When is the best time to go to Longtan Grand Canyon?

The best time of Longtan Grand Canyon: all the year round.

Longtan Gorge Scenic Area, located in Xin 'an County, Luoyang City, is a part of Luoyang Daimei Mountain National Geopark. Longtan Gorge Scenic Area is adjacent to Xiaolangdi of the Yellow River and Qingyaoshan, the capital of the Yellow Emperor, 70 kilometers away from Luoyang. The total length of the canyon is12km. Longtan Gorge is a rare U-shaped gorge in the world. It is known as "the first gorge in Zhanggu, China" and has the reputation of "Ancient Marine Natural Museum", "China Wonder Gorge" and "Yellow River Landscape Corridor". Longtan Gorge has "five natural mysteries and eight natural wonders".

Luoyang Daimei Mountain National Geopark is divided into five scenic spots, namely Longtan Gorge, Jingzishan, Daimei Mountain, Qingyaoshan and Wanshan Lake, with a total area of 328 square kilometers. It is a comprehensive geological park which is mainly composed of sedimentary structural relics and geological landscapes, and is compatible with geological disaster relics, typical minerals, water bodies and vegetation. The rare red rock canyons in China in the park set off against the blue waves of Wanshan Lake in the Yellow River. The charm of red stone, the soul of the Yellow River and the scenery of mountains and rivers complement each other, forming clusters of bright pearls with special scientific significance and aesthetic value on the Yellow River in Wan Li.

Longtan Gorge is a typical representative of Daimei Mountain Canyon Group Geopark.

Rare geological wonders in China

The age of the earth is about 4.6 billion years. In Mesoproterozoic about/kloc-0.2 billion years ago, North China was an ancient ocean. Due to the crustal movement, the exposed ground rises from the seabed sediments, and purple seasonal sandstone with a thickness of more than 820 meters is formed on the south bank of the Yellow River north of Xin 'an, which constitutes the main body of this mountain. Later, under the background of the neotectonic movement of the earth's crust (about 2.4 million years ago to the present), the original seabed sediment-purplish red seasonal sandstone exposed on the surface of the earth, after a long period of water flushing, wind stripping and rain uplift, collapse and erosion, finally formed the red rock valley group here, showing the geomorphological characteristics of high gorge, long valley and mountain cave.

This geomorphological feature not only reflects the geological evolution history of this area, but also provides strong evidence for studying the evolution of the Yellow River. There are hundreds of ancient submarine sedimentary structures here, which have become a natural museum reflecting the characteristics of ancient marine sediments in northern China. The main types of ancient seabed sedimentary relics in Longtan Gorge are: high gorge urn valley, cave stone niche, corrugated schist, Tian Shu stone, pictographic stone and so on. These geological relics complement each other with the water system at the bottom of the gorge, forming a complete and harmonious natural landscape.

(a) the majestic and beautiful high gorge Lishui:

Most of the existing seasonal sandstone canyons in China have steep cliffs, and the other side has a relatively gentle slope. Longtan Gorge is a continuous canyon with two opposite walls, which is unique in China and occupies an irreplaceable position. It is rare, typical and special in science. There is a thin water in the canyon, which is connected with waterfalls and twists and turns, and reflects each other with the unique gorge, forming a wonderful gorge water system map, which has high ornamental value, research value and popular science value.

The first landscape of Longtan Gorge is a landscape painting consisting of Chibi Yan Dan, Wulong Waterfall and Wulongtan. Wulong Waterfall falls from the mouth of the hanging ditch on the Danya Cliff in Chibi, with a height of 100 meters, and its sound is like dragons singing and tigers roaring, which vibrates the valley. Below is the artificially intercepted Wulongtan, with a water surface 300 meters long and a width of 50 ~ 150 meters. This pool is full of clear water and can be used for boating.

Walking into the canyon and passing through the Huanglong Valley with lush green grass and dense forests, you will enter the most representative landscape highlight of the whole canyon-the continuous Xiongguan Dangerous Gorge Group. The most typical ones are Qinglong Gorge, Heilong Gorge and Longfei Gorge, which are vertical joints developed from Mesoproterozoic sandstone under the background of neotectonic movement. After the flowing water, they cut down the joints densely, and finally the cliffs on both sides stood upright and confronted each other. Qinglong Gorge is 60 meters long, 30 meters high and only 5 meters wide, with steep stone walls on both sides. The cliff is covered with begonia all the year round, and the green color overflows the water. At noon on a sunny day, due to the refraction of sunlight, there seems to be a dragon swimming on the cliff, hence the name "Qinglong". The total length of Heilongxia is 20 meters, higher than 50 meters, and the width is only 1 ~ 3 meters. The vertical walls on both sides are inclined, looking up at the sky, only the open air shines and the deep valley is dark, hence the name "Black Dragon". Longfei Gorge winds hundreds of meters, the cliff is uneven, the canyon is different in width, and the trend is like a dragon, hence the name.

