Chengdu
Hometown of Pandas
Jiuzhaigou
Famous Fairyland
Emeishan
Sacred Buddhist Site
Leshan
Giant Buddha
Gonggashan
Best for Hiking
Daocheng Travel
Shangri La Views
Dujiangyan
Irrigation System
Siguniangshan
Eastern Alps
Camping trek service standard and details including food, camping gears and staff roles, responsibilities are stated below and is usually the standard that is provided to clients when you sign a tour confirmation with us. Although there are usually minor differences between what’s stated here and what’s actually provided as in adventure travel there are certain risks involved for example bad weather that results in delays of arrival and limited time for standard service providing; or change of campsite that limited resources become available; or possible disfunction of gears due to undiscipline of animal packing that may result in substandard providing of service even under sufficient management. The following is to give a general review on services on a camping trek tour.
Clients have the obligation to tell us your food allergies and a list of food you don’t eat. Food preference is usually met with care. In the mountains where we need to bring everything up and with limited or zero food resupplies, we make sure food provided is clean and safe rather than variety or good taste. You can always bring things you prefer as supplement to what’s provided.
Breakfast is usually local bread (?), oatmeal or noodle, fruit jam and for drinking, tea. With higher standard also cooked corn, fried or boiled eggs, or fried rice, instant coffee.
Breakfast is usually provided when you wake up, your guide will usually get up earlier than you do and with a time of breakfast agreed the former night. You are recommended to be on time since usually during camping trek in Sichuan, food gets cold quickly in the mountains.
Lunch is packed lunch usually a bag of snacks including chocolate, cookies and biscuits, dried nuts or dried fruit, apple. In a small group for example if you are a couple sometimes your food will be packed together for easier wrapping and better adjusting to avoid using more plastics.
Dinner is the biggest meal a day and a hot meal. Dinner includes rice or noodles, stir-fries or stews of vegetable or meat. With higher standard of dinner it usually includes more variety of vegetable and meat, soup etc. Usually it takes a long time (2-3 hours) for such dinner to be prepared, the process of making a dinner involve washing the food, cutting/preparing food and cooking food. And after dinner there is also taking care of the leftovers and washing dishes and pots.
Drinking Water is provided at each camp site. Drinking water is boiled water and usually available during and before dinner/breakfast. During walking we don’t stop to cook drinking water, but rather pre-loaded to your water bottle in the morning. Most occasions water is cooked rather than treated (tablets or UV light) on such camping trekking tours. You are recommended to let your guide know if you drink A LOT of water than normal. We recommend 1L to 2L of water each day. Note when water is cooked it is usually hot after it’s done, so when filling you need to wait until it cools off or use a thermal. In the mountains it is very helpful to drink hot water especially at night and in cold seasons. There are two critical times you fill your water bottle, one is before you go to bed, prepare enough water for yourself, one is in the morning before you start to walk, note by now you need to make sure you have water for the whole day before arriving campsite. We don’t stop to make water and usually it’s not recommended to drink directly from a river or stream unless after you treat the water. You need to carry water you drink for each day’s hike. If you drink more than 2L and think it’s too much to carry, make sure to bring tablets with you and ask your guide about water source during hiking day.
While drink your water, because you only have limited amount of water carried with you, you are not recommended to drink a huge volume each time but rather smaller sips and multiple times. Always make sure you have some water left before you can actually refill your bottle.
Gears provided usually include sleeping tent and mattress, camp light, easy-set-up table and stools, tarp, cooking wares and dining utensils, walkie-talkie, satellite phone, basic medicines, gas for cooking, and their parts and fittings. Depending on group sizes detailed items provided may vary.
Safety-Communication related: fully-charged satellite phone to use at places without phone reception/internet coverage for emergency communication to the rescues available nearby. Walkie-talkie is for communications between the team where phone and internet is not available. A simple first-aid case is also provided for any emergency use. Included in the case is medicine for diarrhea, headache, sore throat; glucose, bandage, gauze, etc. Oxygen can is also provided for extreme conditions.
Food-related Gears: mainly cooking tools including pots and wok, utensils, cooking stoves, gas canisters, etc. Depending on the standard and group size, an easy-set up table & stools are also provided so you have somewhere to sit down while dining and drinking. Also depending on standard and group size, a small shelter is also provided in the case of raining/snowing to keep everyone dry while at campsite. There is a minimum standard of proving food from us and to provide such food it will require not just more work from our guide, more food been purchased, but also more weight to be carried which means more porter will be involved.
Camping gears include sleeping tent, sleeping mattress, sleeping bag, lights. We normally provide sleeping tent, sleeping mattress but not sleeping bags. Because sleeping bag is very personal gear that you sleep with you are recommended to bring your own sleeping bag with you. Sleeping bag can be rented. Tent is crucial to a camping trekking trip. Tent provided is 3-season 2-regular-size person tent and is checked prior to a trip. Depending on group size and due to environment concerns, a toilet tent is sometimes provided as well.
Personal gears are not provided. Personal gears for hiking include walking poles, gaiters, backpacks big and small, rain covers for backpacks big and small, dry bags, walking boots, warm-keeping clothing, hats, sunglasses, protections against rain and sun. Please ask your travel manager to have a more detailed suggested packing list for a camping trekking trip.
Campsites are usually the regular camping places used by former campers and has been used before by us. If to use new camping sites or if clients want to choose their own campsites please do make sure they meet the safety guidelines as a campsite:
Campsite is usually an open area without shelter. There are certain functional areas once you set your camp: cooking place, camping place, toilet place, etc. Often to consult your guide where to put your tent is a good idea. Flat spot is important but it is also critical to keep your head higher than your body while sleeping at high altitude places. Making sure around your tent there should be draining if it’s too flat.
