YANGTZE SECTIONS:
The Yangtze can be divided into several sections based on access points:

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SECTIONS OF THE YANGTZE:

(1) SOURCE (368km; class II; 5059m-to-4490m; 1.6m/km; Source to Tuotuohe confluence): There are two sources to consider starting at for the Yangtze: up the Tuotuohe and up the DamQu.  The Warren expedition and most of the Chinese started on the Tuotuohe. However, the DamQu is a slightly longer (368km vs 356km) and more voluminous stream at their junction, so is the more correct “source” option. Both of these sections of river are mostly flat with only some minor class II rapids, peak in July and August with the warmest temperatures that can melt snow/glaciers and when the most rain falls, and often are in flat open shallow braided channels.  The elevation of 5059m is at the top ridge source point, from which one must hike ~20 km before a stream gains enough water to float. From km 42 to the Tuotuohe, the gradient is only 1.1 m/km. The elevation makes the air very thin and cold even in summer, when snowstorms still occur.  This is a class I-II section - there are no rapids.  The river is entirely within Qinghai here.

(2) UPPER TONGTIAN (427km; class I-II; 4490m-to-4070m; 1.0m/km; DamQu confluence to Qumarleb bridge): After the confluence of the Tuotuohe and the DamQu, the river is called the Tongtian. Although it continues to be in mostly flat, open, cold, and high Tibeten plateau and has significant open shallow braided channel sections, it goes by and through hills about 30-50% of the course, and at the end is entering mountainous terrain in the main long contiguous Yangtze canyon section.  Occasional Tibetan villagers are passed. This continues to be a class I-II section - there are no major rapids. The river is entirely within Qinghai here.

(3) LOWER TONGTIAN (347km; class II-III; 4070m-to-3530m; 1.6m/km; Qumarleb bridge to Yushu bridge): This section of the upper Yangtze is in mountainous terrain and canyon. Although the gradient increases about 50 km into the run to ~2 m/km (~10 ft/mile), and the lower half has about the same as that of the Colorado in Grand Canyon, the river still lacks significant rapids, with it being a mostly class II section with a handful of class IIIs in the middle to lower part (in particular, the TopOfTheWorld Gorge and rapids - class III). Earth River and Last Descents have run this section commercially. The river is entirely within Qinghai here.

** (4) UPPER CANYON: YUSHU SECTION (278km; class III-IV; 3530m-3030m; 1.8m/km; Yushu bridge to Dege bridge): The river is in ever-deepening canyon and the gradient remains approximately 2 m/km (~10 ft/mile) with the volume increasing.  About 39 km downstream of the Zhimenda Bridge, the river narrows in the Tongtian Gorge and rapids start appearing with a number of class IIIs and one tougher rapid that is generally rated class IV. It is generally accepted that this is where solo inexperienced Yangtze rafter Yao Maoshu died in 1985 [48_YaoMaoshu(IV)].  There are numerous other class III rapids on this section of river, and probably one more IV in the lower half [160_RockRapid(III-IV)].  However, even at medium water levels, the Warren expedition made it through this whole section without mishap and with normal rafting technique in 4 days. In this section, the elevation starts drops to ~3000m and the weather starts getting noticeably warmer.  The terrain is mostly hills and mountains with grasslands and frequent Tibetan villages.  Although the section starts entirely within Qinghai, 20 km into this section the river-left side (RL) becomes Sichuan, and 90 km into the section the river-right side (RR) becomes Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).  This region of TAR (Qamdo region) has been off-limits to tourists for many years now.  There are roads by the river or nearby for most of this section, with good access to the midway large town of Luoxuzhen. The section ends at the "Dege Bridge", with the biggest town in the area accessible 25 km up a paved road on the Sichuan side.  Access here can be used to start/end trips, and also to go into Dege for hotel/communication stop and to buy food resupplies. 

