I was so exhausted from climbing and wading through water yesterday that I didn’t get home until after seven in the evening. I lazily postponed writing about my one-day trip to Tianmen Mountain Forest Park in Zhuanghe, Dalian, until today, just to keep a record.
I had finished packing and was ready to leave at around nine in the morning. After studying the route for a while, I decided to take the Tongpi Line from Anbo and then switch to National Highway 305. The Xianchang Line has been under repair for half a year now, and I have no idea if it’s finished. I’ll figure it out when I get there—if not, I’ll just take National Highway 305 to Zhuanghe and then head to Xianren Cave Town.
When I reached the intersection at Changling Town from Anbo, I saw that the Xianchang Line was still under construction, so I had to go via Zhuanghe, which meant taking a longer route.
Near downtown Zhuanghe, there’s a speed limit of 50 km/h, which delayed me a bit. I finally arrived at Tianmen Mountain Forest Park in Zhuanghe, Dalian, a little after eleven.
The official ticket price for Tianmen Mountain Forest Park in Zhuanghe, Dalian, is 60 yuan. I bought mine near the entrance gate from a farmhouse for 50 yuan each. The rafting ticket was 130 yuan, which was also quite a bit cheaper, but I came this time mainly for hiking and wading, so I didn’t look into it further.
After entering the gate, there’s a stretch of road with not much scenery and no shade trees. It was a bright and sunny day at that point, and my skin got sunburned pretty quickly. About fifteen or sixteen minutes later, I arrived at the starting point of the Tianmen Gorge Rafting. There were lots of people waiting for the water to be released—it was quite lively.
Then I headed toward Luck Mountain, which is a winding mountain road. There’s a small stream by the roadside with very clear water. I climbed down, took off my shoes, and started playing in the water. The water was ice-cold and instantly relieved the heat from the earlier sun exposure. There were very few people here—just the sounds of various birds, which was really relaxing.
You can’t just sit in the stream forever, so I put my shoes back on and continued walking. The mountain scenery was average, but the campsite at the end of this road was nice. I definitely want to come back and camp here sometime. I heard it costs about 80 yuan to rent a tent for one night.
In Zhuanghe scenic areas, the routes always require you to backtrack—like in Bingyu Valley, and the same goes for Tianmen Mountain.
Fortunately, on the way back from Luck Mountain, I caught an electric cart. The kind driver gave me a free ride back to the starting point so I could check out the Thousand Buddha Caves. I’m truly grateful to this driver friend.
About ten or fifteen minutes into the Thousand Buddha Caves route, I saw a sign for a water forest and went in. It turned out to be another small stream by the mountainside, but with a path built alongside for easier walking. Compared to Luck Mountain, the water here was even cooler, and the scenery was more beautiful.
I reached a small pool with no path ahead. Unwilling to backtrack, I tried to cross the stream to get to the mountain road, but I slipped and fell into the water. My shoes were completely filled, and my pants got wet. I didn’t have any spare shoes, so I just had to make do. Luckily, I wasn’t injured.
Further in, there’s a scenic spot called General Stone, which is quite pretty. It seems like water is pumped up to the mountaintop and then released to form a waterfall.
There are some iron cages along the roadside with wolves, rabbits, owls, monkeys, ostriches, and other animals. Aside from making the air by the road smell bad, they weren’t very interesting.
By the time I reached the old site of Tianmen Mountain Primary School, I was pretty tired. A visitor told me there wasn’t much to see inside—just artificially built attractions. I thought it would be better to enjoy the natural scenery between the mountains and water, so I stopped to rest.
Here, I want to say that the humanized services in Tianmen Mountain Scenic Area are really lacking. Just like in Bingyu Valley, there are no designated stops or schedules for the electric carts. If you haven’t bought a ticket for the cart, you have to walk all the way. There are also no rescue phone numbers posted anywhere in the scenic area. If something happens, you have to handle it on your own—this really needs improvement.
Around 3:30 in the afternoon, the sky clouded over, and my skin was no longer suffering. I started walking back along the same route. After about forty minutes, I returned to the park’s main gate. My shoes were almost dry. I ate some bread, ham, and fruit I had brought with me, then headed to the Bi Shui Fish Head Restaurant near the Biliu River Reservoir, which serves delicious and affordable fish. I had bighead carp.
Finally, I’d like to say that if you want to see the vibrant colors of autumn foliage, it’s best to come after the end of September—but then you won’t be able to play in the water.