Dangling Hiking

Dangling is the name of a village called Dangling. It refers to the lakes, mountains and hot springs around the village. Dangling is located in Bian'er Town of Danba. It is 68 northwest to Danba Town. It is famous for its hidden mountains and lakes, forest and primitive landscape and has now become famous in China.

In Dangling there are local families providing basic accommodations for visitors. Despite there is a new road being built up the accommodations are still very basic and with limited options. There is electricity in the village but internet can be unreliable.

Mountains

The mountains here in Dangling is in general called Xiaqiangla Mountains and it is part of Daxueshan Range and located by the north of the Daxueshan Range. The highest peak here is called Xiaqiangla that is 5470 meters Xiaqiangla means mountain of fairy and beauty. It is part of the holy mountains in local Jiarong Tibetan Culture. There are some 28 mountains that are over 5000 meters.

Alpine Lakes

In China lakes are one of the most favored attraction and even more than mountains. There are over 30 lakes total in Dangling area. The usually visited ones include Hulu Lake, Dahaizi Lake (Zhuoyomtso). The usual photos were taken by the side of Hulu Lake.

Hot Springs

The hot springs in Dangling are natural. There are total 2 places where you can use open hot spring. One is called Muri Chaqu, the sulphur pool. The other one is located by a pasture, the Buka Chaqu, meaning hot spring by the pasture. They both located 4km south to Dangling Village. Highest temperature reaches 75C.

Hiking

The hiking at Dangling is a hard walking from the village up to the Hulu Lake for about 4-5 hours. You can ride a horse for half of the walk, or walk to the lake to see its beauty including Xiaqiangla mountains. There is another more hard walking from Dawu that involves camping for 2 nights that brings you to over 4700 meters with more beautiful views.

The usual hiking to Hulu Lake can be done in one day from Dangling Village. It is total 7km from the village up to Hulu Lake and return the same way for another 7km so total 14km. Lots of visitors to this lake choose to ride horse to cover half of the walk. Horses are available and costs 200 yuan. Horse can not take you all the way as the first part is too steep to use a horse and the last part is too rocky for the horse. The hiking is on good horse trail but steep for some sections. In snowing/raining days the trail is muddy and slippery. Total elevation gain for this hike is 800 meters from 3400 at the village to 4100 by the lake. Elevation gain and loss is big considering the high altitude here. You can do a camping hike by sleeping by the second lake if you are well-acclimatized.

Ticket info: 20 yuan

Recommended length of visit: 1 day to 3 days

Opening Hour: all day