** (5) UPPER CANYON: DEGE SECTION [285km; class IV(V); 3030m-2530m; 1.8m/km; Dege bridge to Batang bridge (but 3.8m/km from km160-200)]: The river continues in a beautiful canyon section with road along the Sichuan side for ~75 km. At km 63 km the main road ascends a big tributary to the town of Baiyu (and this road can be continued on to arrive back to the river at km 174). At km 91, near the end of a large “Z” bend in the river lasting ~20 km, the first major rapid is encountered, referred to as 91_ThreeBoatRapid(V) (also known as Kagang Shoal). This is where the Warren party lashed together three of their huge rafts to pass a dangerous narrow constricted rapid (class V). The village of Kagangcun is up above on RL.  It was in this rapid that an initial prototype Chinese pod made it through fine with 4 team members inside (their main rafts were portaged/lined with one being lost during lining).  There is one more big rapid 7 km after ThreeBoat [98_Xuebazhong(IV)] and additional class III rapids in the next ~40 km before arriving at km 132 to the big “Red River" tributary on RR. A short way downstream, a 60 km-section of steeper gradient (3.4m/km) begins with many tougher rapids. I put tentative names down for some of these rapids based on the book descriptions and what is visible in satellite imagery. The first of these is 139_Gnarlers (IV) [a series of ~12 rapids of III-IV difficulty spanning ~9 km] which the Warren party passed late in the day before stopping and camping just upstream of a more massive rapid: 149_FourBoat(IV-V). The following day at FourBoatRapid, the Warren group lashed together four of their rafts into a “diamond rig", launching in the afternoon and making it through without mishap. The Warren team made it through several other major rapids including 154_KilometerLong (IV-V) and 157_NoStopping1(IV-V), before they were able to stop and camp. The following day they initially faced another major rapid that they scouted, the 165_BuddhaHole(IV-V), which they filmed and passed successfully on RR (see VideoWarren_BuddhaHole). [This may be the “YelaShoal” or “YebaShoal” where the Chinese teams sent in the rubber ball with 3 teammates who drowned after the ball was stuck in the hole for “a half-hour”. “Yeba” village is up high on RL above km172.].  Unfortunately, after starting again past BuddhaHole, the Warren group was not able to stop the diamond-rig and went around a left bend through a few rapids at 166_Shatuo(IV), and then another major rapid that Paul Sharpe was warning them to stop and scout on RL: 170_Luojia(IV-V). In Luojia, they ended up hitting a partially exposed rock on RL that tore a big gash in the floor, and later pancaked the rig farther down (i.e. one of the four rafts ended up folded under the others), leading to injury and damage. After floating several more kilometers without being able to stop, and going through several additional big rapids including 176_LeftBoulderBounce(IV-V) and 177_Ken'sLeftTurn(IV-V), they finally got the rig to the RR side where they camped. The group was alarmed and dismayed at so many major rapids as well as running them out-of-control without scouting. Most of the group ended up spending five nights at this camp (Tibet side), doing repairs and discussing options. Ken wanted to wait for a helicopter rescue, but on the second day (31Aug1986), Paul Sharpe instead decided to hike out on RL (Sichuan side) in order to get repair material and more food for the group. Ancil, Ron and Chu did a full-day hike downstream to scout the next series of rapids and thought them passable (easier than what they had already gone through).  A day or two later, Ken Warren and Dan Dominy started hiking out on RR. After a night out, Warren continued his hike out on the Tibet side while Dominy returned to the group. After 5 days (3Sep1986), the remaining group was convinced from the scouts that the following rapids were easier, and they decided to make more progress downriver the following day. On 4Sep1986 they sent one unrepariable raft downstream unmanned, and continued rowing the other three singly downstream, facing numerous additional class IV rapids in the following ~20 km [including 178_FiveDay(IV) and ValveRock (IV-V)] before they stopped for a final camp just before another big rapid [~197_FullAbortion (IV)]. There, they found a well-worn trail heading downstream and after two full days of rest, they decided to hike out on RL, making  to the village of Baba, 8 km up a tributary that enters the river at km 216 (total hike of ~28 km after 2 days). Had the group continued on the river, they would have almost certainly made it to Batang, as there were only a few more class III-IV rapids after the FullAbortion rapid, ending at km 209_Suoxue(III-IV) after which the gradient of the river decreases dramatically and there are only what look like a few class IIIs in the next 60 km. However, only 16 km upstream of the Batang Bridge, perhaps the most difficult rapid on the whole section is found: 270_Quyin(V+).  To get around the V+, it is possible to portage/line at river level (RR side) or use a road on RR or RL sides (but the RL road access point is 2 km upstream of the rapid). The river has one more big long rapid 281_Temi(III-IV) before arriving to the Batang bridge. The vegetation alternates from brush to sparse arid grassy slopes to pine forest. In this entire “Dege” section, the river-left side (RL) is Sichuan and the RR side is Tibet. A road extends along the RL side for 83 km into the “Z Bend” but then the section remains mostly roadless (or with what seems to be a very minor road on the Tibet side) to near the Batang bridge.  It is possible to take the initial RL road up a tributary at km63 to the town of Baiyu, and continue to a point where it returns to the river at FiveDayRapid. This road allows almost all the major class V rapids to be skipped.  

