Sichuan Hiking and Trekking Season

The best hiking seasons are May, July, August and October in Sichuan. The second best hiking seasons are April, June, September and November. The raining season is in from May to September in Sichuan. At the hiking destinations in western Sichuan, the rain reaches its highest in June and September. Winter is generally not considered as a good season to have a trekking trip in western Sichuan as it is too cold and there are normally heavy snow covering the trails at high elevation where it is usually steep, making the trail dangerous. Winter in Sichuan at these hiking destinations is from December to the next March. In Sichuan, if you are hiking before April or after November, you may have the possibility of changing your plan for hiking if the weather turns bad and snows too much. In the mountains in winter, it is dry and not much snow or rain but when it has some, the snow will usually accumulate, unlike in the raining seasons from May to October, the snow may come but it will melt quickly too. Usually the rivers start to rise in April and the snow starts to accumulate in November.

April and November do not have too much rain or snow but it is quite cold especially during night time, when the temperature drops below -10C at some places on the hiking. It is not definite that April or November are good seasons for hiking in Sichuan. It happened before that sometimes the hiking trails at mountain passes were too dangerous for walking through due to too much snow accumulated from former season. It is possible that the winter lasts longer until April or comes earlier in November in the mountains in Sichuan. In April the land is still in its winter color normally looks a bit dry and dreary. In November, the strong wind is the signal of winter coming.

May and Octoberusually are considered the best seasons for a hiking/trekking trip to Sichuan. May and October are usually with good weather condition and not very cold. The temperature will be above zero generally. But when you are at elevation over 3500 meters, it is still cold. In October the mountains in Sichuan are covered in its amazing autumn color of gold. May and October are the busy traveling season in China, and hiking is getting popular so an early planning is usually better to avoid unexpectations.

July and August is the summer time of western Sichuan. July and August is considered the climax of the monsoon but it does not have as much rain as that of in June and September. July and August are warm. The temperature reaches up to 25C in the day time. And during night time it is not very cold. It is also an exciting and vibrant season for the flora and fauna in the mountains. If you come hiking in July and August, you will be walking in a green world. In July and August, the rainy days and sunny days are basically half and half, meaning normally half of the summer rainy and half sunny. In the summer the rain comes in heavy shower and goes usually within half an hour. But this is only general information, we have seen before both a whole summer without one single day’s rain or a consecutive of a week-long’s rain at the hiking destinations in Sichuan.

June and September usually are the raining seasons. It is not cold but comparing to other seasons, you will usually have the highest possibility of catching raining weather. In June and September sometimes the rain comes gently with drizzling and can stays drizzling for days. Hiking in Sichuan in this season you will still catch the green color of the mountain and the views are also stunning. But remember it is always dry at highlands in Sichuan at the hiking destinations. When you are traveling in the mountains, the weather is something you can never know. It is true that the weather changes quickly in the mountains in Sichuan. Within a day, in the morning the sun rises does not guarantee a whole day of good weather. And it is the same that if you wake up seeing the rain in the morning does not mean it will last for the rest of the day. The extinct weather change within a day usually comes after middle day by around local time 13:00. Normally to start walking before 9:00 in the morning and to camp before 18:00 is a pleasant planning to hike in Sichuan considering the sunrise and sunset time. To find out the weather condition and know the basic weather forecast are necessary before you go. Here given are only the general weather and climate information for hikers to Sichuan but in different years the weather may still change. So to make an alternative plan is necessary.

• Detailed Mt. Siguniang Climate and Weather
• Detailed Daocheng Yading Climate and Weather
• Minya Konka Climate and Weather
• Kangding Climate and Weather
• Danba Climate and Weather
• Mt. Emei Climate and Weather
• Jiuzhaigou Climate and Weather

Temperature Expectation during Camping Treks

It's important to learn the temperature of where you are traveling to especially when you are doing camping. There are certain differences on temperature expectation while on a camping trek.

01. The temperature/weather from many weather forecast sources are from the towns and villages where the data is collected to make a forecast, while where you are doing camping is usually in the wilderness in the mountains where there is no reliable data collected by weather stations but rather calculated and estimated. Plus the camping places are usually in the mountain with a more changing weather and with higher altitude, so often the weather forecast is for reference only but not to be fully relied on.

02. Big temperature difference in different days is common in western Sichuan. In a cloudy day a daily temperature difference is small with daytime temperature much lower that if it's a sunny day, which has a much bigger daily temperature difference.

03. Wind adds on the cold feeling. While camping you won't have a proper shelter as when you stay in a hotel, therefore you will likely to feel the wind all the time during camping. Night time is the coldest time while on a camping trek: this is what you normally missed while staying in hotels.