Stunning Scenery Beholding

Itinerary: 8 Days of Yecheng - Kudi - 204 High-way Keepers' House - Mazha Army Service Station - Heka High-way Keepers' House - 30-Mile Barracks - Kangxiwa High-way Keepers' House - Hongliutan - Tianshuihai Army Service Station

Start the cycling tour from Yecheng. Ride up gradually on the bituminous macadam against the flying sand for 62KM to get Kekeya Village and then 10KM to Pusa (Bodhisattva) Village. The total distance is 73.45KM. As Yecheng County lies on the border of north side of Mt. Kunlun and Tarim Basin, the surrounding area is always dry. Along the way, the landform transits from oasis to Gobi or desert and you may see the Danxia Landform. With a history of 70 years or so, the special landform is a floorboard of landscape type that developed from red terrestrial clastic rock and featured by bare red cliff. The rocks are connected to each other one by one or congregate together. With the light change, the color changes differently and thus becomes attractive for some cameramen. To stay overnight, you may either stay at a local Uigur house or the camp you bring along.

Kind notice: This is an exciting but hard cycling tour from the beautiful Xinjiang to the mysterious Tibet. Started in Yecheng, it will totally take about 8 days in Xinjiang and 26 days in Tibet. For the Tibet part, you may refer to BC-LH03. To ride this itinerary, we highly suggest you consult your doctor first and get well-prepared for the food, water, medicines, camp, sleeping bag, oxygen bag, GPRS and so on. As most part of the itinerary includes the plateau, respiration can be very difficult at great heights.

Ride from Pusa (Bodhisattva) Village to Kudi, totally 92KM. The bituminous macadam ends at milestone K93 and then stone roads start until reach milestone K100. After 3KM, the serpentine pass wanders up to the mountain until reach the milestone K111 at the 3240M-high Kudi Daban. Ride down for 15KM, you will get to the 127 High-way Keepers' House. There is an Army Service Station at milestone K130. Again, you will find the bituminous macadam at milestone K133. Get on the road and ride along the Su River. After riding for 35KM, you will reach to the destination today - Kudi at milestone K160. To stay overnight, set up the camp around 127 High-way Keepers' House.

You will ride from Kudi to 204 High-way Keepers' House today, totally 46KM. Pass the Border Checkpoint and ride up along the river valley. Once you pass the milestone 170, ways steeply sloped. Along the way, there are small and shallow glaciers. The bituminous macadam ends again at milestone K194 and spiral mountain roads start. Roads became flat and flat before reaching milestone 204. Then, ride on to reach the 204 High-way Keepers' House and stay overnight in the empty house. Due to the high altitude of 4200M of the 204 High-way Keepers' House and the great increase of the altitude, some people may come up with the problem of altitude sickness.

You will ride 84KM to reach Heka High-way Keepers' House via Mazha Army Service Station. Ride along the long slope for about 11KM to reach Mazha Daban marked by milestone 217. The Station has a higher altitude of 4800-5150m. Then, easily reach Mazha Army Service Station marked by milestone 241 by declivity. Here, some small and simple restaurant and hostel can be found. Then, ride on the bumpy stone road to reach the milestone 275. Hard climbing with the bike will take you to 3900M-high Heika High-way Keepers' House. If you want to make a phone call, satellite phone call is available here.

The schedule for today is to reach the 30-Mile Barracks which is 74KM away. Starting from Heka High-way Keepers' House, you will ride 2KM to reach milestone 292. Here, you will start climbing 4930M-high Heika Daban at millestone 309. As you ascend, there are a lot of upgrade and spiral mountain roads. Heavy wind blows when you climb down the mountain. After upgrading 500M from the milestone 344(the former 340 High-way Keepers House), you get into the windy valley. Ride on to reach the Saitula Post Site, then, keep riding to the Kashikaer River. The bumpy detritus road along the River leads to the 30-Mile Barracks marked by the milestone 364. Tip: The weather suddenly and greatly changes in the valley. Stay overnight at camp.

Ride 73KM from 30-Mile Barracks to Kangxiwa High-way Keepers' House. Ride up the river valley to reach milestone 410 and climb over the mountain from there. The roads are straight and comparative flat. The milestone 425.5 marks Kangxiwa Daban which is 4250M-high. Ride down hard against the wind. When wading across two small rivers near to the interjection of Kangwaxi Revolutionary Martyrs Ceretery, you get to the destination today - Kangxiwa High-way Keepers' House. Tip: Sometimes, you may stay at Kangxiwa High-way Keepers' House and even have meals there.

You will leave Kangxiwa High-way Keepers' House and reach Hongliutan which is 50KM away. Getting onto the No. 219 Xijiang-Tibet Highway, you will see a bridge over a dried river bed. Pass it, you will need to ride up a sand slope and then turn to a depression of valley. The road zigzagged upwards and is narrow. Speeding up is impossible until reaching the 4200M-high Hongliutan marked by milestone 487 as there are a lot of sand on the road surface. Stay at camp for the night. Tip: If it is cloudy and you still keep good stamina, you may hurry on with your journey to 509 High-way Keepers' House.

On the last day in Xinjiang, you will ride from Hongliutan to the 4800M-high Tianshuihai Army Service Station for 96KM. Ride upgrade the road to the abandoned 509 High-way Keeps' House at milestone 511.5. You may rest here for a while as energy will rapidly consumed in the following ride. Upgrade ends and downgrade begins at milestone 515. Upgrade again starts at milestone 525. Climb over the 5200M-high Qitai Daban at milestone 535.5. The downgrade extends to wasteland with buttes in the surrounding area. The road is easy to be ridden on with milestones set every 5KM but no High-way Keepers's Hourse. On the way, you will see the beautiful Akesaiqin Lake. You may stop here hiking or picturing for a while. Then, ride on to get to the last stop in Xinjiang - Tianshuihai Army Service Station - the highest Station in China. It is expensive to stay overnight at the Army Service Station, so we suggest you camp nearby. Tip: The weather changes greatly and suddenly in the Tianshuihai area and many people got obvious altitude sickness here. According to some local people and soldiers, it is better to go on the journey and camp further.