** (6) UPPER CANYON: BATANG SECTION (226km; 2530m-2020m; 2.3m/km; class IV(V); Batang bridge to Benzilan): The river cotinues in beautiful canyon and with considerable rapids. The Warren expedition never made it into this section and nobody has paddled this section since 1986, so the only accounts are from the Chinese expeditions in 1986.  The first ~75 km of this section is relatively easy with only two III-IV rapids located at km 26-28 [Longguo(III-IV) and Jili(III-IV)] and a few IIIs clustered around the village of Suwalong (km 65). There is a major dam under construction close to Suwalong [see Suwalong Dam: also read SuwalongOverview; and see YouTube_Suwalong - shows Suwalong site as well as 13 other planned dam sites in the DEGE and BATANG sections; Suwalong Dam will be 112m high and flood 75km of river; project will cost $2.8 billion USD; construction started 2016; river to be diverted by 2018; expected completion 2021] but there is a paved road on the Sichuan side that can be used to portage around the construction site.  About 10 km downstream of Suwalong village a major section of rapids starts: 75_WangdalongShoals(IVs), where a series of difficult rapids are encountered over 12 km. Near the end of these rapids, the RR side transitions from Tibet to Yunnan and a beautiful easier roadless section starts and continues for ~50 km. Around km 143, with a road by the river on the RR (Yunnan) side, another series of formidable rapids starts [144_ModingShoals(V)] and continues for 14 km. This is where three more Chinese rafters flipped and swam later in 1986, drowning in one of the big rapids just downstream [149_Memorial Rapid IV-V].  Around km 157 the huge rapids end and the river becomes easier class II and III to the point where we started our trip in 2018 (which was 30 km upstream of Benzilan). There are two more big rapids in this final section: 204_MarbleRock(IV) and 217_Jiaxue(III-IV)]. There is a road along the river from upstream of Moding Shoal all the way to Benzilan, but it is still possible to find nice camp spots since the road is high or a bit removed from the river in places.  The river is almost entirely in an arid desert canyon and gorge in this section.  Although the Batang section starts with TAR  on RR and Sichuan on RL, in the final 135 km, the RL side is Sichuan and the RR side is Yunnan. This section has not been descended by raft or kayak since 1986, and some sections may have been skipped in that year due to the drownings at Moding Shoal. Travis and Jiyue state there was a major landslide in the upper part of this section that may need to be portaged (along with the dam site).  

