Creek

The name of this tributary to the Yangtze is 神农溪 (Shénnóng Xī) and the fact that 溪 (xī) means “creek” is an indication of just how much the rising water level caused by the Three Gorges Dam has deepened and widened all waterways upriver.More Tujia hanging coffins.



  I can’t imagine carving names into U.S. National Monuments (but then I remember Mount Rushmore and I can’t really give the Chinese any shit.)
This peak is the tallest and made me think of El Capitan in Yosemite.  
Staggering to imagine how tall these mountains must have looked before the water level rose a hundred meters because of the dam.
  This cave — full of swallow nests — is aptly named Swallow Cave.  Which is why I’m calling this part of my trip “Gorge and Swallow.”  (Sorry, sorry, I’ll see myself out…)
I was told the cave goes back 5 miles.The Yichang-Chongqing stretch of the Shanghai-Chongqing Expressway was completed by means of this insane bridge.  I was told that the expressway cost $16 million per kilometer through these mountains.
  
More official graffiti.  
More hanging coffins.  
  
I was fascinated by how much soil was nestled in the nooks & crannies of these mountains.  Thousands of years of trees & plants clawing their way into the stone, living and then dying so that other plants could find purchase.