There is a mysterious canyon beside the Qinghai-Tibet Highway. It has been silent for thousands of years and few people know about it. It is known as a cross-country adventure paradise.

The wheels carry time, and the canyons carry legends.

In a deep and narrow canyon, an off-road vehicle drove by gracefully, splashing water and disappearing into the distance.

When you see such a picture, will your blood boil with excitement and yearning?

This canyon is the secret realm next to the Qinghai-Tibet Highway - the Kunlun Mountain Grand Canyon.

The Kunlun Mountain Grand Canyon is located in Golmud City, Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province, near the 2812 kilometers of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway G109 National Highway. It is a new off-road crossing internet celebrity holy land.

For a long time, the Kunlun Mountain Grand Canyon has been hidden under the towering Kunlun Snow Mountain, about 15 kilometers away from the main Qinghai-Tibet Highway. Because it is sparsely populated and undeveloped, few people have set foot there, and it is far less famous than the Kunlun Mountain Gate, Yuzhu Peak, Kunlun Holy Spring, and Hoh Xil Protection Station, which are located on both sides of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway. A few years ago, the geological exploration team accidentally discovered this geological wonder while exploring geology, and it became known to the world.

The Kunlun Mountains Grand Canyon is part of the Kunlun Mountains Global Geopark. It records hundreds of millions of years of landform changes in the Kunlun Mountains. It is a living "museum of the history of geological evolution" and has the Grand Canyon, Antelope Valley, and Snow Mountain Canyon. Wait for the wonder. The Grand Canyon is about 12 kilometers long and is best for cross-country surfing; Antelope Canyon is best for hiking; and Snow Mountain Canyon is best for watching the snow on the lake.

Follow the Qinghai-Tibet Highway out of Golmud and head southwest. After 70 kilometers, you can see the Kunlun Mountain Grand Canyon sign on the left side of the road. Get off the national highway and drive onto a dirt road. After driving for 20 minutes, the Rainbow Hydropower Station jumped into my sight. Driving past the Rainbow Hydropower Station, we came to an open area.

In the distance, there are towering snow-capped mountains. The grassless open land extends to the foot of the snow-capped mountains, and simple dirt roads lead into the distance. Vehicles drove by, kicking up billows of dust. Is this the Kunlun Mountain Grand Canyon? Did you go wrong? Xiaoyu couldn't help but have doubts in his heart.

My friend saw my worry and said with a smile: "Don't worry, I'm not going wrong. Don't worry, the fun will come later."

The car continued to drive forward, and again After bumping for about 20 minutes, it finally stopped. Not far away, a green lake jumped into my eyes. The rock walls of the surrounding mountains are exposed with rough texture, and the snow-capped mountains in the distance glow with silver light.

A friend told me that this is the Snow Mountain Canyon, one of the three major attractions in the Kunlun Mountain Grand Canyon Scenic Area. The road ahead is not yet repaired, so we can only look from afar.

Fly a drone by the lake. On the other side of the lake, the water washed out a narrow gap in the calm and open land. It can best be described as a crack in the earth. That crack is our other destination today - the Grand Canyon.

The Grand Canyon is almost hidden under the grassland and is easily overlooked. Therefore, no one would have thought that there would be a canyon 12 kilometers long and tens of meters deep hidden in the vast wilderness.

There is a saying about the formation of the Grand Canyon.

The snow water of the Kunlun Snow Mountains melted to form the Shulgan River (the main source of the Golmud River). The rugged boulders were cut open, and this canyon was formed at the foot of the Kunlun Mountains.

This is the vicissitudes of life carved by the melting water of snow-capped mountains for hundreds of millions of years. These are the annual rings carved by Kunlun Mountain. The landscape is unique and shocking.

From an aerial perspective, it is a very inconspicuous distance, but when you actually walk there, you realize how steep, rugged and torturous the road is.

