Daocheng is in Sichuan, in Southwest China.
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Sichuan · City Guide
Daocheng, Where Three Sacred Peaks Ring a Glacial Valley.
Overview
Why Go
Chenrezig at 6,032 metres, Jampelyang and Chanadorje both near 5,958, standing in a triangle around one valley. Each is named for a bodhisattva and the whole group is a pilgrimage circuit that predates any road in.
Milk Lake and Five-Colour Lake sit in a cirque above the pasture, reached by a steep climb from Luorong. The colours are glacial flour rather than minerals. Many people who turn back on this walk do so because of the altitude, not the distance.
Joseph Rock wrote about this region for National Geographic in the late 1920s, and James Hilton's Lost Horizon, which invented Shangri-La, was published in 1933. Whether Hilton read Rock is argued about; the sequence is on the record.
Haizishan, crossed on the road in, is an ancient glacial surface strewn with boulders and holding more than a thousand small lakes. It is one of the clearest places in China to see what a Pleistocene ice cap left behind.
The poplar and birch along the valley floors turn in late September and early October, against red groundcover and snow above. It is the reason the county's short high season is as busy as it is, and the window moves with the year.
See
The protected area is entered by bus from Shangri-La town below, then an eco-shuttle to the trailheads. Chenrezig stands over the lower valley; the other two are seen from the pasture and the upper cirque.
A small monastery on the meadow at about 3,900 metres, with a short walk up to Pearl Lake under the north face of Chenrezig. This is the easy half of Yading and it can be done in a morning.
A wide meadow at about 4,150 metres with a stream through it and two of the three peaks standing over it. An electric cart runs up from Chonggu. It is where the hard climb starts and where many people stop.
Two glacial lakes above Luorong at roughly 4,600 and 4,700 metres, reached by a steep boulder path. Allow four to five hours return from the pasture and start early. Horses are sometimes available on the lower half.
The pass and plateau between Litang and Daocheng, over 4,000 metres, scattered with granite boulders and small lakes left by ice. The road crosses it and there are stopping places; there is no shelter and the wind is constant.
A shallow wetland outside the county town where the groundcover turns deep red for about two weeks in October, with white-barked poplars around it. It is small, roadside and free, and it is crowded at dawn in the window.
On the Map
Approximate locations of the attractions above, across Daocheng.
Eat
Yak air-dried in strips through the cold months, sold plain or rolled in chilli. It is hard work to chew and it keeps indefinitely, which is why it travels with anyone crossing the plateau. Buy it loose rather than packaged.
A clear broth pot with yak, mushrooms, potato and greens, milder than the Sichuan version and cooked longer because water boils below 90 degrees up here. It is the warm meal after a day at altitude.
Flat highland barley cakes cooked on a griddle, eaten with salted butter tea. Guesthouses in the villages make both. The tea is closer to broth than to anything visitors would call tea, and it helps with the dryness.
The county town's restaurants are mostly Sichuan-run, which means familiar stir-fries a long way from Chengdu. Cooking times are longer because of the altitude, so food takes a while and rice can come undercooked.
Do
Sleep a night in Daocheng town at 3,750 metres or lower before going up to the lakes. If visitors flew in, do not go to Milk Lake the same day. Headache, nausea and breathlessness are normal; confusion and a wet cough are not, and mean going down.
Chonggu and Pearl Lake are a half day on boardwalk and easy path, and they tell visitors how the body is handling the altitude before they commit to the upper climb. Much of the classic view of Chenrezig is from here anyway.
From Luorong it is a steep boulder path of several hours return to Milk Lake and a little further to Five-Colour Lake. Weather turns in the afternoon. Carry water, sun protection and a warm layer regardless of how the morning looks.
Two weeks in October, moving with the opening frosts. It is a roadside stop outside the town rather than a site, ideal in the opening hour of light. Ask at the guesthouse whether it has turned before driving out.
When
Clear, green and much quieter than autumn, with rhododendron on the slopes. Snow can still close the upper path early in this window.
The rains, with cloud on the peaks many afternoons and the valley at its greenest. Landslides close the Chengdu road periodically.
Autumn colour and the clearest mountain views, and the reason the county has a season at all. Accommodation triples in price and books out; the October holiday week is impossible.
Cold, bright and nearly empty, with the upper lakes frozen and the path often closed by snow. The airport runs but flights cancel in weather.
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Daocheng is in Sichuan, in Southwest China.
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