Jiuzhaigou's Strong Comeback After the Earthquake: A 5-Day Self-Drive Winter Trip to Western Sichuan's Jiuzhaigou

📍 Jiuzhaigou · 👁 1 reads · ❤️ 35 likes

I always feel that kids from the south can't help but get excited when they see such heavy snow right in front of them.

This trip to Jiuzhaigou was truly a spur-of-the-moment decision. From deciding to go to buying the tickets, it was always just a matter of a few minutes. The day before we were at Dagu Glacier seeing thick snow, and the next day we were at Bipenggou watching it snow. Although our Western Sichuan Jiuzhaigou trip lasted only five days, every day brought different scenery. The driver was a master I've worked with many times on the Sichuan-Tibet route; even in heavy snow, he handled the roads with ease, and all the routes were up to me.

We planned five days total, plus two days for travel to and from Chengdu, making it seven days.

Day 0: Quanzhou - Chengdu

Day 1: Chengdu - Huanglong - Jiuzhaigou Entrance

Day 2: Jiuzhaigou

Day 3: Jiuzhaigou - Mounigou - Dagu Glacier

Day 4: Dagu Glacier - Bipenggou

Day 5: Bipenggou - Chengdu

Day 6: Chengdu - Daci Temple - Wenshu Monastery - Quanzhou

Ticket prices per person:

Jiuzhaigou 210, Mounigou 100, Dagu Glacier 290, Bipenggou 165

It's recommended to spend at least 4 hours at Huanglong; arriving by noon is best.

Given the current level of openness at Jiuzhaigou, one day is enough. Start around 8 a.m., go to Five Flower Lake, then walk to Pearl Shoal Waterfall. After returning to Nuorilang Waterfall, take the shuttle to Long Lake. All together, one day is sufficient since the other areas are not yet open.

At Mounigou, Zhaga Waterfall takes about 45 minutes to visit; there's very little walking. After buying the ticket, you can drive another 7 kilometers to Erdao Sea, where you can spend about 4 hours.

Dagu Glacier can be enjoyed for half a day or more. The cable car and shuttle round trip take about 2 hours. The top of the mountain—with its photo spots, café, and visitor center—is a great place to linger.

Bipenggou takes about 4 hours or more to explore. The round trip by shuttle and sightseeing car takes about 2 hours, and stopping at various points along the way will take up a good part of the day.

When going up the mountain in winter, you must wear a down jacket; staying warm is most important. With such beautiful scenery, bring someone along to share it with you, to take photos and so on.

Recommended clothing colors: red for brilliance, yellow for brightness, white for purity. How can you not come in winter to see the snow?

The moment I saw the water at Huanglong, I regretted why, after so many trips to Tibetan areas, I had never come to Jiuzhaigou before. People say, 'After visiting Jiuzhaigou, you'll never want to look at water elsewhere.' Now I finally understand.

I was still ambling through the mountains when I noticed the sun in the distance was about to drop behind the hills, and I hadn't yet seen the most beautiful sights of Huanglong. I had to start running. An elderly woman said, 'Miss, slow down! You might get altitude sickness!' I said, 'Mm-hmm, okay!'

But I still ran hard!

I wanted to see the Five-Color Pond at the best time. In the end, the sun had already gone behind the mountain. The Five-Color Pond truly has five colors: milky blue, light blue, deep blue, light green, and dark green. Nature is amazing—just one pool can have so many colors.

Walking down from the mountain, I passed different calcified pools. The sunlight still reached some pools from the mountain, and the reflections were beautiful at times. How does such green water form? The Huanglong travertine landscape has a complete range of features: colorful pools with travertine dams, travertine beaches, travertine fans, travertine lakes, collapse lakes and pits, as well as travertine waterfalls, caves, springs, terraces, and bonsai—it's truly a natural travertine museum.

I can only say it's incredibly beautiful. Seeing it with my own eyes, I finally understood its beauty. The colorful ponds, snowy peaks, canyons, and forests of Huanglong—no wonder it's called the 'Earthly Yaochi' (Jade Pool). Especially the Five-Color Pond, which displays various colors even without direct sunlight. Along the winding golden travertine pools, different colors appear. It is said to be the largest open-air group of travertine colorful pools in the world.

With flowing water and drifting clouds, the Five-Color Pond, after millions of years of geological changes, still lies quietly in this deep valley, silent and graceful.

