Jiuzhaigou Long Lake and 5 Colored Pool

The next morning we check out the map of the national park and realize so far we have seen roughly 25% of the must-see sights along the forked valley.

We decide to grab a bus and skip past the area we saw yesterday. I’m starting to feel better.

 

 

I don’t know the name of this mountain, but since the bus wait was so long, I was able to photograph it whenever the light changed. Of the several dozen this shot is my favorite. I think this is Mt. Daje (13,780 ft)

This little girl poses for photos in traditional regional garb.

 

 

Having not seen much in the way of wildlife in China, I was excited to see this chipmunk thing off in the distance.

 

Landsides all over.

Long Lake… very photogenic…. though the light was just horrible when I arrived. The clouds were off. I was shooting directly into the sun… so I waited… and waited. The snow-covered peak is Mt Ganzigongzaii (14,954 ft)

Joni was a good sport waiting with me. So I did some modelling shots for her.

The water here was an amazing shade of blue-green, depending on the angle of the light.

 

 

 

 

An old man came by and offered to take our photo if we took  one for him.

 

Just as the light was getting good, a wedding party showed up and crowded the place.

 

We waited and waited but couldn’t really get a decent view of the lake in good light. It looked like wedding couple was going to be there for a while, so we moved on.

 

Colorful Pond

From the lake, we cut through the wood and cross a few hills to go to Five Colored Pool. Boy it did not disappoint. Water trickles in from underground cracks in the rock. The water is so high in calcium, it has the most brilliant colors of all the lakes.

 

 

 

 

I met a couple from Malaysia who spoke English and somehow guessed I was from NY. The husband snapped this shot of me. (Yeah, I look horrible; haven’t kept food down in days). I’m carrying a coat strapped to my bag because the temperature in the mountains can drop in an instant. It was actually pretty warm today.

 

 

Joni’s looking pretty good, but she is getting sick at this point. After this we hike for a long time, she’s feeling pretty bad… find the next bus and get on it to head to the transit center so she can be out of the cold and we could get some juice to drink. She didn’t last and we had to bail on the bus somewhere in the middle of the park.