Ever since I saw photos of Wulingyuan National Park many years ago, this area has been a bucket list item.
Our guest house was located only a short walk from the main cable car station. Our host gave us a detailed route to follow, told us which tickets to buy, and off we went.
These two parks are very popular, and they're not cheap. Seniors age 65 and over get a substantial discount, but even those age 60-64 get a decent discount. We are 64, and we paid 153 yuan ($32 CAD, $22.50 USD) each for a day pass to Tianmen Mountain including transportation once in the park.
Heading up in the cable car.
Only problem is that the weather isn't cooperating!
They are installing a new upper cable car, so that one is closed and we had to take a shuttle bus up an amazing mountain road with so many hairpin turns.
Amazing mountains!
Our road heading higher.
How they built a road up here is mind boggling.
We would end up taking this cable car back down later in the day.
There it is... Heaven's Gate.
Looking back down, you can see part of the road we came up on.
The stairs up to the gate are a popular attraction.
Ruth, enjoying the view.
The road we came up on!
The road is only open to shuttle buses and service vehicles.
The tourist center is located halfway up the mountain.
We are headed up there.
It's a little wet, but sometimes it is foggy as well. Wet isn't great, but foggy is worse!
There are 999 steps to get up to Heaven's Gate.
Yes, the steps are called... the Stairway to Heaven!
A statue of French adventurer Alain Robert who free climbed the side of the mountain back in 2007.
Heaven's Gate.
View through the other side.
It's all very spectacular, but of course the drawbacks are the crowds, and the fact that it's been so commercialized. There was a time 50 years ago when you could hike up here and be the only one around, but those days are long gone. Now, everybody gets up here through a series of cable cars, buses, and escalators. You don't even have to climb the 999 stairs because an escalator is built into the mountain. The technology and infrastructure is actually amazing. But you don't come here for a relaxing day hiking in the mountains.
Looking back.
Through to the other side.
But Heaven's Gate is not at the top... in fact it's not even close to the top. They have built a series of 7 very long escalators into the mountain. Each escalator takes approximately two minutes.
Looking behind us.
Looking ahead of us.
Then when you get off the escalators, you can hike up there!
And there is about a 7.5 km long path that circles the top of the mountain.
Again, it's not a hiking trail... it's a busy bricked or concrete path with stairs and railings that are often built right into the mountain with some sections done with see through glass flooring.
So don't come up here expecting to go for a nice hike in the woods.
Did I mention it's busy?
The viewing platform at the top.
Scenery along the way.
Zoomed in on the city of Zhangjiajie.
The walkway is attached to the side of the cliff. I have no idea how they built it!
Looking down at Heavens Gate.
Of course there has to be a temple at the top.
Inside the temple.
There are other sections where they sell love locks and prayer ribbons to attach to various things.
There's even a suspension bridge at the top.
The edge walk.
Me!
The eternal spring. This waterfall spouts out of the side of the mountain.
They have not yet been able to determine the source.
Prayer ribbons.
Glass walkway.
This pic gives a good representation. So does the look on Ruth's face!
Heading down on the cable car.
Back at the bottom.
They do evening shows at this theater.
Looking back up at where we were.
Zoomed in on the cable cars bringing people down.
the street where our guest house was.
Despite the rain and the crowds, we still had a great day. Would it have been better without the rain and the crowds? Not necessarily because without the rain, there would have been more crowds! Anyhow, it is what it is, and we made the best of it. Certainly you can tell by the number of photos, which I had already whittled down by quite a lot.
We picked up our bags at the guest house and went back out to the main street. By this time it was already about 5:00pm and we summoned a Didi taxi to take us another 35 minutes to the town of Wulingyuan where we will stay for the next four nights. We paid a little more, but really lucked out on our room on the top (5th) floor of this guest house.
205 yuan ($43 CAD, $30 USD) per night including breakfast.
We will enjoy our morning hot drink in these chairs.
Nice facilities.
Next up... even more fantastic scenery at Wulingyuan National Park.
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Fantastic deal on Columbia Men's Hiking Boots. Various prices on various styles and colors.
