Looking for a new challenge and somewhere different from the usual Joseph Rock areas of south-west China, I've set my sights on cycling the Yellow River. It offers a wide variety of terrain and cultures, from the Tibetan highland grasslands of Qinghai, down through the eroded loess clay of Gansu with many Hui Muslims, then an enormous loop up north into inner Mongolia, and back down into Shaanxi, where it turns east and flows through the historic cities that were the cradle of Han Chinese civilisation to the sea outlet in Shandong.
It's 6000 km in length and as far as I can tell no foreigner has yet DONE the Huanghe from end to end in its entirety. An American academic called Bill Porter travelled along the main sights of the Yellow River in the 1990s, but he went by car/bus and train and only stopped off at certain sections.
I've seen articles about a Chinese guy Fu Xiaofeng (扶小风) who was walking the entire length of the river in 2023, but he hasn't published any details of his trip - or even confirmed that he has reached the end. An older Chinese guy Wang Laisheng (王来生) claims to have cycled the entire river, from source to sea, but again has not published any details of his route.
One of the problems is that there are certain sections of the Yellow River that pass through very remote canyon territory in Qinghai and Gansu and have no road access along the riverside. One 100km section north of Lajia (Ragya) monastery in Qinghai Golok territory is extremely remote and does not appear to have any tracks or huts/houses along its canyon walls.
This was the part of the Yellow River that Rock explored when he was seeking Mt Manye Machen - he only got about 10km up the river and diverted westwards up a side valley, to climb a hill where he could see Amnye Machen from a distance.
About 30 years ago a team of Chinese rafters tried to paddle down this section of the Yellow River but their boats sank and two drowned. More recently a guy who calls himself 'Semite' Shen Mite 闪米特 tackled it solo on a packraft and survived - but only just. I won't be taking my packraft.
Similarly there's a remote section north of Lanzhou that wends through canyons into Ningxia and there are no roads following the river from the bleak eroded hills that hem it in. I guess I'll just have to ride along the nearest rods that bypass these sections.
I've broken the trip down into four sections of roughly 1000km each, each of which will take about a month [average daily cycling distance 30km). I'll be starting in May, and spending a month on each section, with the hope that I'll be coinciding with the moderate weather months of the north China and the Tibetan sections from June to August.
Section 1: I'll be starting from the Yellow River sea outlet in Shandong and travelling through industrial and semi-rural districts of Henan to the border with Shaanxi, via places like Taishan, Kaifeng and Luoyang. I'm starting in the lowlands so that I can get accustomed to cycle touring and acclimatised to altitude slowly.
Section 2 will leave behind the cradle of Chinese civilisation in Shandong and Henan, with the second month seeing me heading north through remote canyon territory along the Shanxi/Shaanxi border towards Inner Mongolia.
There may be side trips to places of interest such as Yan'an. Some stretches of the Yellow River in this section have no roads and I'll have to bypass these riverside sections ... should be at Baotou by end of June, hopefully afyer the sandstorms and in time for mild summer temperatures.
Section 3 is a fairly bleak but mostly flat desert terrain of Inner Mongolia, turning back south towards Ningxia and Gansu. Again there is one section approaching Lanzhou where there are no roads following the river for about 100km, and I'll just have to go around it on the nearest main highway.
Section 4 of the Yellow River cycling trip will be the most difficult - ascending into the loess uplands of Gansu beyond Lanzhou and its Muslim population, passing massive dams and wilderness areas such as Kambala. Then I'll be going even higher into the ethnic Tibetan grasslands of Qinghai, where the Yellow River twists via marshlands and through massive unexplored canyons around Lajia. On this section I'll be bringing a tent and may have to camp on some parts of the route if I can't find Tibetan villages to host me.
The final goal will be to reach the source of the Yellow River near Gyaring Lake, Maduo County, 4200m altitude. Timing is crucial as this region is only bearably warm in June-August. I won't be going to the literal source of the Yellow River, which is a tiny trickle of water on the side of a hill about 200km from the nearest village. Firstly its impassable by bike, and secondly it has been put firmly off limits to tourists by local authorities to avoid damage to the fragile ecosystem.
I'll be staying in hotels and guesthouses for most of the route so won't need to take much gear on my conventional touring bike. I've just semi retired from work so I have the time and the 3-month (renewable) family reunion visa that will enable me to try this long term trip.
I'll be departing Australia in late March to do a bit of preparation, planning and a possible recce trip before setting off in earnest in early May.
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