5 Days Nyenpo Yurtse Trekking and Camping

Alex Tang

Nyenpo Yurtse is a large geological park located by the border of Qinghai and Sichuan provinces. Its unique rock walls and towers, highland lakes are the highlights of the park. Nyenpo Yurtse is called Nianbao Yuze in Qinghai and Lianbao Yeze in Sichuan. Nyenpo Yurtse is Tibetan language, it means "Majestic Rocky Peaks".

Nyenpo Yurtse

Rock Tower is a unique landscape in Nyenpo Yurtse

I did this trip in summer of 2016 with some other hikers. It was a 5 day trip starting from Wentso Lake and ends by Xiannvtso Lake with 4 days camping. It was overall a medium difficult trek due to its gradual terrains. We walked over one smaller pass and one bigger pass. Basically all the way we followed river and the trail is recognizable for all the part. The biggest challenge is the misty weather.

Aba County

Aba

Getting to the beginning of the trek is long. Starting from Chengdu that's one day's drive to Aba Xian and the next morning switch to a local transfer from Aba to Jiuzhi and then continue to the West entrance by Wentso Lake. We set first night camp by upper Wentso Lake in late afternoon. Wentso Lakes include lower lake and upper lake but two lakes are not far from each other and it was easy walk. There is a main nomads settlement here offering porter service by yaks or motorbikes. I assume this is only available during certain seasons of the year since this is not a permanent settlement but rather a seasonal nomads village where every family lives in tent. Elevation by Wentso Lake is just over 4000m. The drive takes around 4 hours to get to road end.

End of Road Village

Sign says No Entrance

Wentso Lake

Campsite

Wentso Lake Campsite

Nyenpo Yurtse

Next day's walking was also easy since the terrain is basically flat. The trail follows the Eke River in the main valley in the West of Nyenpo Yurtse. It was around 14km walking today plus a detour to the Algyatso Lake, adding on another 4km. Campsite is also by a lake named Demotso Lake. Demotso is rather a smaller lake by the elevation of 4250m. South of the valley has some really interesting and beautiful rocky walls.

Pack Yaks

Algyatso Lake

Neynpo Yurtse Landscape

Neynpo Yurtse Gological Park

Amazing Rock Towers

Demotso Lake

Our trek is mainly in the North and northwest part of Nyenpo Yurtse where the classic trek route is. However because of the changing weather how much we can see of the mountains and lakes really depend on luck.

Third day of trek we walked over a pass that is around 4400m. This is rather a small pass with not so steep going up but rather very steep going down. This pass is impossible for pack animals to walk because of its steep and Rocky trail. Some of us struggled a big while coming down. View by the pass is amazing with the big lake below you far away. From this day we started to have more fog each day. And the rain makes the walking sometimes on muddy trails. It was very wet. Today we had to walk in the rain (though not so big but it continues for the whole afternoon) all the way pass the first lake Upper Rigantso Lake and to the Lower Rigantso Lake, the second largest lake in Nyenpo Yurtse. Upper end of Lower Rigantso Lake is a vast yak ranch where there is plenty of places to set camp although some places maybe muddy. Elevation of this lake is at around 4000 meters.

From Pass looking back

Steep Walking down the Pass

View by the Pass

Rocky Faces

From this valley all the way down it goes out to the Northeast entrance of the park. Some hikers start the trek from this entrance with total 3 days hiking only.

Day 4 of trek we walked over the second pass of the trek at 4600m. It is the hardest day of trek due to the long ascending and long descending. From the pass we could see a part of the central peaks of Nyenpo Yurtse. The highest peaks of Nyenpo Yurtse is located by the northwest part of the massif. Among the high peaks the highest one is 5369-m. Walking by the pass provides us a chance to see these towers but unfortunately it was also foggy so we could only saw part of it. From the pass walk down to the North valley of Nyenpo Yurtse where two of the largest lakes are located. We camped by the South end of Yaonv Lake at the elevation of 4000m.

View by the Pass

North Valley

Glacier

More Rocky Towers

Camping by the foot of Main Peak Nyenpo Yurtse

Last day of trek we followed the valley to the North entrance of Nyenpo Yurtse, the usual entrance of the park and usually the busiest of all. Most of the photos of Nyenpo Yurtse were taken from here. After the big lake Xiannv, we hit road and hired a car back to Aba County.

Xiannv Lake

Curios Marmots

Blooming Season of June

Crossing River

Nyenpo Yurtse North

Car Park by North Nyenpo Yurtse

The most amazing things in Nyenpo Yurtse I think are the rocky towers which are unique in this part of China and the many beautiful lakes lie between mountains. Although we chose to do the trek in June which is summer time, that means also foggy weather for some part of the trek. June is the blooming season of Nyenpo Yurtse but it can also be foggy so normally if you wish to see more clear views you come during autumn or spring.

Recent Updates

In general there are four entrances to this area: the main entrance from north, hiking entrance from West Side and hiking/visiting entrance from southeast side and hiking entrance from northeast. In 2018 this place no longer allows any camping in Qinghai and completely shut off to any hikers by its North, northeadt and west entrances in Qinghai. The only entrance available is the southeast entrance that is located in Sichuan Province.

Nyenpo Yurtse

The northern and Western part of the park is located in Qinghai Province. The South and southeast part of the park is located in Sichuan Province.

Nyenpo Yurtse Map

However some thinks the more beautiful part of the park is by its North and northwest. One can still see the mountains from roads but to go in to visit is not allowed by local authorities in Qinghai. While the park is open and available in Sichuan by it's southeast entrance.

Nyenpo Yurtse

If you want to do a visit or light hike in Nyenpo Yurtse you are recommended to go from the Sichuan Entrance which is the southeast entrance where it's officially a park and they charge money to allow you in. The part that is within Sichuan Province is called Lianbao Yeze (the one in Qinghai is called Nianbao Yuze) which is the same place. Lianbao Yeze has good road built and will only take you to the part of mountains that are within Sichuan Province.

However if you wish to do some long hiking and camping beyond Sichuan normally no one will stop you if you go in from Sichuan side. You can do a multi day trek from southeast and over pass to it's northwest to see the highlights including towers of mountains and lakes.

Nyenpo Yurtse

Nyenpo Yurtse is one of the furthest places to visit in China. From Xining it is 680km to drive. From Chengdu it is 580km to drive to. From Lanzhou it is 560km to drive to. From Golog Maqen Airport it is 290km drive and from Hongyuan Airport it is 150km to drive to. If you are keen to visit Nyenpo Yurtse we recommend you to plan a ground tour from Xining to Chengdu and make Nyenpo Yurtse one of your visiting stops along the way. If you are keen to trek here or to do rock climb here then you can start by either Chengdu or Hongyuan Airport to make trip time-efficient.