Travel Notes Hiking Black Valley

In May in the south of the Yangtze River, the spring is warm and the flowers are blooming, the grass is growing and orioles are flying. It is the right time to go out for an outing. On May 18, 2021, a group of four of us set off from Chongqing for a spring outing to the Black Valley in Wansheng.

It rained slightly in the morning, the sky was gray, the mountains were green, and people felt wet. After driving for more than 100 minutes, we reached a fork in the road and finally saw the sign for the Black Valley, and everyone became active. The bus was twisting and turning on the winding mountain road, getting higher and higher. After more than ten minutes, the car climbed to the top of the mountain and finally arrived at the parking lot at the south gate of the Black Valley.

Everyone jumped out of the car eagerly and ran happily to the bottom of the valley. As I walked

I looked at the introduction of Black Valley.

The Black Valley Scenic Area is located in Jingxing Township, Wansheng District, 20 kilometers away from Wansheng City. It is praised by experts as the "Chongqing and Guizhou Biological Gene Bank" and is currently the largest original ecological protection site in Chongqing. A complete natural ecological scenic spot. The total length is 13 kilometers, including 6 kilometers of electric car rides, 6 kilometers of plank roads and pontoons, and 1 kilometer of mountain sightseeing ropeways (you can also walk). The canyon is in the shape of a "V" and brings together the essence of Chongqing and Guizhou's karst landscape. There are national first- and second-level animals and plants such as ginkgo, Davidia involucrata, black langur, and golden pheasant. There are secluded gorges, waterfalls, and plank roads. , floating bridge and other more than 200 scenic spots. It integrates underground rivers and waterfalls and integrates "mountains, water, forests, gorges, caves, waterfalls and rocks" into one. It has the characteristics of landscape beauty such as "majestic, strange, dangerous, secluded, beautiful, mysterious and wild", which strongly attracts people. Tourists from home and abroad come here to visit.

Walking on the high, low, winding plank roads, breathing the moist and fresh air with the smell of grass, people seem to be much more enlightened. After crossing a small bridge, we came to a clear stream named Shenlong. The ditch is called Shenlonggou, the cliff where it falls is called Shenlong Waterfall, the water storage pool is called Shenlong Pool, and the cave on the side is called Shenlong Cave. The stream, waterfall, pool and caves are all complete, making it an excellent place for self-cultivation. It is said that many enlightened gods and heroes live in similar places.

Going down the road, I saw the deep and precipitous canyon like two mountain gates with only a crack open. The trees on both sides are shaded, the canyon walls are steep, the river is bright and colorful, and the moist breeze blows slightly, and I suddenly feel spiritual. Refreshing. When I was approaching the Monkey Leaping Gorge, my eyes suddenly lit up. Three milky white streaks were floating down the mountain stream like the Milky Way in the Nine Heavens. The sound filled my ears, and the cool water vapor rushed towards my face. Ah, waterfall, the famous Sandiequan Waterfall in the Black Valley. The waterfall, which is more than a hundred meters high, is clearly divided into three waterfalls. Moreover, one stack is longer than the other, stronger than the other, more strange than the other, and more beautiful than the other. It stands thousands of feet high on the wall, with flying beads and jade splashing, and the scenery is magnificent. There is a poem "Watching the Waterfall" that says: "Thousands of green peaks stand tall from the ground, thousands of feet in the air are divided into parts; I look at the jade girl hanging on silk threads, and the sun turns into five colors." The waterfall rises from a height of more than 100 meters. Water pours down from the cliff, like a giant piece of plain silk hanging on the cliff. As soon as it touches the rock, the water suddenly bursts out, like a galloping horse, absorbing the soul. Under the reflection of the sun, it looks like pearls and jade, shining with bright silver light, and pours wildly into the pool under the cliff. In the valley, huge thunder roars, waves roll, and mist rises, making it a spectacular sight. It feels like "I can hear the wind blowing ten miles away, and the waterfall is still in the white clouds."

According to legend, Liyu River was once the summer palace of King Yelang in ancient times. Every summer, King Yelang would come here to escape the heat and drink the water from Sandie Spring. According to local elders, drinking the water from Sandie Spring can make stupid people smart, old people become young, and girls and boys become beautiful.

