naxi women sit in the hut preparing some food. The Naxi are one of many ethnic minorities in this part of China.
Home Sweet Home. The MOE tents provided our shelter for the duration of the trip.
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