Bao Shan Stone City to Lugu Lake

Hello again!
Well, we've arrived safe and sound at Lugu Lake and are thrilled to find that it is everything we hoped for. It has cold beer, great food, and showers. I haven't washed my hair or put on a clean pair of underwear in I don't know how long and my feet were so dirty that you couldn't tell the difference between the toes and the toe nails. Nothing like a few days of grueling hiking and eating only baba and boiled eggs to make you appreciate the basics.
Michelle and I flew into Lijiang Sunday night were we met the boys - Dave and Eric. Lijiang is a lively place with a crowded, bustling, touristy old town. The shopping is great, there is tons of western food, and it is surrounded by beautiful scenic areas like tiger leaping gorge. Not the most relaxing place to hang out (the tourism industry is a bit overwhelming and in your face) but certainly fun. When we get back there, I plan on eating a lot of chocolate and buying dorm room decorations. All the cool wall hangings and lamp shades and jewelry that are such a novelty back home are a dime a dozen here.
Monday morning we woke up bright and early and thanx to Dave's brilliant bargaining skills, took a hired van to Bao Shan. It took us about 6 hours, most of which was on mountainous, unpaved roads. Welcome to rural Yunnan! The road didn't actually take us all the way to the village, so we had to get out and hike the rest of the way with our packs. It was well worth it though- the Nasi village is perched on a stone citadel deep in the mountains high above a river and has magnificent views, something that was to become a theme for the week. Our guesthouse was pleasant and even had a shower-amazing. The food was good, the people friendly, and the beer cold. We sat around drinking beer and talking until it got dark and then went to bed.
The next morning we were roused at dawn by the roosters, something else that was to become a theme. We had a breakfast of noodles and then were on our way, accompanied by a guide, a horse to carry our packs and food, and a horse guide. Might sound a bit wimpy, but if you had seen the mountains we were about to climb, you would understand. Our first day was brutal. We hiked up and down steep mountains without any trees or foliage or shade. The whole way was precarious. We were essentially walking along and climbing up rock slides and for every 5 steps we took, we slid back 3. Around noon, just when we were all about to give up, we stopped in a cool cave for lunch and discovered the rest of the day wouldn't be as grueling. We rounded the mountain we were on and walked through slightly wooded areas and passed through a handful of villages before stumbling into our residence for the night. We spent the evening eating and playing uno and downing huge amounts of water (no beer this time-alcohol dehydrates you too much). We all retired early and looked forward to an easier second day.
The second day was indeed better. The trails were more stable and less steep, mostly. We summitted two more mountains before descending into a decidedly wealthier village with buildings made of white cement and several xiao mai bus (small convenience stores) for lunch. We even found chilled drinks. It would have been heaven had the lady who served us lunch not tried to charge us 120 rmb for a bowl of broth, lettuce, and a few pieces of pork, and had one of our party not been injured. Eric hurt his knee and wound up having to take a horse the rest of the way that day. The afternoon was again not as bad as the morning. As we walked, we came across a handful of people with a building on the side of the road (we had dipped into semi-civilization temporarily) who wanted us to sit with them and have some tea because we looked tired. We descended further until we reached the river and crossed in a wooden canoe. And get this-the horse got in the canoe with us. It was pretty awesome. When we reached the other side, we were dumped off at the foot of an actual landslide with no sign of a trail and had to scramble our way up, constantly afraid the whole thing would give way and we would wind up in the river 30 feet below. I imagine we looked quite comical to the boat man below us. From there we didn't have far to go before reaching out guesthouse for the night. The place was rather crude, but the people we really nice. We gave the kids balloons and when we weren't playing cards, we were playing with them. The food was also great with lots and lots of Yunnan spices. They killed a chicken just for us and it was great. We were so tired that we all passed out by 10:00. Apparently Michelle found me dead to the world with my clothes on top of the bed and had to make sure that I was still breathing.
Third day: this was the hardest day by far. Eric was still injured and took a bus, but the rest of us fought our way up the side of this mountain with no shade in the scorching heat. After 3.5 hours, we summitted and had a great view of the valley we had just trekked down spread out before us. Of course, then we realized that our guesthouse didn't give us lunch and we were foodless, which totally sucked. Our guide claims he knew of a village with a xiao mai bu half an hour down the trail. Turned out to be 1.5 hours of hard hiking, but we did finally get food around 2:30. From there it was only a few more easy hours (or would have been easy had we had any energy left) to our guesthouse. This night was the best by far. Our guesthouse was a cute Pumi log cabin with a very nice family that asked us to pay whatever we thought it was worth. We were all so tired that we were delirious and laughed at everything (this is a group of 30 year olds remember). We played Uno and yelled insults like we were college frat boys and watched Eric's amazing psychic skills with predicting cards for hours. I laughed so hard that I cried. It was good to know that the hardest part of the hike was behind us and in 24 hours, we would have access to showers and comfy beds.
Our last day of the hike started our wonderfully. We had two hours of modest uphill, not nearly as steep as the previous day. The terrain changed from dry and scorched to heavily wooded with streams and waterfalls gurgling all around us. It reminded me of hiking in Big Sur, California. It didn't take us too long to summit our last mountain and have Lugu Lake spread out before us. It was misleadingly far away and it didn't help that our guide kept telling us just one more hour no matter when we asked. The hike down the other side of the mountain wasn't nearly as pleasant as the way up because the environment turned dry again. We all thought that we would be done when we got to the first village, but the first village came and went and we kept hiking. Over a hill, through a village, over a hill, through a village. The last several hours stretched on forever because none of us were mentally prepared to deal with how long it would take. In the late afternoon we found ourselves in what turned out to be the last town, found a restaurant, and arranged transportation from there to a hotel in Lugu Lake in an area called Lige Dao. We had arrived: the hiking was over. We all still have our souvenirs, of course. Sunburned shoulders, blistered feet, bulging calf and thigh muscles, and my personal favorite: an intense Chaco tan on my feet.
Well that's all for my detailed recollection of the hike. Hope I didn't bore you all to death! Let me know how things are going on your side of the world.
Best,
A very tired but satisfied traveler,
Megan
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