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By Root 1296 0

opportunity to see Tiger Leaping Gorge in its full splendor. This is because the government has decided to build a dam across what by some measures is the deepest gorge on Earth. Tiger Leaping Gorge, from Beijing’s perspective, is the perfect place for another dam. And they love dams in Beijing. Indeed, nearly half the world’s dams are in China, including the largest, the Three Gorges Dam, 1,500 miles downstream. Dam building begets dam building, and Chinese engineers, concerned about sediment buildup in the Yangtze River, have concluded that Tiger Leaping Gorge is the ideal spot to take some of the pressure off of the Three Gorges Dam. One would think, however, that the local government in Yunnan would object to Beijing’s plans. After all, it would call for transforming Tiger Leaping Gorge, one of the natural treasures in China, into a big pond. But there is a saying in China—Build a bridge and you’ll get silver. Build a road and you’ll get gold. But build a dam and you’ll get diamonds. There is money in dams. And money in China trumps everything else.

So I was eager to see the gorge before it flooded. The trailhead to Tiger Leaping Gorge begins in the village of Qiaotou, forty miles north of Lijiang, but sadly for us, the early buses from Lijiang had been full, and by the time we reached it, it was nearly noon. There didn’t appear to be anything compelling in Qiaotou, and so we dropped off our backpacks at Jane’s Guesthouse, where we encountered Jane—who may or may not have been a man. The guesthouse is located just before the gate at the entrance to the high trail that would lead us up to the lofty pinnacles, and we decided, since we were there, to fuel up on banana pancakes. Jack was surprisingly chipper.

“Let’s go for the speed record,” he said.

I encouraged this. We would climb thousands of feet today. There was no need for reality just yet.

It was a warm, sunny day, and we set off from the guesthouse with our daypacks full of water, wandering past fields of grain and small wooden farmhouses. Jack had set a blistering pace but then suddenly stopped.

“Are you sure we’re on the trail?” he asked.

“I have no idea. But you know what? It’s a nice trail, whatever this trail is, so let’s just see where it goes.”

Jack gave me a dubious look. “Okay, right, I’m feeling really good about this hike.”

And then, just a few steps farther along the path, we did feel really good about this hike. For a half hour or so, we’d been following the Yangtze River as it meandered past the last remnants of Qiaotou and into terraced cornfields. And then, as the trail curved around a bend, we suddenly found our jaws dropping at the sheer magnificence of the scenery. There before us rose Dragon Snow Mountain and Jade Snow Mountain, mighty ridges rising 16,000 feet toward summits of jagged rock and snow. These were sheer walls, staggering cliffs, the kind of daunting cartoonish mountainsides that one climbed to find the lama who knew the meaning of life, cragged precipices that plummeted toward the raging river below.

“Wow,” Jack said.

Wow indeed. Foreigners had only been able to enjoy this view since 1993, when China finally allowed outsiders into this corner of the country. And the view has come with a price: More than a few hikers have died along the trail above Tiger Leaping Gorge. Falls, rock slides, getting lost, a change in weather, these were among the things that could prove fatal on the high trail. I had concluded that it would probably be best to keep this sobering fact from Jack. And then I thought better of it.

“You know, quite a few people have died on this trail. Foreigners too.”

“It doesn’t trouble me. Because you know what? We are mountain men.”

“Yes, we are. This is our milieu.”

Of course, it was unlikely that a mountain man would utter the word “milieu.” Nevertheless, we pressed on, following a trail that began to grade higher.

“It’s called Tiger Leaping Gorge,” I noted. “Kind of makes you think, doesn’t it.”

“What? That we’re in tiger country?”

Whenever I was hiking in California, I couldn’t get mountain lions