And in Canada...
Spectacular and BEAUTIFUL scenery and photos! Looking forward to tomorrows adventure!!!
ReplyDeleteIt really was absolutely amazing scenery, we just wished that the sky was had been a little clearer to see the scenery even better but we were lucky to have seen what we did.
DeleteExcellent post....it would be nice if you could summarize you trip to China with where you went, places you stayed and how you got to where you went...I'd like to use it as a guide for a trip to China....I have a conference next spring in Washington DC (I'm an American), and while I'm there, I plan on getting Chinese visa's for me and my wife....we both just retired and I think China will be our first big retirement trip....I just want to set it up and go for it...worst case scenario, we can alway come home....We've been to Mexico and Canada, but that's it....thanks for you great postings....
ReplyDeleteMaybe Kevin can try to do that when we are back in Mexico because right now we have just been too busy enjoying our trip and we will have more time when we get back to Valle de Bravo near the end of July..
DeleteChina will be an amazing first trip for you and quite a bit an adventure compared to either Mexico or Canada. We are really enjoying our time here and we can see ourselves returning again some time in the future, it is a big country with so much to see and do.
Amazing! I can't imagine the crowds on a beautiful day. And as you say, how in the world did they build that cantilevered walkway up so high? A feat of engineering, to be sure!
ReplyDeleteWe thought it was crowded enough when we were there on a dull and slightly wet day, on a nice day it would be absolutely packed up there. At the cable car stations they have those queue barriers that you have to weave through as you wait your turn and they have seats for people to seat on as you wait and slowly move along. We saw signs at the park where we were yesterday that showed 40 minute wait times, thankfully we didn't have much more than a few minutes of waiting most of the time.
DeleteThose cliffside walkways were amazing, definitely a feat of engineering. We wondered how often they get checked for safety! The first concrete cliffside walkway on the Tianmen Mountain was built in 2005 and the first of three glass cliffside walkways was opened in 2011.
Wow! Amazing scenery! Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI believe we said "WOW" a number of times during the day both at the scenery and at the walkways! It was definitely quite the day up on the mountain.
DeleteYikes!!! Beautiful! Street pictures interesting..
ReplyDeleteYep, some of those walkways could give you the heebie jeebies! We can't for the life of us figure out how they built those walkways all the way up there.
DeleteNot all the streets in the city look like that, that was just in the one little neighbourhood where there are a lot of shops, restaurants and guesthouses. We like how colourful and decorative it was there.
Yikes!!! The walkway on side of the mountain gave me the willies! Beautiful photos with the cloud cover. It's too bad they didn't have a regular park hiking trails. So far loving your China tour :-)
ReplyDeleteIt was a little nerve-wracking at times, especially when you look straight down from the walkway, it makes your legs quiver a bit! We did enjoy the views with the cloud cover but it would also have been fantastic to as seen the scenery with clearer skies, at least it never poured on us, even thought it was still a very wet day up there on the mountain.
DeleteWe are glad that you are enjoying our adventures and travels here in China, I know that we are. 😊
I'm not afraid pf heights. At least that's what I thought until I saw some of these pictures. But it's all beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI am more afraid of heights now than when I was younger but for some reason I didn't have a huge problem on the cliffside walkways, I did on the glass bottom one though! Kevin on the other hand doesn't seem to have any issue with heights, although he did say once when he was looking over the edge that it make his legs feel a bit wobbly.
DeleteWe had a fantastic day despite the rain and yes, the views were amazing.
I've been doing China research for the past few months... that's on my bucket list too. I think China is one of those countries that requires multiple trips..so much to see.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear and we agree, China is a country that needs more that just one visit. If you visit Tianmen Mountain just prepare yourself for the crowds and avoid going on a holiday or the weekend. Also if you are a senior you get in for free or half price depending on your age and always have your passport with you, that ends up being your ticket most of the time.
DeleteThere are no words. Keep enjoying.
ReplyDeleteThere really aren't! The scenery was fantastic and even the pictures don't do the area justice, it is a place that you really need to see for yourself.
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