Tracks etched along the cliffs between Luding and Moxi Xiang are barely wide enough for the two-way traffic that uses them, and frequent, heart-stopping encounters with logging trucks tend to focus your attention on the scenery far below: two timber mills, people pole-net fishing in the river, deep gorges spanned by vestigial footbridges, and Qiang wandering around their stone villages, black robes set off by violent pink sashes.

 

Surrounded by fields of barley and maize, the upper-valley village of MOXI XIANG comprises a single street of closely stacked dark wooden shops selling karaoke ghetto-blasters and other modern necessities. Just left off the street, there's a small Catholic Church built in the 1920s, whose blue and yellow bell tower overlooks a European, box-like main building, its eaves pinched as a concession to local aesthetics. After the action at Luding, Mao and the Red Army rested up in Moxi Xiang before heading off on a 56-kilometre trek north to Xiaojin over Jiajin Shan , through the "land of everlasting snow". Hundreds died of exposure and altitude sickness, and Mao himself was stretcher-ridden. Few visitors today attempt anything so strenuous, most using the town simply as a base camp for the trip to Hailuo Gou Glacier , whose trails start immediately beyond. The bus pulls in at a pleasant guesthouse (up to ¥30), a creaking wooden structure with views down the valley from the upper rooms, though the toilets out back are a bit distant if they put you on the top floor; just a bit up the road, Hailuo Gou Binguan (¥75-100) has decent rooms and hot water. Glacier practicalities can be arranged either at your accommodation or one of the restaurants up the road. Transport back to Luding leaves between 6am and noon.