25 Sept – 27 Sept 2024
We returned to the town centre of Zhangjiajie after a refreshing stay in the Baozijie Mountain (堡子界). As it was cloudy, we took it easy a few days and spent time at coffee shops reading and writing. When the weather finally cleared up, we drove to the National Forest Park (國家森林公園).
Kin acquainted with a local on Red Note who gave him many good tips on how to hike the different trails in the National Forest Park and how to make the best of the four-day pass. The first day we took the cable car and lifts to get to the top of the mountains as we had quite a vast area to cover.
Weather in the mountains is unpredictable. We were very lucky as the first day of our hike turned out to be sunny and blue sky. We couldn’t ask for better weather to see the most stunning part of the park.
The park is a huge dense forest with endless deep ravines and canyons. The pillar rock formations are not typical limestone-eroded pillars. They are in fact quartz-sandstone and physically eroded by the elements over thousands of years.
After two days of roaming around the upper level of the mountains, on the third day, we went to the east entrance of the park and hiked at ground level long the Golden Whip Stream. As we were already tired from the previous long hikes, the easy stroll along the stream was in fact perfect. We saw many monkeys who are so accustomed to people and would chase tourists for food.
