Dimaluo-Deqin Trek, Yunnan
Info 2005. Back to: Trek, Destionations, Yunnan

Hike from Dimaluo to Deqin, Yunnan.

"The hike was 3 days - pretty long days in my opinion, about 7-9 hours walking a day (although I'm not very fast...). We began at Dimalou and ended in Yunling. We passed through Yongzhi, but then if you want to get to the road to Deqin, it's another 2 hours walk (by the way, they arranged for a jeep to come and take us to Deqin from there - I think it was 200 Yuan for the jeep).

We took porters, as they said we couldn't take horses because of the snow. It cost us 290 Yuan per porter for the 3 days, and we didn't have a guide - the porters were also the guides and they did a great job in all aspects. They also provided us with a tent and mattresses as we didn't have any then.

We bought some food in Binzonglou, and they brought some basic food as well (rice, some vegetables and a big chunk of fat).

We're not very experienced hikers, but in my opinion it was not an easy hike. It was quite snowy yet in the end of May, and if I can recall correctly we climbed about 2-3 hours in the snow to the pass and then went down in the snow for another 2 hours. climbing to the pass we also went for about 2 hours in a muddy area. The second day is the most difficult one with all the climbing, mud and snow (if I understood correctly the pass is at 3,800m), the first and last days are more easy (relatively speaking).

On the third day we got to Yongzhi (where we had lunch) a beautiful and welcoming tibetan village with amazing surroundings. if you want you can get there a horse to the way down to Yunling. (we think its about 50 y per horse)

In general, we thought that it was a very beautiful hike - the scenery on the way was fantastic and diversified - we've seen small glaciers, waterfalls, trees of many colors and of course a lot of green & snow peaked mountains. We also think it's a very "useful" hike - if you begin to tour Nujiang Valley from it's south part, you don't have to go all the way back again on the bus. it was Alo who arranged the hike (though didn't come with us). "