Day 41 of the 2024 Expedition (Hailuogou Glacier Forest Park)

Hailuogou Glacier Forest Park is the first scenic spot we visited on our westward journey from Chengdu, and it is also the first stop on our self-driving tour of the Sichuan-Tibet Highway 318. We passed the ticket checkpoint at nine in the morning and boarded the park shuttle bus, arriving at the scenic area fifty minutes later. Throughout the journey, the bus was continuously ascending, with clouds and mist swirling outside the windows, creating a gloomy feeling. When the sunlight pierced through the clouds, the mist brightened up, clinging to the slopes, sometimes bright, sometimes dark, contrasting with the pine forests on the slopes to create a unique beauty. Almost all the signs we saw along the way were related to Gongga, including Gongga's Gate, Gongga's Spring, Gongga's Hall, Gongga's Wind, Gongga's Pulse, Gongga's Eye... After nearly an hour of winding mountain roads, we saw slopes but no mountain peaks. After the shuttle bus arrived at the station and entered the scenic area, there were two ways to reach the highest observation deck: on foot or by cable car. However, due to the 6.8 magnitude earthquake in the Ganzi region on September 5, 2022, part of the footpath was destroyed and impassable, so the only option was to take the cable car. From the cable car, we saw a large area of landslides, destroying not only the footpath but also the vegetation clinging to the mountainside. At the observation deck, the fog was thick, and we couldn't see the main attraction, Gongga's Eye, only a white mist before our eyes. We met a girl who had arrived earlier, and she said she saw distant snow-capped mountains and shared photos with us, which didn't look like the 7556-meter Gongga snow peak, but rather other lower snow-capped mountains. After descending the mountain by cable car, we visited Gongga's Ladder, walking through the primeval forest, accompanied by monkeys, with huge rhododendrons blooming for us, and tall, straight pine trees escorting us. After leaving Gongga's Ladder, we came to Campsite No. 3 and took an electric cart to see the world's lowest altitude glacier. Due to global warming, the 'glacier tongue' has retreated more than a hundred meters in a hundred years. Afterwards, we visited the picturesque Caohaizi scenic spot, and then took the shuttle bus back to the tourist service center parking lot, and drove towards Xinduqiao Town, Kangding City. After more than four hours of driving, we encountered heavy rain, heavy snow, and sleet, crossed snow-capped mountains, and safely arrived at our reserved hotel as night fell. Xinduqiao, here I come; Kangding, here I come. Kangding is the land of love songs, and we are here for our love that has endured forty years. Forty years of trials and tribulations, forty years of mutual support, forty years of companionship, forty years of countless hardships and difficulties. In fact, life is a process of enduring hardships. Only after experiencing storms can one see the rainbow. If one's life never encounters any difficulties, perhaps it would be a comfortable failure.