Day 2 of four sister mountain 四姑娘山

After a western style breakfast, I rejoined the group. Since I am Taiwanese, I must stay in a luxurious hotel, which costs me more money than locals, but get me a western toilet, instead of the squat style toilet. 

We visited Changpinggou 长坪沟. We took a park bus to Lama Temple 喇嘛寺 and then walked. The whole scenic area is on foot. It takes as long to walk up as it takes to walk down. I walked to the Dead Tree Beach 枯树滩 and returned, passing by the Chongchongjiao Waterfall 虫虫脚瀑布. 

I grouped with a young hiker in my bus until Dead Tree Beach 枯树滩 where the boardwalk ends, and only dirt paths left. He continued the trails toward the peaks, while I took the other route opposite to the peaks towards Jiaroungdu waterfall 甲絨都瀑布in order to see more, and I did. 

I had been seeing the youngest sister peak and looking for the other three peaks. Only after I tour the temple on the way out that I realized the other three were there yet without snow covered. I was the lucky few in my bus that saw all four peaks under the sun during a short window, then the clouds came in. The main peak of four sister Mountain is the second highest peak in Sichuan Province after Mount Gongga. The Siguniang, Sanguniang, Erguniang and Dageuniang peaks are 6250 meters, 5664 meters, 5454 meters and 5355 meters above sea level respectively. The unique landscape of snow peaks, forests, pastures, rivers and houses here has a European flavor, so it is called the "Oriental Alps". Four Sister Mountain used to be covered with snow all year round, with glaciers stretching out, and the scenery in each season is different and very beautiful, especially in Shuangqiaogou, Changpinggou and Haizigou 双桥沟、长坪沟和海子沟。

I got better photos here than 稻城亚丁 die to the weather. I do have one regret here. I ran into a young hiker in an orange coat 4 times on the first day (yesterday) who shared with me the secret spot on the first day. I’m saw him again today with a team for 3-day hike that I was interested but didn’t know how to arrange the hike. One of his teammates asked me to join them, and I replied maybe next time. I wish that I asked him more on the first day such that I might drop off the 2-day tour to join them with the minimum gears I had. Well, next time means not this life (since I don’t plan to come back to Sichuan.