Then, we left the snow-capped mountain canyon and drove towards the mountains to the left along the Gobi desert above the canyon. There was a simple dirt road at the beginning, but after running for a while, the road disappeared. The front was desolate, and even the snow-capped mountains in the distance disappeared. The mountains in front were bare without a trace of life. The altitude here is about 3500 meters.

We carefully followed the sound of water and drove down to the bottom of the valley.

Standing under the canyon and looking up at the steep cliffs, the friends all marveled at the majesty and magic of nature.

The valley is a dry river bed, with ripples washed by the water, which are the marks left by the torrents when it rains. The bare rocky mountains have no vegetation, and the rainwater will run away instantly. Rather than being called a Grand Canyon, it is actually a fissure formed by the erosion of the Surgan River. It's not so much a river bed as it is a rocky beach.

The deep and convex Grand Canyon can be wide or narrow. The widest point is about ten meters, and the total length is about 12 kilometers. It has towering cliffs on both sides. It is said that the deepest drop is nearly 50 meters.

The large and small pebbles at the bottom of the river have been washed by hundreds of millions of years of snow and water, showing various colors and shapes, which is wonderful. It is very quiet here, as if you can hear the whisper of the earth, gently telling about the changes of hundreds of millions of years. Looking up at the blue sky, I feel like my soul has been purified.

The off-road vehicle traveled up the valley, sometimes passing over rocky beaches and sometimes crossing streams. The off-road vehicle drove through the high splashing water, and we were like a few wriggling beetles in the Grand Canyon, crawling between this lonely world, with only the roar of the engine echoing in the valley.

This is a unique new experience in the world. Its mystery and shock make language expression poor and pale. This is a miracle given by nature, and this is the worship of Kunlun standing firm in the world.

The thrilling experience of crossing the river is so exciting and enjoyable!

As you drive forward, the canyon becomes narrower, the ford becomes deeper and deeper, and there are sharp pebbles everywhere. If you are not careful, you will be in danger. After bending through several river valleys, the valley bottom narrowed and it became increasingly difficult to walk. It stopped and walked, and gradually there were no traces of human activity.

Further forward, a huge boulder blocked the middle of the valley, so we stopped immediately. However, the friends became more and more excited and rushed back and forth in the canyon several times, feeling the excitement of hundreds of millions of years of snow and water.

We turned around and drove for a while, arriving at the branch next to the Grand Canyon - Antelope Canyon.

The Antelope Valley is somewhat similar to the Antelope Valley in the United States, the Wave Valley in Jingbian, Shaanxi, and the Tianshan Grand Canyon in Kuqa, Xinjiang. They are all formed by the erosion of flowing water. The total length of Antelope Canyon is about 800 meters, which is more than twice the length of Antelope Canyon in the United States. It is more unique and spectacular, but the local development is not as mature as Antelope Canyon.

Friends told us not to enter the valley when it rains. The mountain where Antelope Canyon is located is extremely dry and hard, with poor water absorption. The rapid water flow and the sand and gravel carried along the way are almost indestructible, and there is no place to hide, so it is very dangerous.

There were only my friends and I in the entire Antelope Canyon, and it was so quiet that the only sound was my own walking. Only one person can pass through the narrowest part, and it can turn into strange colors in the sunlight. Suddenly, I felt extremely excited.

Currently, the Kunlun Mountain Grand Canyon Scenic Area is under development. Antelope Canyon and the Grand Canyon are the first phase. In the near future, you can experience off-road motorcycles, self-driving four-wheel cross-country, horseback riding, hiking, canyon rafting, starry sky camping, etc. It is said that the scenic spot will also be equipped with the most unique coffee house in the world, with a glass sightseeing platform and walking trails, a tea bar for drinking tea and reading about the snow-capped mountains, casual drinks and barbecues, etc. The Snow Mountain Canyon is the second phase and will not accept individual tourists in the future. It will only be open to professional hiking groups.

Text and pictures/Nalan Xiaoyu Xiaowu