Xinlu lake

Xinlu lake is located at the foot of Trola Mountain in Dege County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. It is by the side of the road that connects Derge county and Garze county; Approximately 13 kilometers west from Manigango, 111 kilometers west from Garze County, and 100 kilometers north from Derge County, it is about 3,980 meters above sea level with average depth of 10 meters, and the deepest is about 15 meters. Xinlu lake is a glacial lake. The water source is provided by melt snow and glaciers of Mt Trola. The stream flowing out of the lake is one of the sources of Troqu river;

Xinlu lake also known as “Yulhun Lhatso” in Tibetan language. “Yulhun” is the compliment of the beautiful wife of King Gesar; “Lhatso” means the holy lake. In memory of King Gesar’s wife, people name this lake “Yulhun Lhatso”

The ecology of Xinlu lake and its surroundings is primitive and complete. The large, crystal-clear glacier lags directly into the grassland of the lake from the grain snow basin at an altitude of 5,000 meters. The lake is surrounded by plateau spruces, firs, cypress trees, rhododendron trees and meadows. The blue sky and white clouds, snow-capped peaks, glaciers twinkling, green hills melting, green grass, sparkling waves. Rare birds and animals appear on the shores of the lake, wild ducks flock in the lake, and fish swim. In the summer and autumn, mountain flowers bloom, and it is just like a live fairyland.

Xinlu lake is the largest glacial Moraine-dammed lake in China, and it was formed in the late Last glacial period. The lake area has an alpine temperate monsoon climate. The annual average temperature is only 5.5℃. The average temperature in January is -15℃, and the extreme minimum temperature is -32℃. The lake is frozen from late September to the next March. The freezing period lasts for half a year and the ice thickness could reach 60cm. Spruce trees grow around the lake, among which the spruce forest on the glacier side moraine in the upper reaches of the Xinlu Lake is over 100 years old; The spruce forest on the moraine ridge of the glacier in the lower reaches of Xinlu lake is even more than 580 years old.

Xinlu lake is also the Xinluhai White-lipped Deer Nature Reserve. With a total area of ​​2381.5 hectares, it mainly protects the natural ecological environment of the plateau and the white-lipped deer and other wild animal and plant resources. It is the largest white-lipped deer reserve in China.

How to get Xinlu lake

The closest airport is Garze airport, from which you can use daily flight to come from Chengdu .

The distance from Garze airport to Xinlu lake is 65 kilometers. There is no shuttle bus from Garze airport to this lake, you can hire local taxi or chartered vehicle to get to Manigango first, and then get to this lake;

There is no bus come for this lake only, however, the long distance bus bewteen Garze and Derge shall pass through this lake almost every day, you can take the bus to stop by the lake, it is only about 100 meters from the stop to the entrance of the lake