We will cover the Final Days of the Three Buddhas in a later YRC, once the police have finished their investigations and the testimonies are no longer sealed.
So, back to the Gorge. The gorgeous Gorge so to speak. Around 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) in length, the gorge is located where the river passes between the 5,596 metres (18,360 ft) Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and the 5,396 metres (17,703 ft) Haba Snow Mountain in a series of rapids under steep 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) cliffs.
Legend says that in order to escape from a hunter, a tiger jumped across the river at the narrowest point.
The gorge is not considered navigable. In the early 1980s, four rafters attempted to go down the gorge and were "never seen again". This probably involved the traditional People's Republic search party protocol:
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| It was there that the Tiger did leap |
Comrade Two: What were they doing there?
Comrade One: Paddling like demons. Then they hit the rapids and all I saw was what the American rafters call a "yard sale". The boats flipped and they were catapulted out of their boats.
Comrade Two: Ummmm.
Comrade One: Should we alert anyone?
Comrade Two: <Shrugs>. Who would we alert? We don't know any yáng guǐzi.
A candidate for the deepest river gorge in the world, the "Leaping T" trail features the famous 28-Bends. The hike takes the better part of two days, with the first day being Ascent Day and the second day being...well, Descent Day.
The hiking upper trail represents a total distance of 26 kilometers, a total ascent of 1145 meters up and a total descent of 1090 meters down. The steepest part of the trail (the '28 bends') consists in 453 meters ascent (on 2.5 km long) from 2208 meters high up to 2661 meters high with an average grade of 18.1%.
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| The thin horizontal line is the trail. |
In the interest of unfettered candor, the YRC Alpine Touring Staff must report that one Buddha seemed to be in a hurry to keep up with the guide, perhaps to reach the guest lodges at the summit. The other took ummm...frequent stops along the trail to examine rocks, trees, birds, or anything soft to pass out on. Regular YRC readers will be pleased to know that there was nothing soft...
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| The Path to Enlightenment |
It was there, reclining by the trail, that the Path to the Math of Enlightenment was discovered. According to Buddhist teachings, there is the Eightfold Path:
Mountains have that mystic feel, yes? We here at the YRC would recommend hiking the Leaping Tiger 28 Bends for those who wish to be Seekers of Oxygen. It was there that we discovered that To Be is To Breathe. Meditate on this, most esteemed YRC readers, and we will continue the Adventure in Yunnan next week!In the same way I saw an ancient path, an ancient road, traveled by the Rightly Self-awakened Ones of former times. And what is that ancient path, that ancient road, traveled by the Rightly Self-awakened Ones of former times? Just this noble eightfold path: right view, right aspiration, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration...I followed that path.
