Hey everyone, this is my first post! I have a free week from October 1st-Oct. 7th and was thinking of going to Lugu Lake to do some trekking. Anyone know any good routes? I have never been before. Anyone know of any good guesthouses as well? Thanks a lot.

-Brent

hello friends

the Lugu Lake is located i n the north west yunnan.you know the middle of the lake have border between the Ninglang County of Yunnan Province and the Yanqing County of Sichuan province.

Lugu Lake is called the "mother lake" by the Mosuo people.Lugo Lake is located in Yongning Township, Ninglang County, about 200 kilometers northeast of Lijiang.

Brento, in October 2010 I spent a few days walking around Lugu Lake.
I'm not sure if that's what you had in mind when you said "trekking", as a good portion of that walk was along the main highway.

But part of the lakeshore (the eastern half, entirely in Sichuan) is very rugged and there is only a trail.

In fact, in places it's even less than a trail. I started off in Luo'ao (洛凹) and walked north on a trail that followed the lakeshore. But at one point the trail disappeared and I scaled down a steep cliff to the water. Then I took off my shoes and waded through the water, then hiked over a mountain range and ended up at A'ao (阿凹)

@Georgramatt
That sounds really cool. Did you bring a tent with you or were you able to do all of that hiking in one day?

Hey Brent,

I have a guest house in Lijiang if you stop by here. And if you don't mind spending some money i can find you a local guide who is a local farmer and knows all the trails on those mountains around the lake. The only thing is his English is not that good. If you are interested, leave a message to nancyfox@sina.com.

Lugu Lake is located 2900 m above sea level, so I would not recommend to pass over the night in a tent.
Yunnan part of the lake is the more beautiful, you can find cheap room (around 50 RMB without lake view or 120 with) in Luoshui or Lige villages.
For guiding services, you can easily find minority guides from Lugu (Boumizu, Mosuozu), they own the best knowledge of the area.

Hello—I'm hoping to head up to Lake Lugu at the end of the month. Does anyone have any specific recommendations for guesthouses up there?

If you make it to Lugu Lake, please let us all know the condition of the roads up there and the route you took. I have been there 6 times over the last 10 years and the construction on the road still is NOT completed. The worst part is the 30 km just outside of Lijiang.

HFCAMPO: I was there a few weeks ago, the 'standard' road from Lijiang is in good condition I'd say (at least compared to every single road I ever took in Qinghai and western Sichuan), but it was raining and we encountered several brutal accidents along the way. For our return to Lijiang, however, we chose the obscure northern road from Yongning. This road was at the very least two times as long, including an expensive (100 yuan) ferry passage across the Jinsha Jiang because the bridge was not finished, but it was also perhaps the most gorgeous scenery I have ever seen, beating out Tiger Leaping Gorge, the Nujiang Valley, Tibetan Sichuan and even the chinese part of the Karakoram Highway. If you have a car and don't mind a very very long drive, it's an absolute must see, mind-blowing mountain scenery, but try to leave from Yongning early, as you'll get to go the backdoor route through the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain nature reserve in order to get to Lijiang, and when we got that far it was so late that it had already become dark, and we couldn't see anything. This road is, except the lack of a bridge across Jinsha Jiang, also in rather good condition, it's just extremely long, snaking through a ton of mountains.

Has anyone been to LuGu lake recently (2015 only)?

How are the roads?
Is road construction still going on, where?

What is the total time from Lijiang to Lugu Lake now?