My recent 45-day self-drive trip to Tibet ended over a month ago. But besides immersing myself in writing more articles, I also wanted to see more scenery. Back in October, when I was in Chengdu, I had already thought of visiting Jiuzhaigou after the earthquake, but at that time it was only open to group tours, which I really didn't want.

We had bought the Jiuzhaigou tickets three days before departure. A friend in the tourism industry in Chengdu helped me get the tickets, just costing a bit more. Then Xiao Zhu and I went to Western Sichuan. On the very day we set off, Jiuzhaigou announced it was accepting individual travelers. We'll take things as they come.

Luckily, I arrived at Jiuzhaigou on the second day it opened to independent tourists. I can't stand large crowds. After visiting Huanglong, we drove to the entrance of Jiuzhaigou and checked in. I was hoping for good weather the next day!

But when I woke up, it was overcast and about to snow. Early December in Western Sichuan is bitterly cold. According to my friend, who has been to Jiuzhaigou three times before, the color of the water hasn't changed after the earthquake—there's just less water, and the terrain has changed more dramatically. Of course, Pearl Shoal Waterfall is much less impressive.

This was my first visit, so I don't have much to say, but I finally understand what 'After visiting Jiuzhaigou, you'll never want to look at water elsewhere' means. This is world-class beautiful water.

The most beautiful spot in Jiuzhaigou is probably Five Flower Lake, with its mottled and dreamy colors. When I arrived, it was snowing, snowflakes falling one by one. The submerged dead trees in the water were very striking. Because of sunlight and varying depths, the lake displays different colors—a common sight on the plateau. What makes Five Flower Lake special is the submerged wood and plants at the bottom; its underwater landscape is indescribably wonderful and colorful.

I flew my drone a little above Five Flower Lake but quickly brought it down because it was snowing, and mainly I was afraid it would crash. I walked along the wooden boardwalk down to Pearl Shoal Waterfall. Xiao Zhu said that Pearl Shoal Waterfall is probably the most changed spot after the earthquake. The once spectacular waterfall now has slightly less water.

Passing by the prominent red marker '8.8 Stone' from the earthquake, which rolled down from the mountain, knocking down every tree and bush along the way—its presence bears witness to the earthquake's impact on this world-class scenic area.

Taking the scenic shuttle to the terminal—Long Lake. It was still snowing, but I resolutely flew my drone up, even though I was freezing, hands nearly numb, I still wanted to fly it farther and farther to see more beautiful scenery.

'The land is like a painting'—this scene truly deserves that phrase.

In the depth of winter, Long Lake is surrounded by rime-covered mountains. Through the sea of clouds, I saw her beautiful figure. Standing in this fairy-tale world of ice and snow, I couldn't be happier.

When I was about to go down the mountain, I thought there would be few people, but at each bus stop there were quite a few. Back at the hotel, I checked the Jiuzhaigou homepage and found that today's visitor count was only 3,000. I silently thought: luckily I came on the second day after it resumed independent travel; who knows how many people will swarm here in the future.

Originally, I planned to go to Hongyuan today, but when I checked the weather, it was overcast with rain and snow. Mounigou, not far from Jiuzhaigou, looked good, so I changed the plan. Leaving Jiuzhaigou, we headed to Mounigou.

Continuing from yesterday's heavy snow, today's journey was full of snow scenery. Everywhere I saw beautiful white snow hanging on tree branches. Not far out of Jiuzhaigou, I couldn't help stopping by the roadside to take some photos.

Houses, yaks, heavy snow, and rivers—what a beautiful picture. I really love snow. If only there were a big blue sky, it would be perfect. Luckily, the day after the snow cleared up, so I could capture such clear snow scenes.

Around noon, we passed by Songpan Ancient Town. We had a meal in Songpan County and then prepared to cross the mountains to Mounigou. From the mountain, I took photos of the ancient town buildings and realized that the city gates and walls of Songpan Ancient Town within a ten-li radius are well preserved. Looks like I should come back to experience it properly.

When I arrived, I learned that Mounigou consists of two scenic areas. At the entrance of Zhaga Waterfall, you can buy a combo ticket for 100 yuan; visiting only one area costs 70 yuan. From the gate of Zhaga Waterfall to the scenic area, it's about 7 kilometers, and you still need to drive.

