Mission

LittlePo Adventures is a relationship-based guiding service, a bridge connecting international explorers with natural wonders in China and Taiwan. Equipped with abundant local knowledge, language skills, and outdoor professionalism, the staff of LittlePo Adventures creates personal expeditions and decorates them with cultural touches.

History

LittlePo Adventures is founded by Szu-ting Yi in March 2010; however this business idea has been incubated for several years. Szu-ting was born and raised in Taiwan where beautiful mountain ranges and astonishing geological features reside. Not until she came to United States for her graduate study in 1998, did she have in contact with various outdoor sports, including skiing, white water kayaking, mountaineering, and rock climbing. Eventually, she decided to take a career shift from computational linguistics to outdoor education and guiding. During her pursuit of an outdoor career, she was frequently approached with curious questions regarding the outdoor scene in China and Taiwan. Based on sharing the passion towards the outdoors, the prototype of LittlePo Adventures was therefore formed - a guiding service which promotes mutual understanding among international explorers with different cultural backgrounds via outdoor discovery.

Philosophy

Your Friend. Your Guide.

Our clients are our friends. If you show interest in our trips or if you approach us for a customized trip, you have demonstrated the desire to explore wild beauty or the curiosity of experiencing the unknown. And therefore, you are our friend. LittlePo Adventures strives to provide seamless service from trip preparation to a safe return. We make our promise not to outsource our trips or toss our clients around random outfitters. We are always there to support and help you evaluate the risk and wade through unfamiliar terrain.

Be Small. Stay Close.

LittlePo Adventures prioritizes personal and unforgettable client experience, and therefore we guide small-group expeditions. Not only does a small group function more organically, but it facilitates flexibility and customization. Everybody’s voice is heard and personal needs are addressed.

Exchange. Collaboration.

LittlePo Adventures connects and collaborates with local people. We exchange our expertise: LittlePo Adventures wants to bring revenue and help develop local communities; our local friends provide us first-hand beta and advice in order for us to create an authentic local experience.

Adventures

LittlePo Adventures currently offers three types of adventures: climb, trek, and scout. We also welcome you to reach out to us for a customized trip for you and your group.

Climb

This adventure includes Dirtbag China climbing series and Dirtbag Taiwan climbing adventures. Areas we will visit include Yangshuo, Kunming and vicinity, Long Dong (Dragon Cave) and the list goes on. Climbing adventures are suitable for budget climbers who are long for an international climbing vacation. As climbers we are destined to travel because it is in our blood to touch different kinds of rocks, experience exotic foreign atmosphere and cuisine, and live the dream.

Trek

This adventure gives avid hikers and backpackers an opportunity to trek through breathtaking mountain ranges and to appreciate extraordinary landscape. Areas we will explore include western China and Taiwan. Trekking adventures are suitable for natural wanderers who seek pristine dreamland. On foot, we hikers understand the true essence of being with nature.

Scout

This adventure invites keen explorers to participate in the process of developing future trips for LittlePo Adventures. With a general direction but without a scheduled itinerary, we encounter unique experiences and face unexpected challenges. Forthcoming projects including cycling Taiwan accompanied with hot-spring visits, river tracing, and a few trekking trips in northwestern Yunnan and Qinghai. We adventurers know that it is not an adventure when everything flows according to the plan.

Customized

Send us your thoughts no matter how preliminary they are, and LittlePo Adventures works with you to create your ideal trip.

Acknowledgement

The video of LittlePo Adventures is created by David E Anderson

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Dear Readers,

Recently I have been very busy for various things, and that’s why I haven’t updated my blog for a while. Please bear with me. I’ll resume blogging as soon as possible. The pictures here reveal some of my recent outdoor endeavor.

- Little Po

a) an ice climbing course from EMS climbing school:

b) an AMC winter backpacking trip in Adirondacks, NY:

I am planning a 10-day major excursion with Andrea Deaton for our club, the Appalachian Mountain Club. Besides the air travel days, we include 3 day hikes followed by a 5-day backpack in Yosemite National Park. Since we will only camp, whether we can find a close-by shower facility poses as a constraint on selecting the route for our backpack. Most of the shower houses in Yosemite National Park are located in the Yosemite Valley, which is to say if we can’t find other shower places, we probably should not backpack, for example, at the southeast region of the park, since it will take too much time to drive to the valley and then go to the airport.

Originally I had an idea that we can rent a motel room on our way to the airport; however, it will take too much time for 10 people to finish showering. Another option might be to purchase a day pass from a fitness gym in a town we pass by, but the option seems costly. Therefore we decided to look into state parks along the way. After some research on the Internet, I found two state recreation areas which are not too much deviated from our path to the airport and one semi-nearby hostel which sells showers to non-residents.

