Path around the bend
Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yunnan Province, China, 2007

I've just started looking through my photos from hectic trip I made to China this May. This photo is from a two-day hike through the deepest gorge on the planet. We spent day one on the high road, passing through small villages with farm fields terraced into the mountain side and stopping to eat and sleep at guesthouses that directed travelers via messages painted onto rocks extolling the plentitude of their vegetable gardens, the coldness of their beer, and the warmness of their showers.

On the other side of the gorge the mountain is practically uninhabitated. There is, however, a high road cutting across that seems to mimic the one we traveled. You can see it in the photo above, the thin line to the bottom left. Where does it go? Who takes it? As far as we saw, nowhere and no one.

What makes this gorge measure so tall is the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain whose peaks are hiding behind clouds in this photo. All day the peaks were hidden by clouds, except for about a 20 minute window during which we happened to be at the highest point of our trek. A remarkable coincidence that we made the most of by resting and taking endless amounts of photos. As we sat and watched, we noticed that the mountain seemed to make its own clouds, that white mist rising out of the snow-covered rock puffed up and sat atop the peaks. By the time we started walking again, the mountain tops had again disappeared.