After viewing the Sandie Spring, go forward a few meters and turn a corner, and the Monkey Leaping Gorge will come into view. There are three gorges in the Black Valley, namely Monkey Leaping Gorge, Wild Boar Gorge, and Yutiao Gorge. The essence of the scenic spot is mainly concentrated in these three gorges, and Monkey Leaping Gorge (upper Pig Throat) is the most dangerous. There are cliffs on both sides of the bank. The water is deep, the waves are strong, and the valley is long. There is almost no climbing, and only a sliver of blue sky is visible. There was gurgling water at the bottom of the ditch, but it was impossible to wade through it. Standing in the middle of the river, you can see the canyon extending from the distant peaks. The "Colorful Cliffs" stand majestically like a giant door open. On both sides of the canyon, giant cliffs confront each other, with cliffs supporting the clouds and dangerous peaks falling into the water. The rugged rocks, overhanging stalactites, clumps of grass, clear blue river water, and slightly exposed rocks are like a landscape painting, spreading out from far to near to the feet of tourists. I saw the pontoon lying on the water for a long time. We got on the pontoon and walked forward step by step. After the naughty boys got on the bridge, they swayed left and right. The bridge swayed like a swing. People stumbled as they walked, and some timid girls shouted loudly. He screamed, but the bridge shook even more. Suddenly the canyon was filled with people, breaking the thousand-year silence. Every move is like the innocence of childhood.

The poems and songs of Black Valley were rarely seen among literati in the past, and have always been unknown to people who grew up in the mountains. The number of tourists is increasing day by day. I don’t know whether it is a blessing or misfortune for the valley. I hope the garbage of human civilization will not pollute this still pure land.

As we gradually move forward, the canyon becomes narrower and narrower, only more than one meter. The left and right banks seem to have been "kissed" together, leaving only a gap for the river to pass through. It is about 100 meters long and is called "One Line of Sky". "The water is several meters deep, the sun never shines all day long, the mist rises, and the coolness hits you. When you are in the water, you can touch the mountains of Chongqing with one hand and the mountains of Guizhou with the other hand. It can be said to be the "one of a kind" in the Black Valley.

After crossing the swaying pontoon at the end of Houtiao Gorge and walking on an antique plank road of less than 30 meters, the highest waterfall in the canyon - Feiyu Waterfall appeared in front of us.

It rushes down from the 100-meter-high cliff, with white waves rolling like clouds and fog, shaking mountains and valleys, forming a majestic picture with green mountains, deep pools, blue sky and white clouds.

I heard from a friend that the incomplete waterfall in the Black Valley stretches for 1,000 meters, like a huge pearl curtain made of round, full, crystal clear pearls. It is like a goddess scattering flowers and curling up, forming the Black Valley. A beautiful landscape.

On the cliffs on both sides of the black valley, you can also see groups of black monkeys jumping and playing. As soon as they see tourists, they swoop into the depths of the dense forest, looking mysterious. This kind of black monkey is called the "remaining black langur", also known as the "black ape". It is a national first-level protected animal and is very rare. Currently, it is only found in a very small number in southwest my country and northern Vietnam. Black langurs are about 50 centimeters long, with a small head and long tail. They live in groups in trees and rarely go to the ground. Since the first black langur was discovered here in the 1970s, there are now about a hundred.

According to local people, there is a very steep cliff in the Black Valley called "Monkey Blood Rock". Every year, the female monkeys in the black langur group leave menstrual blood here. Over time, layers of menstrual blood accumulated, dyeing the rock walls brownish red. The accumulated menstrual blood of female monkeys is a precious traditional Chinese medicine that can treat many gynecological diseases. The local people call it "monkey accumulation". Because the cliff is too dangerous, it is very difficult to collect monkeys. It is said that if you want to collect monkey products, you must have a sincerity to save the world. If you want to make a fortune, you must first prepare a coffin. Over the past thousands of years, only a few people have successfully collected monkey blood rocks.

After a short rest, we continued to play. The pontoon bridge and plank road are really the characteristics of the Black Valley. Gradually we came to Yezhu Gorge (middle pig throat) and Yutiao Gorge (lower pig throat). Along the way It gradually opens up, the stream becomes slightly wider, and the water becomes shallow. The mountains on both sides are high and densely forested. It preserves one of the few subtropical and temperate natural ecological wonders at the same latitude on the earth, and has a large number of rare plants, such as silver fir, a national first- and second-level protected plant, and Davidia involucrata, ginkgo biloba, yew, Fujian cypress, alpine rhododendron, etc. Davidia involucrata, also known as "Chinese pigeon tree". About 200,000 to 300,000 years ago, when human ancestors had just evolved into the ape-man stage, Davidia involucrata was widely distributed on the earth. Twenty to thirty thousand years ago, due to the impact of several glacial activities on the earth, Davidia involucrata gradually became extinct in many parts of the world. Only a few survived in the mountains of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan, Guizhou and other provinces. In the dense forest, it has become a unique treasure in my country and is known as a "living fossil". The country lists it as a first-class protected plant. In May every year, you can see the unique sight of Davidia involucrata blooming.

