Life> Tour

Rhythms of nature

By Victor Paul Borg (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-19 09:56

Brilliantly colored autumn leaves cover Micang's quintessential twin  flat-topped mountains, in Sichuan.

River water has eroded a deep and narrow gorge in the Micang  Mountains. Photos by Victor Paul Borg / For China Daily

A visit to the drum-shaped Micang Mountains and surrounding reserve offers a truly wild experience. Victor Paul Borg reports

I understand sights and sounds in the wilderness very well, having studied life sciences at university and then spent all my adult life traveling outdoors. But on Micang Mountains, I heard loud rustling coming from all directions at once. I was walking alone in dense forest and could not see what was making the sound. The realization that this was something unusual and unrecognizable crept up my back, like a chill.

Was it some sort of ambush?

I sat down and waited.

Hikers explore Micang's natural wonders.

The rustling grew nearer, and suddenly flashes of red and gold flitted through the underbrush - golden pheasants, the males displaying their fiery plumage. On show were their golden upper heads and lower backs, and their red chests, wings and feet.

Never before had I seen so many golden pheasants together. I had seen them many times in singles or pairs - golden pheasants are one of the illustrious inhabitants of the mountains in Sichuan's northeast - but I had never seen them in such a formation.

I counted 16 of them. And I thought that being ambushed by so many golden pheasants heralded an auspicious beginning to my visit to the mountain.

I had come to Micang Mountains Nature Reserve after hearing good reviews from other travelers and photographers.

The 234-square-kilometer nature reserve, situated on the border between Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces, is notable for its peculiar geology.

It sits at the southern fringes of the Qinling Mountains, and what is most remarkable is the difference in elevation. It is more than 1,700 meters from the lowest point - in a deep gorge - to the highest peak. It is very out of character for the low-slung Qinling range.

In popular imagination, Micang is best known for its twin flat-topped mountains: The two alpines have round flat tops that resemble drums, or even jars' cork lids.

When I encountered the golden pheasants, I was hiking up the mountain to the aptly named Sightseeing Terrace, a pagoda on the summit that offers a sweeping vista of the flat-topped eminences.

The panorama visible from the peak is so divine that I trudged up the path to the apex twice on my first day in Micang - first in the morning for sunrise, and then in the afternoon for sunset. These two treks took up almost the entire day.

The next day I found other things to gawk at, for the same geological forces that shaped the mountains also sculpted other impressive features.

My favorite was Laolin Valley, where the river has made a gash running more than 50 meters deep into the bedrock. The river meanders for almost a kilometer before disappearing into a terrible dark mouth at the base of a looming mountain. Inside is a huge cavern called Luo Shui Dong, which sucks the river water underground.

We spent a few days walking all of Micang's trails. The good thing is these pathways fan out from the single hotel situated in a valley deep in the park. The establishment is run by the nature reserve administration, and offers spacious yet basic rooms with attached bathrooms.

Another option is to stay in a farmhouse 30 minutes' walk downslope, along the path that meanders down to the road. We stayed in both places.

The first night we spent with the farmers, joining them in their harvests of tobacco and corn, and watching the birds that made the farm their home - magpies and jays, intelligent and social birds that squawk raucously. We spent the other nights in the other hotel, in the company of the friendly and talkative resident warden.

Our penultimate walk was the seven-hour trek to the drum mountains. It goes over one of the mountains, then down into Taba He Valley, which is situated in the reserve's core. We saw a plethora of plants and birds, but none of the large and illustrious species that dwell there - golden eagles, takin and black bears.

It was autumn, and the forest was tinged with russet colors. And it was chilly, so every evening we huddled around the metal oven with the government workers - the cook, the cleaners and the resident warden.

They are a jolly lot, and it was joyous, after a day's trekking, to return to base and have a warm glass of baijiu (rice liquor) and honey, and enjoy a sense of camaraderie.

The author designs nature and culture tours in Asia for a niche travel agency (more info available at www.peppermountains.com).