Baihe Grand Canyon

Baihe Grand Canyon

Baihe Grand Canyon, just an hour and a half’s drive from Beijing, remains rarely visited. Stretching over 130 kilometers from the Baihebao Reservoir in Yanqing County in the west, winding eastward all the way to the Miyun Reservoir in Miyun County, the canyon spans the eastern section across Huairou and Miyun, nearly 40 kilometers in length, lying horizontally through the Yanshan Mountain Range from east to west. Historically, Miyun was known as Yuyang during the Qin Dynasty, and the Baihe River was referred to as the Yu River. After hundreds of years, it has now become a canyon trail of exceptional scenic beauty.

Baihe Grand Canyon is a major river gorge that flows from the Baihebao Reservoir to the Miyun Reservoir. Along with the Guanting Gorge of the Yongding River and the Juma River Gorge, it is known as one of the “Three Great Gorges of the Capital.” Spanning Yanqing, Huairou, and Miyun, the canyon follows the contours of the mountains and is a natural gorge that retains its pristine features remarkably well, often described as a “hundred-mile painted corridor.”

As early as the 1980s, Baihe Grand Canyon became a primary training ground for China's national mountaineering and rock climbing teams for activities such as rock climbing, ice climbing, and physical conditioning. At the same time, it has also served as a base for numerous outdoor sports enthusiasts engaging in these activities. It is worth mentioning that the term “Baihe Grand Canyon” originated entirely from the language of rock climbing enthusiasts—much like how in Yangshuo, Guilin, peaks such as “Thumb Peak” and “Middle Finger Peak” were originally nameless and were only named later due to the needs of the climbing community.