** (7) UPPER CANYON: BENZILAN SECTION (246km; 2020m-1830m; 0.8m/km; class II-III; Benzilan to TigerLeapingGorge): The river continues in beautiful canyon but rapids ease off a lot downstream of Benzilanzhen, though there are still frequent IIs and an occasional III in the first half.   We floated most of this section in 2018. About 15km downstream the RL side changes from Sichuan to Yunnan, so the river from that point down is entirely within Yunnan.  More vegetation appears on the sides of the mountains in this section and there is more farming and people. A little before the First Bend of the Yangtze near Shigu (~km 200), the gradient gets very low (flat) and the riverbed wide. The river moves more slowly in this final section down to the start of TIger Leaping Gorge at Hutiaozhen.  LIjiang is very close to the river here and the weather is quite warm in May-June. 

(8) TIGER LEAPING GORGE (20km; 1830m-1600m; 11.5m/km; class V-VI; Jizha to Dagoutou): Tiger Leaping Gorge is one of the iconic and most feared chasms of river in the world, with a monstrous flow, class V and VI rapids that must be navigated due to the vertical walls impeding portages. The RR side rises straight up to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain massif from the river level at ~1800m to elevations of ~4000m-5000m (with the highest point on the mountain at 5596m).  The river is pool-drop inside the gorge, and with flow that varies from ~400cms (12,000cfs) in Jan-Apr to ~4000cms (~120,00cfs) Jul-Aug and a gradient similar to the Grand Canyon of the Stikine (11m/km or ~60 ft/mile), many mighty “Shoals” or rapids are found within.  Visiting Tiger Leaping Gorge is one of the main attractions for tourists in Lijiang.  There is a road along the RL side and a hiking trail up high above the road for trekkers who spend 2-3 days in here.  Although the two Chinese teams in 1986 sent members through the gorge inside inflatable “pods” or sealed balls with inner tubes on the outside (and they survived!), there has never been a controlled descent attempted by kayakers or rafters. 

(9) GREAT BEND (280km; 1600m-1170m; 1.6m/km; class IV-V; Dagoutou to Shangliucun):  This section had amazing canyon scenery, huge beaches, frequent rapids (some quite challenging), and warm weather and as such it was becoming the most popular rafting expedition in China in the 1990s-2000s. The first SOBEK expedition covered 303 km over 10 days total, but later trips and other outfitters (including Earth River and Last Descents) offering the excursion ended up taking out at the bridge closer to Lijiang and covering only ~220 km.  As of 2013, iconic rapids named “FirstBlood”, "Fogel’sFolly”, “HungMenKou”, “QinJiaTan”, “LaZiTan", “Skip’sHubris”, "MaWeiTan” and “LastRapid” are now all drowned by hydroelectric dams. The river in this section is almost entirely within Yunnan, only bordering Sichuan for a few km on the RL side at the northermost part of the bend. You can see a little of what this section was like at the following videos: Video_GreatBendLastDescent;  Sobek’sFirstDescent;  ShortVideo_GreatBend; and a HistoryFirstDescents_Yangtze.  Most of the Great Bend section was drowned by three dams between 2011-2013 (Jinaqiao, Ahai, and Liyuan Dams). Almost none of it remains free-flowing.

(10) GUANYINYAN SECTION (143km; 1170m-1030m; class II-III; 1.0m/km; Shangliucun to Guanyinyan Dam):  This section had delightful class II and III rapids in a continuing beautiful canyon but has now been drowned by two dams. 

** (11) LOWER CANYON1 (255km; 1030m-820m; class II-III(IV); 0.8m/km; Guanyinyan Dam to Wudongde Dam):  We paddled most of this section in May2018 and found a beautiful canyon with few roads but occasional villages and people, along with occasional fun class II and III rapids. The weather is very hot in May and the rest of summer. There are massive beaches in places that make for excellent camps, and some fine side hikes to do from the river.  The first 40 km from Guayinyan Dam to Panzhihua is off-limits to boaters due to a nuclear power plant and other construction projects, but it is possible to start floating somewhere in the ~30 km dowstream of Panzhihua.  The word from the residents is that those in the flood zone need to move out by June 2019, probably meaning the dam will start impounding water before the 2019 summer monsoon and will likely fill up the reservoir the same season.  

