2010 Alternative Zhangjiajie Travel Complete Guide
Entering June, Zhangjiajie presents a charming scene of green grass and blue skies, making it a great place for southern tourists to escape the heat and travel. For friends visiting Zhangjiajie for the first time, it's very necessary to familiarize themselves in advance with the注意事项 for traveling in Zhangjiajie. To this end, special-tour experts and veteran backpackers have sent over a "kit." Zhangjiajie has beautiful scenery. Most of the handsome pines grow on cliffs and precipices, graceful and distinctive. The one everyone knows well is the Guest-Greeting Pine. In addition, in the back mountain…
Entering June, Zhangjiajie presents a charming scene of green grass and blue skies, making it a great place for southern tourists to escape the heat and travel. For friends visiting Zhangjiajie for the first time,
it's very necessary to familiarize themselves in advance with the注意事项 for traveling in Zhangjiajie. To this end, special-tour experts and veteran backpackers have sent over a "kit."
Zhangjiajie has beautiful scenery. Most of the handsome pines grow on cliffs and precipices, graceful and distinctive. The one everyone knows well is the Guest-Greeting
Pine. In addition, at Shixin Peak in the back mountain, you can see many of Huangshan's strange pines.
1. Strange Pines
2. Strange Rocks
The strange rocks of Zhangjiajie were formed because the granite body underwent long years of sun and rain, weathering and erosion, and water scouring, so that those rough
stone blanks were carved and refined countless times. Representative examples include Flying-Over Rock, Dream Brush Produces Flowers, Monkey Watching the Sea, Squirrel Jumping to Heaven's Capital, and Ao Fish
Carrying the Golden Turtle.
3. Sea of Clouds
The sea of clouds in Zhangjiajie is especially spectacular. Huangshan's graceful peaks stack and tower, dangerous cliffs jut out, and deep ravines crisscross. Air currents weave through the mountains, rising and leaping, circulating
actively. Clouds and stratocumulus fill the sky, drifting with the wind, sometimes rising, sometimes falling, sometimes swirling, sometimes stretching out, forming a peculiar, ever-changing
grand view of the sea of clouds.
The Zhangjiajie scenic area has towering peaks and crisscrossing canyons. Whenever the sea of clouds surges in, the entire Zhangjiajie scenic area is divided into many oceans of cloud. So based
on different directions, the Zhangjiajie sea of clouds can be divided into: East Sea, South Sea, West Sea, North Sea, and Heaven Sea.
4. Zhangjiajie Hot Springs
The hot spring scenic area is halfway up the mountain. If you go up from the South Gate, no matter where you're headed, you must pass through the hot spring scenic area. The water quality is mainly bicarbonate,
the spring water is exceptionally clear, colorless and odorless, and its taste is sweet. The year-round water temperature is 42°c, and it can be drunk and bathed in. The flow is stable, never drying up even in long droughts, with an hourly output
of 48 tons. It has certain medical value and good therapeutic effects on many diseases. Legend has it that after the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan bathed here, his white hair turned black and he regained his youth,
so it is praised as a spiritual spring. An ancient poem says: "If the Five Great Mountains were compared with Huangshan, they would still lack a spring of spiritual sand." Zhangjiajie Hot Springs currently cost 168 RMB per person; for groups, there can be a discount to
148 RMB per person.
5. Strange Peaks
Zhangjiajie has 77 peaks over 1,000 meters. The entire Huangshan is a granite peak forest. Since ancient times there have been 36 large peaks and 36 small peaks. The highest peak,
Lotus Peak, the most dangerous peak, Tiandu Peak, and the best spot for watching the sunrise, Bright Summit, form Huangshan's three main peaks. Other major peaks include Shixin Peak, Lion
Peak, Danxia Peak, Lotus Stamens Peak, Ao Fish Peak, Nine Dragons Peak, and others.
7. Sunrise
Zhangjiajie's mountains are high and steep, with thousands of peaks and ravines, and clouds and mist often spread across them. The sunrise scenery is majestic and magnificent. Before dawn, the horizon gradually brightens. On the rolling
sea of clouds, a ring of golden lace appears. At this moment, smoke and clouds fill the air, and mountain shapes and tree shadows appear and disappear, ethereal and illusory; in an instant, the first light of dawn shows,
cinnabar glows, and suddenly a red dot jumps out in the sea of sky, forming an arc-shaped disc, which becomes a semicircle as it rises slowly; in a flash, a red sun bursts out of the waves,
spurting upward, leaping into the sky; at this time, the peaks and clever rocks draped in light gauze gradually come into view, and the entire mountain range is immersed in brilliant colors.
In the sky, rays of morning light shine in all directions, like a huge kaleidoscope, dazzling the eyes and too beautiful to take in.
Places to watch the sunrise: anywhere
Sunrise times: Spring: 5:30-6:00; Summer: 4:40-5:20; Autumn: 4:50-5:20; Winter: 5:30-7:00
8. Sunset and Evening Glow
At dusk in Zhangjiajie, the sun sets behind the western mountains, all the mountains seem gilded, both immortal and illusory, the peaks tower majestically, their way greatly bright, countless sighs, all tied to this mountain.
Places to watch the sunset: Bright Summit, Paiyun Pavilion, Danxia Peak, Flying-Over Rock, Ao Fish Peak, West Sea Yao Terrace.
9. Buddha's Halo
According to statistics from meteorological departments, the number of times Buddha's Halo appears in Huangshan averages 2--5 times per month. It should be said that this frequency is still relatively high. The golden season for Buddha's Halo
appearing in Zhangjiajie is mostly before 9 a.m. after rain clears and after 5 p.m. in the evening when rain has just stopped.
The most ideal places to view Buddha's Halo in Zhangjiajie are: Tiandu Peak, Lotus Peak, Bright Summit, Shixin Peak, Danxia Peak, Chess Peak, White Russian Peak, beside Yuping Tower, on Qingliang Terrace, beside the Heaven Sea Phoenix Pine, Furong Peak, Cuiwei Peak, and other places. Generally all are above 1,600 meters above sea level.
10. Rime and Glaze Ice
Zhangjiajie's main scenic areas are mostly above 1,500 meters above sea level. Winter temperatures are relatively low, and Huangshan has as many as over two hundred cloudy and foggy days per year. These
all create good necessary conditions for the formation of rime and glaze ice in Zhangjiajie. Therefore, people traveling in Zhangjiajie in winter can relatively easily see
this seasonal beauty.
Zhangjiajie averages 62 days of rime per year and 35.9 days of glaze ice. The longest continuous duration of rime can reach 24 days, with a maximum diameter of 23.2 centimeters. The longest
continuous duration of glaze ice is also nearly 25 days, with a maximum diameter of 41.3 centimeters. Most of Zhangjiajie's rime is granular rime, which forms easily when the temperature is -2 to -7℃.
When fog droplets enlarge into drizzle, glaze ice can form. Zhangjiajie's terrain is complex, with obvious microclimate differences, so some places have more glaze ice, and some
places have more rime, and sometimes both can appear at the same time.