After getting out of the car, it's only about a 15-minute walk to hear the waterfall. Zhaga Waterfall is at an altitude of 3,270 meters, with a drop of 93.2 meters. Such a huge waterfall right in front of you is truly awe-inspiring. Hundreds of layered travertine ring waterfalls are right there, thundering like thunder; you can hear the grandeur from afar.

After the waterfall tour, we drove 15 kilometers to Erdao Sea. This was the highlight of my visit to Mounigou. Entering the Erdao Sea scenic area, there was no one around, extremely quiet. The previous night's heavy snow, a gentle breeze blowing, snowflakes falling, through the sunlight—so beautiful.

Passing through patches of forest, we came to a series of lakes. Some were already half-frozen. We walked slowly inward. Passing Emerald Lake, Rhinoceros Lake, Hundred Flowers Lake, and Swan Lake—each had a different beauty.

Some lakes reflected the green forest; some had dead trees in the water like Jiuzhaigou; the water was crystal clear. Extremely beautiful. I launched the drone at the most beautiful spot—this emerald-green lake was the soul of the entire area. I also spotted a heart-shaped lake—so beautiful and romantic.

Dagu Glacier was an unexpected surprise. I had heard of this place long ago but never wanted to come because it's too close to Chengdu, and I'm afraid of crowded places. Since Dagu Glacier was on the way, I thought, why not take a look. And it was winter, the best season for glacier viewing.

I'm so glad I chose to come to Dagu Glacier, known as the 'infant glacier'—the lowest-altitude and youngest modern mountain glacier in the world. At the foot of the mountain are colorful forests stretching for 80 li, but I came a bit late in the season. All I saw was rime, but with good weather, everything looks beautiful.

The scenic shuttle drove along roads covered with snow. From time to time, groups of monkeys waited by the roadside for food. It was a pity that today I didn't see Dagu Lake, but because of the snow cover, I could see this fairy-tale world of ice and snow!

Sitting on the cable car, I could faintly see boardwalks built from the foot to the top of the mountain. Since the vertical rise is quite substantial, I imagine few people choose to walk up. At that moment, the boardwalks were completely covered with snow.

At the top, there is an observation deck where people can safely play on the wooden boardwalks. The snow was so deep you could build a snowman.

Behind me was the highlight of the summit—a café that provides oxygen and heating, allowing you to comfortably enjoy the snowy mountain scenery from 360 degrees without any blind spots. Often, beautiful views are crowded, but today there were few people and stunning scenery—I couldn't bear to leave.

I originally wanted to stay somewhere better tonight, like Li County, but then I found out about the famous hot springs in Guergou. I found a new, very comfortable hot spring hotel that opened this year. In the middle of the night, I went out and bought half a catty of highland barley wine and finished it all alone. As they say, drinking late at night brings boundless joy.

Sichuan is really a treasure trove (in Minnan dialect, it means 'place')! This is my second time at Bipenggou, but the first time I barely explored it; I just drove away.

Coming to Bipenggou again, the scenic shuttle ran on snow-covered roads. This fairy-tale world of ice and snow felt like a paradise on earth. When I posted on WeChat Moments, my best friend sent a pitiful message: 'You're in such beautiful places every day—I'm starting to want to fall in love.'

Don't be fooled by all the snow—it's actually not that cold when it's snowing. We played by the lake for a long time before taking the sightseeing car to the top of the mountain, Pan Sheep Lake. The snow was falling particularly heavily. As a southerner, I was already excited to see snow, but I never expected such heavy snowfall!

Winter always arrives on time, and I always follow the beauty. I finally reached the very top—Yanzi Rock. The moment I saw that peak, memories instantly flooded back of three years ago when I traversed from Changping Valley to Bipenggou. I crossed over that pass into Bipenggou in late autumn when a heavy snow fell, and I fell many times on the mountain path before finally completing the entire journey.

'May you travel the world and find that life is worth it.'

At that moment, I felt so lonely. I was looking at such beautiful snow but had no one to share it with. I even felt a bit desperate. Snowflakes fell thick and fast, and I walked alone in this fairy-tale world. So be it.

Travel Diary Directory:

1. Jiuzhaigou Western Sichuan Route + Tips

2. Huanglong, Earthly Yaochi

3. Jiuzhaigou, Returning After the Earthquake

4. Mounigou, a Lesser-Known Gem Comparable to Jiuzhaigou

5. Dagu Glacier Is Truly Beautiful

6. Bipenggou, the Longed-for Northern Scenery

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