** (12) LOWER CANYON2 (177km; 820m-610m; 1.1m/km; class III-IV(V); Wudongde Dam to Baihetan Dam):  We paddled most of this section in May2018 and found a hot arid beautiful canyon with no roads for >100 km but occasional villages and people, along with occasional fun class II and III rapids and some much more challenging ones.  The first big rapid is only 16 km downstream of the Wudongde Dam (~10 km downstream of our put-in point) and may be called Laojuntan. It is a big class IV wave-riddled rapid with a few holes on the far sides of the river. There’s a nice side hike to do into the RR side canyon that likely was responsible for the boulder debris that created the rapid. There’s also a nice beach here that would make a great camp.  About 15km downstream of this rapid, one arrives at the massive “OldMan” or “Laojuntan” rapid, which will prompt most boaters to line or portage on the RL side.  The rapid, however, goes on for ~2 kilometers with massive waves in a big water display that is unforgettable and unlike almost any other river.  It is possible to walk along a thin trail on the RL side but this can be scary and dangerous (falls can happen).  AFter the main rapid settles down, there are occasional class II and III rapids for another ~100 km down to past Qiaojia, a city on the RR side.  Past the bridge by the city there is another ~30 km of fine river to float with some big rapids appearing again including the feared “Baihe Shoal” or "Xiaojun" or "Small Man" rapid, located just before the Baihetan Dam site.  

(13) FINAL CANYON (401km; 610m-250m; 0.9m/km; class III-IV; Baihetan Dam to Yibin):  The vegetation starts increasing as the river approaches the Chongqing valley at Yibin but gains volume and still has ferocious and fun rapids.  Unfortunately this section has been drowned by the huge XiloduDam and another smaller regulating dam downstream. This “Final Canyon” section has only been floated by the Chinese modules in 1986 and is now forever lost and changed by the dams. At Yibin another major tributary enters the Jinsha Jiang, the canyon opens up, and the rapids end.  

(14) CHONGQING VALLEY (701km; 250m-120m; 0.17m/km; class I; Yibin to Wanzhou):  This section is flat wide and polluted by the massive cities in the basin. The climate has a lot of fog and overcast days in the winter, and hot summers.  Shipping traffic makes it up to Chongqing from the coast at Shanghai..

(15) THREE GORGES (332km; 120m-34m; class II-III; 0.31m/km; Wanzhou to Yichang):  This section used to have dozens of “shoals” that inhibited boating traffic in antiquity.  "Junkets” were the Chinese boats that would be pulled upstream through the shoals so goods could reach Chongqing.  With the advent of dynamite, the Chinese government undertook a program to make most of the shoals passable by large ships, by blowing deep channels.  However, eventually the government realized Mao’s dream to put a massive dam at the end of the canyon. The Three Gorges Dam was completed around the turn of the century and is the largest dam and hydroelectric generating station on earth, with ~12 GW capacity.  It has flooded the wonderful Three Gorges, displaced ~1 million people, and drowned numerous historic villages and their artifacts.  Many have criticized the project, but most Chinese look upon it with pride.

(16) FINAL FLAT RIVER (1698km; 34m-0m; 0.02m/km; Yichang to Shanghai): This is the final large wide river that courses through much of central China and ends at one of the country’s largest cities, Shanghai.  The river averages ~1000000 cfs and is the largest and longest river in all Eurasia. It also drains an area where hundreds of millions of people live, and therefore is one of the most polluted waterways in the world. The river used to be home to river dolphins, but the population in in danger of extinction due to the contamination.  


