Mt. Danxia

I took a trip with Pacha Mama over the weekend. They always find great hiking trips. This trip was to a geopark in the province that is made of red sandstone. With erosion over the centuries, it has created a variety of landforms.

Mount Danxia is about 1 hour high speed train to Shaoguan and another hour or so drive from Guangzhou. That drive takes you to a very different place in China. It is one of the two UNESCO heritage sites in Guangdong province. The draw of this place for the Chinese is the two rock formations that resemble male and female anatomy.

Mount Danxia was beautiful with s variety of trails all with amazing views. There were narrow paths along steep cliffs.

After traveling there and eating a yummy lunch we took a boat ride through the park.

The hike was pretty spectacular with steep, wet stairs. This was to be a sunset hike but impending rain changed our plans.

This is the rocks we need to climb. A series of steep stairs wind around and up this. Our destination is the pagoda at the top.
This rock resembles a male organ. Yangyuanshi is known as the male stone.
Morgana and I. The whole thing is pretty ridiculous, right?
If you look closely you can see the pathway we had to climb.

After making our way up the stairs along the cliff, we were now at the top.

The next morning were supposed to have a sunrise hike but they had closed the opening of the park until 8 due to rain. It didn’t rain though.

I found this guy at the entrance to the cable cars which we used to get to the top and then go down the other side. We were originally to climb the mountain but lost time when that hike was cancelled.

Grotto temple built during the Ming Dynasty. It was abandoned when China became PRC.

A few more stairs again to the pavilion at the top.

Then we had to go back down the stairs that were very narrow and steep.

At the bottom of the stairs.

Biechuan Temple

Walking back towards the entrance.

Xianglonghu lake means flying dragon. It refers to the shadows of the lake when flying overhead as it resembles a dragon. Here we saw children feeding the fish.

The female rock is called Yinyuanshi.

We stayed at a quaint little hotel in the base of the park. Our was a great weekend with people from all over the world.