Expectation of Camping in Western Sichuan
You'll sleep in a tent, usually 1 or 2-sharing tent with usually foam matress if it's provided. Tent is usually 3-season tent that is water proof and can withstand wind and snow.
Please note camping trek is not comfortable, you may expect one or more of the following conditions:
Recommended to bring sleeping bag that has a safer temperature range, think about all the details before sign up a camping trek for beginners, or to simply choose our lodging hiking tours if you are not comfortable with camping.
Cooking Area is where the food is prepared. It doesn’t have to be a nice and perfect spot. If food is provided, food will be provided and usually eaten here under a shelter.
Water Source is usually within 200 meters from where the cooking spot is. Water should be from a running river or ideally a running stream from a side valley, or a lake that is high enough.
Please be aware of where water source is and give care.
Please make sure no one is using toilet near the water source.
Please make sure washing has to be done at lower spot than taking water in the same stream.
Using Toilet should make everyone known the spots. Often your guide will tell you where to go to for toilet when no toilet tent is provided. A general guideline is to stay far from any water/river/stream and usually with men going to one place and women another.
As a travel company we aim to provide the best possible experience to clients by talking details with you, arrange our qualified people to work for you and put together what’s available and possible. As we don’t own all the services or service providers in a trekking trip for example the porter and pack horses. We do have long-term business relationship with local service provider but we don’t own them and despite years of cooperation there could still be hiccups occur from our local service provider: delaying of show-up, miss-use of gears, etc.
Guide is the person who will engage in most of the tour services and make sure every aspect of service is met with what’s been agreed and arranged. Guide is the minimum require of such tour. Your guide will usually speak English unless it’s required/arranged otherwise. In a camping trek, your guide is the liaison between all staff and services and items required in a tour arrangement and is usually the person you talk to when you have questions or requirements.
Our guides have skills of the following: high altitude walking skills, tell the symptoms of high altitude sickness and know its counter-measures, experience of working/trekking at high altitude places, walking skills on different terrain, knowing the trails and alternative trails of a specific trek, using of camping gears, CPR training and basic first-aid training, use of medicine and basic treatment of altitude sickness, be aware of rescue resources available; be aware of risks involved in a trek such as dangerous sections, river-crossing, wild animals, landslide-pro area. However guide experience varies due to time of working and time of professional training.
Quality hiking guides who are willing to work in the mountains and spending nights in a tent are limited in Sichuan. Usually an early booking of such tour is better to secure our limited guide source. This kind of trip is not for everyone hence certainly people who can work on such trips are limited.
Chef is arranged when group size exceeds 8 people on a camping trekking tour. Chef will be in charge of your food during hiking and sometimes assist on guiding if necessary. In smaller groups your chef will also be your guide. A chef can be a person arranged by company or found from local.
Porter and porter team is part of such trekking tours. Porter team is usually from local. Porter team consists of horsemen and pack horses (on rare occasion pack yaks). Their work is to take care of luggage on horseback and take care of the horses. Depending on group size the number of horses and horsemen vary.
Local Transfer is usually involved because from where you stay prior to trek, to where you actually start your trek there is always a small section of road to be transferred by local vehicle, or after your trek. The local transfers are usually not as comfortable as regular transfer you’ll have because these cars are own by local people and they use their vehicle for other purposes too. Comfortability may not be as good but these local drivers know the roads that are usually bumpy and muddy.
In a camping trekking tour, it is important for travelers to learn which are included and which are not. Travelers need to read closely of a tour confirmation of what’s included and what’s not.
Services that are usually included are guide, porter, food, accommodations, transfers, tour planning and arrangement, logistics and gears. Among these items food, gears are optional but then you need to take care of your own food while hiking, even accommodations and transfers are also optional that you can choose by yourself. The things that are essential and can’t be optional is guide and logistics.
Items that are usually not included are your own personal gears including your shoes, clothes, pants, gloves, gaiters, walking poles, etc.
Your physical condition usually decides whether you can carry out a usually hard trek and how much you can enjoy such a trek. It is important to keep yourself fit and healthy prior to a hard trek. A strong body makes you not only acclimatize to the altitude easier but also makes your body adapt to more challenging conditions quicker. Sleeping in a tent and eating more basic food is part of such trek, a fit and healthy condition make sure you enjoy your trek to the maximum.
Another important fact is to know in a trekking description how far to walk each day, how high to ascend and how much to descend each day, also how high the elevation is every day at campsite. Know the difference between 15km walking at sea level and 15km walk at over 3500 meters above sea level.
Your personal gears are critical for you to have a pleasant trek in the mountains of Sichuan. Suggestions given by us are not to be neglected while preparing your gears. Know what to bring in general. Know the terrains and trails of where you walk; temperature and temperature differences, river-crossing details and weather expectations. Know what to bring for any specific day. Know the functions of each gear/clothing, know how to use each gear/clothing. Note your travel manager and guide are the ones you can always ask for answers for above information.
Advices given by our stuff are from our experiences working at these places. Western Sichuan may not have one of the hardest conditions on earth but it has pretty nasty weather in certain seasons and things can be difficult due to its quick-changing weather. High altitude and weather become the two most reasons for extra gears to be brought and extra caution to be taken. You are recommended to take advices given by our guides/travel advisors on such camping treks.
The following conditions are applicable when there is a need for change of plan.
Route: Chengdu - Mount Siguniang
Route: Chengdu - Kangding - Danba - Chengdu
Route: Chengdu - Mount Gongga - Chengdu
