Panda Mountain Hiking - 1 Day

• Hiking Distance: 6km
• Ascent & Descent: +300m & -300m
• Elevation Between: 2100m and 2400m
• Hiking Route: In and Out
• Trails: Mountain road, mountain trail
• Pace: Medium
• Supply:No restaurant available, no shops available
• Facilities: Phone service available, no toilet

This is a one-day hike from Chengdu.

Panda Mountain is called Xiongmaoping in Chinese. It is a place located by the back of the new Wolong Panda Base in Gengda of Wenchuan. Panda Mountain is an open land by a mountain ridge in the eastern part of Qionglaishan Mountain Ridge, where is the actual hometown of pandas. Its elevation is between 2300 meters and 2700 meters. Driving from Chengdu it takes about 2 hours to get to the base of this place. The base town is called Gengda and is the of the two towns alongside Yuzixi River, a main tributary river of Minjiang.

The hike starts by a short transit by local car to get to middle range of mountain and start to walk on a basic track. The walk is around 1.5km to the top where you start to have more open views. From the top you can see the mountains on all sides that are covered with green trees. When the day is clear you can even see some mountains that are covered in snow. When it is cloudy you will see the cloud moving and also very beautiful.

By the top of this ridge there are shops selling drinks and food. There is a camp site that provide camping service. There are also some interesting things such as a swing, two doors in nowhere, a mirror on the ground. These items are set for visitors to have fun and take photos with. Continue north up the ridge there is more to be explored including small pond of water, primitive forest, etc.

The hiking is one way in and the same way out and with flexibility. Total walking is around 5km to 10km. The elevation of walking is between 2000 meters and 2500 meters. Usually it takes around 3-4 hours.

After the hike, transit back to the base and drive back to Chengdu, arrive by around 7pm.