Bhutan: Tiger's Nest Temple

The Tiger's Nest temple is the epitome of Buddhist temples for me. The story goes that a monk flew from the valley on the back of a tiger to the cliffs above the Paro Valley in Bhutan. There he meditated in a cave for years. Ellen and I rode horses up through the valley until even they were stopped due to the steepness of the cliffs. The monestary is at an elevation of 10,000 feet and the valley floor is at 7,000. Once we arrived at the top we were greeted by the head monk and given a ceremony that celebrated our love and offered blessings to my ailing mother. While walking though the temple I came across a door that lead to a cave!! Yes - I was able to do some caving in the middle of this 3,000 foot cliff.

Leaping Tiger Gorge

The legend goes that a great tiger, while being hunted, was able to jump from one side of the Yangtze River to the other at a narrow gorge in the river. We traveled for 3 hours to see what was billed at the "deepest and grandest gorge in the world." While quite impressive, the Tiger Leaping Gorge was a little overstated. Though to have another day with Ellen was truly Divine. Our guide for the day, William, was a local mountain man, very humble, very informative and very talkative. After an hour or so of his tutelage we had to resort to iPods and books to quiet him. The driver was Tibetan: calm collected and purposeful. Nice to have on the curvy mountain roads. The gorge is 35kms long and 12 km wide and at its narrowest spot the water is fierce and voluminous.

[Note from Ellen:
In 1989, when some brave adventurers rafted down the Yangtze all the way from its Headwaters in Tibet to its mouth in the East China Sea at Shanghai, the only fatality occurred in the Leaping Tiger River Gorge.
I'm not surprised.
While the gorge isn't as deep or impressive as the Grand Canyon, the power of the raging water at the spot we hiked to was Tremendous! I think this is not only because the river drops steeply there, but also because the steep, granite sidewalls of the gorge close in sharply approaching the gorge.
Hiking to the leaping tiger spot on the river takes 30-45 minutes and involves some risk. The walls of the gorge are vertical and the path to the tiger has been blasted out of the rock face. We hiked on the Lijiang side - facing Shangri La on the other side. Rock falls are common - 20 days before we were there, a guide from Lijiang was killed by a falling boulder.]

On the way there we stopped at a shrine overlooking the Yangtze that had Sensemillaen growing wild along the paths. We also were very close to Shangri-la. Though to be honest, I feel that we already have that in our hearts every day.
Factiod: The Tiger Leaping Gorge has caves chiseled in the marble banks that were used by emperors past to get the best marble and more recently to allow tourists to walk the 2.6km to the gorge without getting hit by rocks that periodically fall from the high cliffs above.

For more Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/randpipp/20071007QiaotouChinaTigerLeapingGorge

Caving with Aria

Saturday we headed down to Midnight Creek Cave to take Aria to a room named after her. After the 1 hour drive we then loaded ourselves on the mountain bikes and headed to the canyon. We hiked down the boulder laden canyon and then entered the cave. After a hour touring we retraced our steps and headed home.

Caving in Panama

Caving with Crocs in Panama while Ellen was safe on a G4 heading to a Nashville music showcase.

Church Cave: Kings Canyon

Church Cave in Sequoia-Kings Canyon: great hike and adventure in the cave. We were able to get access to the circuit route and spend a few hours playing underground. Then followed it with a cool jump in the river. Aria hurt her foot and we carried her all the way out of the canyon.