The preliminary results look satisfying, although I still need to call the places to confirm the fees and hours. I’ve never thought that showering could play such a significant part in trip planning, and I wonder, my dear friends, where do you shower after your backpack?

It was hot; it was over 90 degrees both on Saturday and Sunday. It was dry; on both days we had to hike about 10 miles without encountering a water source. I couldn’t forget that the sunlight was poisonous and the mosquitoes at camp were mischievous because of the tanning and bug bites on my arms.

Not like the sections 3 and 4 of this trail, the sections 6 and 7 we hiked this time were not well marked—both the starting point and end point were hard to locate. If not because we had a participant with sharp eyes, we could have wasted so much time even before we headed into the woods. Most of the trail was either rocky plus wobbly or covered by overgrown ferns and sometimes poison ivy. But the worst experience happened when we almost got lost because a lumber company used the same color paint as the trail blazes to mark their logging area.

So you might ask, “why were you guys there?” It was fun regardless of all the hassle and sweat, and we were so excited when we finally reached a big creek, dipping in the chilling water and drinking from an abundant water supply. At night, camping at a clearing, sleeping so deeply under the starlight generated thousands of years ago. Water, food, and rest. It’s so easy to feel satisfied in the outdoors, because other than those basics, what else do we really need?

It was the third weekend of May. Before the trip, two things worried me: 1. the black fly season was about to start. 2. The weather forecast called for thunderstorms for both Saturday and Sunday.

Thunderstorms showed up earlier on my way driving up to the Catskills. When I reached the parking lot for the north-end trailhead of the Giant Ledge-Panther-Fox Hollow Trail, it was dark as ink. Without the help from either moonlight or starlight, I could still recognize that there was only one other car parked in the lot. My nerve was irritated and I started to worry about one more thing: 3. there should have been two other cars. Who was or who were the missing one(s)?

Since my very first few backpacks, I hadn’t had one trip that beat me that hard until this extremely fun bushwhacking endeavor. Yes, the fun tasted a bit bitter but the trip was fun with no sarcasm added.

This trip was a private trip for friends, and I was the unofficial leader. Therefore I was not as prepared as I always am for every AMC trip and that was the first mistake. The second mistake was that I was too optimistic about the group pace. We were all strong hikers; however, the bushes in the Catskills were stronger than us. They were so thick which made me wish I had a chainsaw; they were so dense which made it easy to get disoriented and hard to stay on the planned route.

And what is the third mistake? Two mistakes were more than enough to make our trip much more difficult than it should have been. The second day, we hiked more than 12 hours and a few of them were in the dark. I bore scars collected mostly from hemlocks and balsam firs for more than two weeks, and my ripped raincoat became my reason not to attempt it again just to prove that my plan would have worked out as sketched if we fixed the above two mistakes.

Alright, the following is my original plan:

Fri-Sun, 6/16/2006 – 6/18/2006. Tuscarora Trail backpack. 3C24. Will hike on Sec6 & Sec7 of the Tuscarora Trail, southbound, from PA-641 via Cowans Gap State Park to PA-16. Remote area, lots of decent vistas. This trip is perfect for people who would like to look for solitude. Backpacking experience required. Group size limited.

This article is based on what I presented in the Beginner Backpack Workshop held by Appalachian Mountain Club, Delaware Valley Chapter, April 22, 2006.

Cause of Blisters

The cause of blisters is friction. With enough rubbing, the tough epidermis which has been resisting abrasion separates and fluid fills in the space. A blister therefore forms.

A general guideline to prevent blisters from happening is to keep our feet cool and dry, because both heat and moisture increase friction. Heat makes the feet swollen and moisture softens the skin.

This article is based on what I presented in the Beginner Backpack Workshop held by Appalachian Mountain Club, Delaware Valley Chapter, April 22, 2006.

What are socks for?

For your feet – socks provide cushion and warmth, and help wick moisture out.
For your boots – socks block sweat and dead cells from getting into the boots which destruct the internal structure of the boots.

The following documents are provided and composed by Kathy Kelly-Borowski including handouts for the topic of “Nutrition, Cooking, and Water Supply,” and an illustration of “Bear Bag Hanging.” All the content was presented in the Beginner Backpack Workshop held by Appalachian Mountain Club, Delaware Valley Chapter, April 22, 2006.

Nutrition and Hydration – describes the required intake of water and nutrition per person per day based on different activities.

Cooking and Nutrition – specifies food categories and helps you to maintain a balanced diet.

Be a Dried Gourmet – teaches you how to prepare dry meals at home, which reduces your pack weight and cooking time on the trail. Recipes included!!

Books on Backpacking Cooking – gives you reference if you would like to learn more about backpacking cooking.

Bear Bag Hanging – illustrates how to hang a bear bag in the woods.