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BRIEF HISTORY OF DESCENTS ON THE YANGTZE (online summary: YangtzeFirstDescents):
The Yangtze saw its first serious attempts at rafting starting July 1986 when the Ken Warren expedition covered a large segment of the upper river in an intended first descent. Two competing Chinese groups (woefully unprepared) also attempted the same descent, starting 3-5 weeks before the Warren group. On the cold, high, relatively flat Tibetan plateau section, the Warren team's photographer (Dave Shippee) died from pneumonia and pulmonary edema (probably partly due to the high elevation), which amplified tension among many in his group, leading some to complain about Warren’t leadership. This, combined with the news that many in the Chinese teams were drowning and had aborted their attempt to raft the river in the Dege section, prompted four of Warren’s group to leave the expedition at Yushu. This was after ~1100 km of river had been traversed and ~4 weeks into the expedition.  Warren continued with the rest of his group in the descent, successfully navigating the 278 km section from Yushu to Dege, where a few big rapids were encountered. However, about halfway through the 285 km section from Dege to Batang, they encountered severe rapids and were not able to adequately control and stop their giant “diamond-rig” of 4-rafts lashed together, so accidentally ran some rapids that should have been scouted, resulting in injuries and major damage. The problems and the fear of many more severe rapids downstream eventually prompted all in the group to hike out. The Chinese had passed into this section as well, and with flips and swimmers had some of their team members drown, which similarly prompted them to also abort.  The Warren expedition ended entirely, but the Chinese teams continued to attempt to navigate the rest of the river, skipping down to Tiger Leaping Gorge for the publicity that would materialize from it. They actually were successful floating through in “unflippable” balls that could hold up to 4 team members inside. These “pods” couldn’t be controlled, but each of the two Chinese teams were successful using them to pass some team members through the major rapids in Tiger Leaping Gorge (with the most ferocious rapids of the entire river), as well as the Great Bend (with some big powerful rapids), and the Lower Canyon (including the formidable Laojun and Baihe Shoal rapids). Although initially the Chinese teams skipped much of the Upper Canyon, at least one of the teams came back months later to attempt floating it at lower water levels (with many more drownings in the Moding Shoal rapids of the Batang section). Sobek organized a rafting trip in 1987 through the Great Bend, and found it comparable in quality to a Grand Canyon journey. They subsequently organized many more expeditions in the coming two decades on this section of the river. Several other outfitters also started running trips on the Great Bend, the Yushu section, and the Qumarleb section just upstream, including Steve Currey Expeditions, Earth River Expeditions, and Last Descents.  By 2011, the Great Bend was closed to rafting when several dams were nearing completion. Since 2013, the entire Great Bend section has been flooded by three dams. After that, Earth River and Last Descents ran some trips on the Upper Canyon on the section upstream of Yushu and down to Dege (but never past Dege), yet no outfitter has offered these expeditions as of 2014. 


Books:  If you’re going to join one of these expeditions, I highly recommend getting and reading some of the accounts of the Yangtze:


Riding the Dragon’s Back (Richard Bangs) : The most popular book describing the first descents of the Yangtze in 1986-1987, written by founder of SOBEK who also did the first raft descent of the Great Bend section in 1987 (book is from Bang's perspective and includes a comprehensive description of the SOBEK trip). The book is accurate but presents a one-sided view of the Warren Expedition mainly from interviews of those who deserted and were unhappy with Warren.
When Dreams and Fear Collide (Jan Warren) : Account by the wife of expedition leader Ken Warren (who died a few years after the 1986 descent, particularly addressing the publicized criticism of Warren’s leadership and the desertion of the group by several members. 

Videos:
HistoryFirstDescents_Yangtze - by Peter Winn, this video describes the history of descents of the Yangtze
VideoWarren_BuddhaHole- short video of Warren’s group including 4-boat rig going through Buddha Hole rapid (DEGE section)
VideoWarrenExpedition - short clips of news reports and some events on the Warren expedition 1986
I’m working on a more comprehensive edited video of the trips in 2018, but for now, you can see some clips that I posted on Facebook: please share!
UpperYangtze_Scenic
UpperYangtze_Rapid(III)

LowerYangtze_Whirlpool
LowerYangtze_Marty’sRapid(III)
LowerYangtze_CanyonWhirlpool
LowerYangtze_BaihetanSection