Please note since 2024 this way of planning Dafeng trekking is very hard/almost not possible due to limited porter.
This is the classic way of doing Dafeng Summit Trek. From the beginning when people started to go to Dafeng, they did it in 5 days with proper acclimating and the chance to make the summit is very high. It takes longer time and costs more money but provides a much higher chance of summiting in a more relaxed pace. Please see below details of the plan of 5 days dafeng trekking.
Day 01 Chengdu - Mount Siguniang Town
Drive from Chengdu in 4-5h. Overnight hotel at 3100m.
Day 02 Mt. Siguniang Town - Dahaizi/Laoniu Yuanzi
Start your Dafeng Expedition from the base of Mt. Siguniang at Rilong to Laoniu Yuanzi, which is the yak ranch in Haizi Valley. Total walking for about 12km from 3100 meters to 3700-3800 meters. This is your first acclimatization day walking before making summit to Dafeng. You will be walking on horse trails in the forest and camp at Laoniu Yuanzi. Overnight camping at 3700-3800m.
Day 03 Dahaizi/Huahaizi Accliamting
Today is your second day of acclimatization walking. You will start from your campsite and walk to Huahaizi Lake and beyond which is about 4 km away from Laoniu Yuanzi/Dahaizi. Walk around the lake and depends on your fitness and your acclimatization, you can choose to walk further into the valley to go higher and to see more views. After worth walk back to Laoniu Yuanzi/Dahaizi to your campsite and stay there for overnight. Overnight at same camp 3700-3800m.
Day 04 Laoniu Yuanzi/Dahaizi – Dafeng Base Camp
Today you will walk from Laoniu Yuanzi/Dahaizi at 3700 meters to Dafeng Base Camp at 4300 meters above sea level. The walking is very strenuous. It is all the way going up wards but it is about 6km in total. The elevation at Dafeng Base Camp is about 4300 meters. Be careful of warm keeping and dehydration as this is the critical day before your summit. Overnight camping/hut at base camp at 4300m.
Day 05 Dafeng Base Camp – Dafeng Summit – Mt. Siguniang Town - Chengdu
Today recommend to start early in the morning before 4 am to try catching the sunrise by the summit of Dafeng. It normally takes about 4-5 hours to reach the summit. If the weather is good, you will have wonderful views of the peaks of Mount Siguniang. Dafeng is measured as 5000 meters’ tall and it is one of the four sisters of Siguniang. Walk back to your base camp and continue to Rilong. Total walking 20km and 10 hours. Then drive 4h back to Chengdu, you should arrive back to Chengdu by around 7-8pm.
This plan involves camping for several nights. If you are used to camping this should be no problem. Each day's walking is at a reasonable distance and pace before the summit. The altitude gain are more equally distributed to each day before summiting. All you need to do is to stay warm and healthy. The time provided before the trek is long enough for proper acclimating for most people.
Please read a sample tour we provide here>>.
The above planning is very hard (since 2024) due to over-tourism to Dafeng and Erfeng because of imited porter/guides. All trips to Dafeng or Erfeng are run in 2 days from the base at Rilong/Siguniangshan Town. All porters/guides make more money doing so than any trip that has more than one night in the mountains. The authority still allow travelers to have multiple nights inside the park using for example the above planning but it's not possible to find porters/guides that are appointed by the park.
