Wow, what is the best trail running in China

[chefster]

Or hiking, are there any virgin forests? Or what about bike riding? Does China have national wild life preserves. If there was one day of walking to do there what would be the most naturesque/beautiful/inspiring?

[muyongshi]

hahahahhahahahahahha

Sorry...I wish you could find that here. There may be one or two somewhere but China is big so you should maybe add where you are wanting to find it or if you are specifically coming to find that well then, I hope somebody has found something better than a road or stairs.

[liuzhou]

My local market does wild life preserves.

[chefster]

Ok ,very funny. If you look at my profile you see I am a tiathlete. Do you have 5k races there or triathlons. Where is the best open water swimming? What is the number one outdoor recreation for staying in shape?

[chefster]

I almost forgot, Happy New year:)

[Lu]

Where is the best open water swimming?

My guess would be in a pool, as the rest is too polluted.

There are no virgin forests in China, too many people who need the land to grow food on.

Seems to me that for what you want, you'd best pick a different country.

Happy New Year to you too!

[chefster]

So has China designated any land as natural enviroment for recreation...like national parks.

Are there no recreational inland lakes for swimming and boating . There is a coastline, do people surf,or just walk the beaches. Is there any competitive biking of any kind...i know there are millions of bikes.

[muyongshi]

Of course they have a ton of protectorates. But you're not going to find anything to suit your needs in them. If it's one that you can actually go through it will most likely be stairs rather than a trail. And in most of those if they have lakes, you can forget about swimming in them as I have never seen a place where they would allow that. Of course like I said there may be some place like that out there....but I've never seen it and I'm sure it's hard to find...

[wushijiao]

My wife and I did some amazing hiking in 四姑娘山 in Sichuan. That might be the time of the that your looking for. The hiking was in a preserved forrest (not sure if it was a national park, or provincial park, or whatever). You can also go trekking there.

My brother and I did a fun trek in Tibet. Tibet is obviously great for that type of stuff.

You can also go to some of the famous mountians, which usually have cemment paths for you to follow. Some good ones that I've been to are Songshan in Henan, and Hengshan in Hunan.

I've heard really good things about E'Mei Shan in Sichuan, and Huangshan in Anhui.

[muyongshi]

四姑娘 is a national park...(just for reference)

[chefster]

Ok, so when you think about the most beautiful lake in China , what would it be, and why couldn,t you just walkin and start swimming,who would stop you?

[Rincewind]

There are swimming lakes in China. The city I live in, Anshan, has two such lakes out of the 7 or so lakes in the city. These two lakes have no boats allowed so that swimming is safe. One even has diving boards and platforms. People still go swimming there in winter. A hole is cut in the ice for people to swim in - though rather you than me on that one. When I was in Guilin, people went swimming in the river there.

Likewise there are trails. To the east of where I am is Dongshan which has one tarmac rout along the ridge but loads of dusty footpaths leading off into the forest on either side. There looks like there are other paths on some of the other hills nearby which I haven't got round to exploring yet. It seems most of the city people don't know what's on their doorstep

If you want to get away form people completely, then there are plenty such places in china. Huge areas of the country nearly empty. Aside form Tibet, which has already been mentioned in a previous post, I'd imagine that Xinjiang in the west would be relatively untouched in many areas. I know form personal experience that the steps of Inner Mongolia are quite empty of people and offer mountain hiking and horse riding. Even in the more densely populated east, you will find places.

I think it's in part because car ownership is still quite low. The countryside still seems a long way away to most city folks. So they don't know what is just a short distance away.

[chefster]

Now thats what I am talking about. I have one lake like that near by that has no boats and swimming only....it realyy is wonderful . No matter how bad or good I feel ,after swimming I feel better. That is so nice to hear about your lakes. Thay really are jewels we are so lucky to have.

[roddy]

Yeah, there's some nice stuff out there. Around Beijing you can get some ideas from this site, they also publish a book though not sure how easy it is to find now. I've found that in summer the lack of rain means everything tends to be a bit dusty and brown though. The trick would be choosing a city to live in with relatively easy access to some nice places. The really stunning stuff I think always requires a trip away, you're not going to get it within easy reach of a city.

Edit: There's also a mountain biking group based in Beijing, can't remember the name but they've come up on here before. Do some searching and you may be able to find some recommended routes described in English.

[chefster]

Very cool,sounds a bit like the states gotta travel a bit to get out of the ratrace. i live in a rural area so I am right in my element. Do you youguys get you tube there?