The Davidia involucrata flower itself is not only beautiful and moving, but the legend about it is also fascinating. In the Western Han Dynasty, in order to promote reconciliation between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu, Wang Zhaojun of the Han Palace voluntarily asked to marry the Xiongnu when the Xiongnu Hu Hanxie Chanyu entered the Han Dynasty to seek peace. After leaving the fortress, Zhaojun often felt homesick. He got up early every day and bowed three times to the south. In order to greet his hometown people in Zigui, Hubei, Zhaojun wrote a letter home and asked the pigeons he brought to carry it back. So, a group of white pigeons passed the message together, flew across ninety-nine rivers, climbed over ninety-nine mountains, and spent ninety-nine days and nights on the road, finally flew near Zhaojun's hometown on a cold night. At the foot of Wanchao Mountain. This group of white pigeons were extremely tired after a long flight, so they stopped on a large Davidia tree. Suddenly, a gust of cold wind blew by, and the group of white pigeons were frozen on the tree and turned into white and beautiful flowers, condensing Zhaojun's deep love for his hometown on the branches of the Davidia tree...

Whether you look at it from a close or a distance, the jagged and towering strange rocks among the peaks of the black valley produce special effects under the action of backlight. Some look like stubborn monkeys playing among the cliffs, and some look like The vigorous mountain eagles spread their wings and are about to fly, and some are like mountain frogs that have mastered cultivation, and they feel as if they are ready to fly. In the early morning or after the rain, the mountains are surrounded by stalagmites, dancing among the mountains, swallowing the green trees and caressing the charming flowers. The bold Shi Feng became the girl who met her first love, shy and graceful.

The Black Valley has pure wild winds and sweet streams all year round. It is a good place to cool off, escape the summer heat, and relax and recuperate. Standing at the bottom of the valley and looking up to the sky, clouds, rain, rainbows, sunrises and sunsets form an ever-changing meteorological spectacle. In the early morning, thick fog shrouds the sky; looking eastward, the first light of dawn appears, the mist floats in the clouds, and it is a magnificent scene; in the blink of an eye, the red sun rises in the sky, surrounded by layer of clouds, and the mist blows; in the evening, the sunset glows clear Hui, colorful... Whenever there is a heavy rain, thick fog fills the valley, streams are turbulent, and a few neon lights cross the canyon. It is like a classical landscape picture of "the clear water is beautiful when the water is shining, and the mountains are empty and rainy". It’s true:

“The pools and waterfalls are happy to be king,

There are many peaks reporting in all directions.

The waves of the ten-mile stream are majestic,

The walls of the dark valley are green and green.

Outside the mist, the clouds are glowing with fairy spirit.

The strange flowers in the valley are emitting strange fragrance.

But the king is still here.

"Youyou's New Scenery Poetry"

(Note: The king is the king of Yelang Kingdom.)

There is no end to the beautiful scenery of the Black Valley. People have to ask, why? Experts say that about 70 million years ago, a huge crustal movement occurred on the mainland of my country. Because the evidence of this movement was first discovered in the Yanshan Mountains, it was called the "Yanshan Movement."

After the Yanshan Movement, the rock formations in the Sichuan Basin and the Heigu Valley area of ??Wansheng District, Chongqing were severely compressed and bent. This is geologically known as the "fold belt" and the "southeast Sichuan fold belt", in which the rock formations convex upward. The rising part is called an "anticline", and the downward part of the rock formation is called "syncline". The geological structure of the Black Valley belongs to the junction of the "E-Fold Belt" and the "Eastern Sichuan Fold Belt", and is the middle part of the Longguxi complex anticline composed of Mesozoic limestone. The exposed strata include the Cambrian and Ordovician systems, dating back 500-600 million years. It is one of the oldest areas of exposed rock strata in my country. The black valley is mainly due to the long-term effect of the confluence and the resistance of the riverbed rock formations to the conflict.

After nearly four hours of hiking, a lake appeared in front of us. The water in the pool is as dark green as if it had been dyed, just like emerald, and unfathomable. That is the famous Emerald Lake in Black Valley. The surrounding patterns of the pool are strange and colorful, as beautiful as murals. In a deep pool of several hundred square meters, the water flows quietly without making any noise. It is so quiet and warm that everything around it seems to have ceased to exist. Listening to the distance, the high, deep, crisp, mellow sound of water and the echo form a beautiful melody, which is really intoxicating. The reflections in the water dance gracefully around the flowers presented by tourists in the clear waves, sometimes gathering and sometimes spreading out, as if to welcome tourists from afar.

The Emerald Lake is right in front of the north gate of the Black Valley. We walked out of the north gate and ended the tour. The fascinating natural pure land of Black Valley has proven its huge health value to the world. According to monitoring by the environmental protection department, the air in the Black Valley Scenic Area is fresh, with an average negative oxygen ion content of 80,000 per cubic centimeter. Instantaneous (morning and after rain) negative oxygen ion content reaches more than 100,000 per cubic centimeter, exceeding the national first-class standard. , more than 190 times that of the main urban area of ??Chongqing, and is known as the "natural oxygen bar", "super clean area" and "the best green tourism, health and leisure resort" in the suburbs of Chongqing.

The Black Valley is secluded and beautiful, better than Jiuzhaigou Valley. Come, I will come again.