Where is Dafeng located?
Dafeng is a 5000-meter mountain in Siguniang National Park, 200km west to the city of Chengdu. It takes half day's drive to get to from Chengdu. Dafeng is one of the mountains in Siguniang Park. The nearest hotels of this place in Rilong, the base of Siguniang Parks and now called Siguniang Town. Dafeng summit is 17km from Rilong town. The altitude at Rilong is at 3000 meters and the summit of Dafeng is at 5025 meters. The walking from Rilong to Dafeng Base camp is 14km, from Dafeng Base Camp to the summit is 3km.
Where to start?
The base of Dafeng is called Rilong (Siguniang Mountain Town). Rilong is the base for all kinds of trips to Mount Siguniang. You can find hotels, restaurants, shops, gear shops here even though it's just a small place. Rilong is also where you get permit of Dafeng.
What Permits do I need to go to Dafeng as a Foreigner and How do I get a Permit?
Every traveler who goes to Dafeng will need to have a permit by the local Siguniang Outdoor Activity Office, no matter you are a foreigner or a Chinese citizen. The permit is the admission ticket that allows you to stay overnight inside the parks, doing the summits of Dafeng or Erfeng. Travelers need to go to the office in Siguniang to apply for permit in person but you may also have this pre-arranged for you by the local companies or other travel companies before hand. Independent or Self-supported trekking to Dafeng, Erfeng or multiday trekking are not allowed. One has to go with the mandatory local guide as regulated by Siguniang Park Authority. If you go with a local company or any other travel company, this is usually sorted altogether with the permits.
We (Sichuan Travel Guide) have stopped providing trips to Dafeng due to over-crowds, zero flexibility, and poor service from mandatory porter provided. There is no low seasons for Siguniang Dafeng. Everyday is busy. We suggest you to go to the office of Siguniang Outdoor Activity on site and sign up there if you want to save money.
What to expect?
1, Non-technical: Dafeng itself is a mountain without technical climb but rather just hard walking. You won't need technical gears but strong and sterdy boots, pants, walking poles, spikes, etc. No need for ropes, crampons, ice tools, caribiners, harnesses, helmets, etc.
2, Lots of people: Each year from May to October there are a lot of hikers going to the summit of Dafeng or Erfeng each day and there is a daily limit. The limit is total no more than 300 hikers a day and normally it's full. So you will expect to see around 500 to 600 people in the mountain while doing Dafeng or Erfeng and will expect crowded base camp and "traffic jam" to the summit each morning.
3, The mandatory local guide/porter will normally put safety as priority and thus could be aggressive on the timing, pace. Some provide poor service and some may want you to ride their horses to make more money. The chance of having a reliable and friendly porter is not ganrauteed because they are mandated by the park authority.
Additional Advice
There is zero flexibility on the planning when you go into the mountains after check in. You will have to follow the 2-day plan to do Dafeng like everybody else does. The service provided by the local mandatory porter/guide is unreliable either. The base camp is crowded and noisy. All of these may add up to a risky, unsuccessful summit and unpleasant trip to Dafeng. Please be aware of this when you plan trip to Dafeng.
