Most of the houses in the area (the area encompassing most of nw yunnan and western sichuan) use a wood stove for cooking and heating purposes. The stoves are about 2ft wide, 2ft tall and 4ft deep shaped like a capital T in that the back of the stove is 4ft wide. In the front section of the stove there is a removable circular plate. When the plate is removed a wok may be placed into the whole directly above the fire for cooking. Normally a large kettle and a large boiling bot sit on the back full of water.
As it turned out, we brought most of what we needed for our multi-day adventure. Everything except two spoons, one for eric and one for junyang. That evening, eric and junyang set about carving spoons from pieces of firewood. Junyang produced a crude spatula while eric produced something looking more like a sugar spoon. Dinner that night was delicious. Pork and corn, Pork and chilies, pumpkin, eggs and tomato, and rice.
The next morning we got up at 6am to have breakfast and start hiking. Just as we were getting out of bed, Junyang asked "if it is raining will we still go?" It was actually already raining. "yes." It rained for most of the day, but only lightly. Breakfast was rice and leftovers and just as delicious as the night before. Then we were off. We had decided to go with out a guide. Despite several people telling us we would get lost, or we needed a guide to protect us from wolves and bears. The latter reasons just made me want a guide less, as i felt like i was being talked to like a small child and the person talking knew nothing. Try looking up the chinese wolf or moon bear. Or try finding one in inhabited china. Junyang had received directions for the first 15min of the hike and we both had recieved directions for the rest. We got lost 10min into the hike. Not really lost, just not sure which trail to take out of the village. Junyang volunteered to wander into the nearest dogless house and ask directions again. Once we were on the trail, it was up, up up for the next 7hours. Not only was it just up, it was steep. The clouds provided a low ceiling preventing us from ever really seeing upslope too far. There were breaks now and again that allowed glimpses of false summits. So many false summits. We would arrive at the top of one just to be rewarded withe the sight of a larger, higher, steeper hill to climb next. We went from 5600-12000ft.
All the way up there were signs of human habitation and we passed through 3 villages and one abandoned village near the summit. The farms, villages, and pastures all seemed to belong there. There were no roads past Dimaluo, just people, animals, crops, plants and trees. It just all fit. There wasn't a sense that the people there were destroying their surroundings or making huge mess of a very pretty place which is so common to me in chinese cities and larger villages near roads. The main difference being the village's remoteness, self-dependance, and lack of commericial china, or commericial anything. Thats not to say there were not chinese clothing and some assorted packaged foods.
After a short rest and snack on the top, we started our decent into a beautiful green glacial valley. Two hours later we found a nice spot to camp next to the river, set up camp, and began making beans and millet for dinner. Junyang had been hiking at a respectable pace from the begining, although much slower than eric and I. By noon junyang had spent his three bowls of white rice worth of energy, and reduced his speed to a crawl. While waiting for him to catch up, eric and I would discuss the likelihood of Junyang making it to the top, take bets on how many minutes it would take him to catch up, and try and decide the best way to talk to junyang about picking up the pace or we would never make it the valley before nightfall. We made it to the valley just at nightfall. Dinner was ready 30min later and we began to eat. Junyang had a cup of food and said he was full. Eric and exchanged looks of concern and tried to convince him to eat more in vain. Everyone was out by 8.
The valley was also inhabited. There were a scattering of summer shepard/woodcutter's houses and herds of cows, goats, and pigs. It all seemed to fit. There was active timber cutting on most of the slopes as evidenced by the piles of logs in the valleys and the log skidding trails coming down the slopes. Timber cutting here seemed to fit more than any I have ever seen. Mostly because of its small scale and the large size of the nearby forest, but also because the wood wasnt being trucked off. It was being used to build the houses right there. In addition to the timber, farming and pastoralism in the area, the local's also collected mushrooms for personal consumption and for sale. It was very clear the lifestyle and the ecosystem were only possible under low population pressure. Doubling the population, or just the livestock or wood consumption would have huge effects on the local environment. Despite the presence of people, it still felt like a wild place. Thats saying something about what wild means.
Next morning we were up with dawn and eating oatmeal with Xinjiang raisins. Junyang again ate very little despite our pressuring him to eat more. Within 30min of leaving camp we lost junyang, or he lost us. We are not sure how, as there was only one trail. We found him eventually on the other side of the valley. Apparently he had seen the village at the top of the valley and had followed a 'trail' there. Eventually we did cross the side trail to the village, but it wasn't the goat trail junyang had taken. It was straight up agian, but beautiful the whole way.. Into a cloud and up to 13600ft. The air was considerably thinner at the top and the climbing was not any easier than the day before. The change in vegetation from bottom to top was very apparent. From herbs and grasses to scrub and back to herbs and flowers. The very top of the pass was a narrow notch between two large rocks. When I arrived the path was fully blocked by a large bull. After some talking to, the bull decided to move and let me pass, minutes later eric arrived and soon after junyang. Junyang had regained his strength and speed, temporarily. After a short snack we started our 8hour decent.
To be continued...
