Training Log Archive: inuksuk

Resigned to the fact that my knee is not getting better, I made a slow ride up to the top of the tea gardens and had an icy soak in the creek.

C • What's up with the knee? I... 1

Yùdài lù with Zhao Chao and La. Took Zhao Chao up to see the sunbird nests we found on the cliffs over the weekend...A flurry of bird activity this morning -- an array of irredecent flycatchers, scimitar babblers, laughingthrushes, martins, and a pair of black eagles have taken residence in the valley adding to the already impressive list.

C • sounds like an awesome spot! 1

Movietown loop.

Quick wander down the hill from Zhōng hé sì after a leisurely morning drinking coffee and reading National Geographics in the sun.

Cāngshān with La. Headed pretty much straight up the ridge -- through the pine forest, bamboo thicket, lovely mossy fir - rhododendron forest, and ultimately the sub-alpine rhododendron scrub. We made pretty good progress, and with the weather on our side and easy route-finding, we made it to Xǐmǎtáng by lunch. Given the weather was holding I was keen to scout out the route to Mǎlóng fēng, before heading down, but still mindful of my knee. We climbed up to Yùjú fēng at just over 4000 and then scrambled along the narrow ridgeline to the 'dragons back," a really cool section to Mǎlóng fēng. Unfortunately, we thought we wouldn't have time to get all the way out and back so we decided to leave it for next time. Sat for a moment with one leg on either side while the clouds brewed and curled along the tops. A nice climb down, but for the last 90 minutes my knee was complaining pretty hardout.

A little loop around uni.

South spur loop.

Gāolígòng shān, Bǎihuālǐng to Jiāngjù.

Gāolígòng is biologically the crown jewel of China -- at 3500m and spanning from humid subtropical to cool temperate from mid-Yunnan to Tibet and northern Burma, it is unrivaled in China for biodiversity, particularly endemics. It is also notable in history -- being a formidable barrier to earlier traders, two roads were cut over the mountains in about the 4th century b.c. -- northern and southern silk route -- the same route Marco Polo used to get to Baoshan.

Headed off before sunrise to (hopefully) avoid the afternoon thunderstorms. Made our way up through the tall lush (mostly Lithocarpus) forests, moss-covered rhododendron forests, and ultimately to the cloudy bamboo scrub near the col by lunch. The track was mostly still in tact cobbled granite, polished by centuries of horses -- there is even an arched vine-clad stone bridge...real Dr. Jones kinda stuff. And still it had the eerie feeling of the more recent war with Japan. Apparently when the Chinese expeditionary army (along with some 4000 US advisers) succeeded in crossing the Nujiang in 1944 and defeating the Japanese there, they decided to try to surprise the Japanese in Tengchong by crossing the mountains directly on the old silk roads, which at that time had been long abandoned. However, by chance (apparently a not so rare occurrence), a plane flying 'the Hump' went down with the plans, and the Japanese now well aware of the plan, set up a specialized mountain regiment along the length of the ridge. It turned into a slaughter. The mountain is precipitously steep, and thick and the track, the only route is sometimes a three to four metre-deep ditch from years of erosion, so the troops climbing the mountain were easy targets for the Japanese positioned in pillboxes. It was only that the locals kept the Chinese army fed with bush meat and food from the valley that the Chinese eventually starved the Japanese to death...the stories are gruesome. Along the route, there are several sobering relics, including foxholes and hastily built pillboxes right on the rocky ridge.

From the col, we made our way down the steep west slope in showers and rumblings along the ridge (struck by how similar this route is to the Croesus Crossing). And after a few hours we quite suddenly came into a forestry station and a gravel road, which led us to the village of Jiāngjù, except La cleverly hitched us a ride just before the village which got us all the way to Tengchong...

C • Nice work! 2