Über diese Reise
Activity Arrangement:
🚩 The activity requires at least two people to proceed. The trip lasts 2 days. Departures are every Thursday, but you can also coordinate with the guide based on your own schedule; it's generally flexible.
Departure time:
Day 1: Meet at Simple Stone Bakery at 12:00 PM. Drive approximately 4 hours to the mountain top accommodation, have dinner, and rest overnight.
Day 2: At 9:00 AM after breakfast, start the forest hike. The hike takes about 5 hours. The guide will prepare a tea break and a picnic lunch in the forest.
After the hike, have a meal at a local restaurant in the town, rest for a while, then return. Estimated arrival in Dali is 9:00 PM.
Notes:
1. The total hiking distance is 8 km, with a cumulative elevation gain of 360 meters. Some mountain paths are narrow and steep. It is recommended for adults and children over 8 who have hiking experience or enjoy hiking.
2. Leeches may be encountered year-round in the mountains. They are not directly harmful to humans. The guide will bring salt (to make leeches fall off and die quickly when they bite), but please be informed in advance.
3. Accommodation default is one person per room.
4. Cost includes: guide fee, round-trip transportation, travel insurance, one night accommodation, and three meals. That is, all expenses except personal purchases.
5. The price is per person, same for adults and children, with no group discounts.
Cancellation and change policy: see end of text.
For activity details and post-booking itinerary arrangements, please add the lead guide's WeChat:
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Our car drove into the thick fog of Ailao Mountain, and we checked into a standalone lodge that we joked looked like something out of "The Kindaichi Case Files." The headlights of passing cars outside the window were like pairs of eyes brushing past each other in visibility less than ten meters, greeting each other and disappearing around bends. At that moment, the fog crashed against the glass like a tide.
Indeed, it lived up to its reputation.
Fog is the mask of Ailao Mountain and a test for travelers who come here. It both blocks the strong sunlight and locks in precious moisture, allowing epiphytic mosses and ferns to thrive on high branches, while also blurring the mountain paths.
The next morning, after breakfast, the fog gradually lifted, and we set off into the mountains.
Following the mountain trails, we slowly entered the depths of the forest. Compared to Cangshan Mountain where we usually hike, this forest was a deep green. Along the forest paths we walked, thick oak and camphor trees were everywhere.
They grew in abstract sculpture-like forms on the flat ground, in the valleys, and by the cliffs.
They looked like giant hands reaching out of the earth, crab pincers, clown hats,
mud monsters (Hanhan said they looked like the sloth Flash), squid, and tree giant legs.
The hidden forest path led by Hanhan would cross streams and traverse small passes. There were no artificial signs or excavation marks. When we turned out from gaps between rocks and big trees, we saw companions in the distance turning behind another new rock, much like travelers appearing and disappearing at different heights and distances in a traditional Chinese landscape painting.
Passing by a beautiful forest meadow, let's rest here for a while.
Climbing to the top of the mountain, the surrounding green peaks were like a soft green carpet gently spreading out into the distance. The path we had walked was hidden within. Soon we would walk back into this green carpet.
Alpine yellow rhododendrons blooming on the mountain top.
Zha Mao and his younger brother Bai Miao. When Miao Miao was only three months old, he came hiking in Ailao Mountain—more impressive than all of us.
Guide Hanhan and the very cooperative egg custard for the photo.
Accommodation Environment
Photos
