Mugecuo National Park

Mugecuo National Park, 21 kilometres northeast of Kangding, is the best reason to spend more than a transit night in the city. At 3,200 metres, the park is an alpine plateau ringed by glaciated peaks above 5,000 metres, with a main lake and several smaller ones, stands of spruce and fir, and open grassland. The scenery is in the same league as more famous parks but with a fraction of the visitor numbers — the comparison to Jiuzhaigou is inevitable if you have been to both, and the difference in crowd size is significant.

The park is 7 kilometres long and served by a shuttle bus circuit, but the best way to experience it is to walk. The full walking circuit takes about four hours at a comfortable pace. The trail passes the main lake (which is large enough to take twenty minutes to circuit on foot), several smaller ponds, viewpoints toward the main peaks, and occasional patches of old-growth forest. Horses are available for hire at the park entrance for those who want a different pace.

The entrance fee is approximately ¥130, plus shuttle bus fees if used. The park is best visited in June through October; early June sees wildflowers on the grasslands, and September and October bring autumn colour to the deciduous sections of forest.

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A story
Mugecuo's name translates roughly as "wild human lake" in Tibetan — a name whose origin is disputed, with one explanation referring to a legendary hermit who lived in the valley, another to the mirror-like quality of the main lake that seemed to show a person their own wild nature. The plateau was used by Tibetan nomads as summer grazing land for centuries; the permanent structures inside the park boundary are relatively recent, and in the western reaches of the valley the old patterns of land use are still visible in the terraced pastures and stone corrals.