Corresponding to the canyon are Qinglong Lake, Qinglong Waterfall, Black Dragon Pool, Black Dragon Waterfall, Tan Feilong, Longfei Waterfall, Yinyang Lake, Beaded Lake and Yixian Waterfall. The pool is five or six meters deep and the waterfall is more than ten meters high. There is a gorge in front of the pool and a waterfall behind it. Facing Guan Xia, the pool is full of pearls and waterfalls, hanging in the air, which is daunting. It can be said that piles of fascinating, tourists standing there, step by step the danger is amazing. Especially in the Black Dragon Gorge, the ditch is deep and narrow, resembling a crack. The waterfall falls from the cliff 15 meters high, and the silver flowers splash and rattle. Within the high gorge, there is light in the darkness, sound in stillness, and the static light goes out, and the fantasy is endless. Being in it is like a dream, and it seems to be in the world. It's creepy.

(2) The unique niche of Wenggu Cave:

Longtan Canyon has many natural caves. Some were formed by timely sandstone collapse, such as Wulong Cave on the rock wall on the west side of Longtan Gorge, and the headless unjust prison cave in Bailong Bay. There are also natural caves formed by the dissolution of running water (rainwater) along dolomite limestone cracks during the weathering and evolution of nature, such as HSBC Tunnel at the foot of the right cliff of Qinghe River outside Longtan Xiakou. Its cave body contains argillaceous dolomite ash layer, with well-developed cracks, different cave body widths and unfathomable caves. There is wind flowing at the mouth of the cave, cool wind in midsummer and warm wind in midwinter, which seems to be full of spring. No matter how many days, it is always pleasant, inviting people to stop and linger, so people call it HSBC Tunnel.

There are many hemispherical stone niches with internal cambered surfaces at the cliff bottom on both sides of Longtan Gorge, which is a geological phenomenon formed by the long-term erosion and rotation of sandstone in ancient marine sediments. In the Longfei Gorge, this hemispherical stone niche is lifted from the bottom of the cliff to the middle of the cliff wall, making the whole canyon mouth small and big. Looking up, if you are in an urn, it is a geological wonder-the urn valley. The hemispherical stone niche in Wenggu Valley was lifted to the middle of the cliff during the crustal movement, which is of great scientific significance for studying the characteristics of neotectonic movement and the crustal uplift speed in this area. There are two urn valleys in Longfei Canyon: the first one is the most typical, with a diameter of 20 meters and a radian of 270; The second urn valley was cut by running water and finally became deer valley.

(3) ever-changing corrugated stones:

There are a large number of collapsed flaky in the 4-kilometer-long Hongshi Canyon in Longtan Gorge. These sheets vary in size from tens of square meters to tens of centimeters square. Hundreds of different types of ripple marks can be seen on these flat sheet levels, which is a rare museum of natural ripple marks in China. These wave marks on the stone surface are formed by physical variation of primary geological deposits under the action of water or wind during the evolution of the earth, and their forms include bedding structure, wave mark structure, tent structure, spherical structure and so on. We collectively call them wave stones. Some of these corrugated stones are pinnate or herringbone, which is called pinnate cross-bedding corrugated stone; Some are chessboard-shaped, called chessboard-shaped joint corrugated stones; Some show people's fingerprints, called fingerprint stones; Some columnar joint structures are bamboo-like, called bamboo-like stones; Some patterns show the sun, moon and stars, which are called astronomical stones.

There is also a special kind of corrugated stone in the canyon, which consists of five layers of texture structures with different shapes, indicating that it was formed after five different periods of deposition. We call it five generations of corrugated stone. Its scientific value lies in that it embodies the evolution process of bedding structure of geological sedimentary rocks.

(4) The mysterious and indistinguishable gobbledygook stone:

This flake is a landscape formed by differential weathering. There are often thin layers of argillaceous sandstone or argillaceous siltstone on the surface of seasonal sandstone in medium and thick layers. After they collapse out of the surface, some of them are weathered and lost due to differential weathering, and the other part remains on the stone surface. This residue forms various patterns. Some typical patterns look like words, while others are clearly distinguishable, such as "one stone for one person"; Most of them are unrecognizable, and people call them Tian Shu Time.

(5) lifelike hieroglyphics:

There are many columnar standing stones in Longtan Gorge, some of which are the remains left by the collapse of strata and rocks, and some are the surface residues formed by the dissolution of dolomite limestone along cracks, which are called hieroglyphics because they resemble people. Those that look like people, such as ordinary stones; There are things that look like things, such as Zhenshan Tiger, Dragon-descending Staff, Twin Towers Stone and so on. There is an upright giant flaky in Baiyun Bay at the end of Longtan Gorge, which is 50 meters high. It looks like a knife from the side and a monument from the front. Firmly inserted in the ground, straight into the sky, known as the knife stele. This is a typical pictographic stone-due to the displacement of the rock block during the collapse, the originally nearly horizontal rock layer has become an upright state, standing upright on the edge of the canyon. This pictographic stone is tall and majestic, with great momentum and changeable scenery. From different angles, it is an eagle, a bird, a flying fish, a broadsword and a celestial monument. The infinite beauty endowed by nature is amazing.

(6) the grass is growing and the trees are shaded;

Longtan Canyon is remote, less disturbed by human life, rich in biological species, and the vegetation coverage rate is over 90%. Fresh air, clean water and beautiful ecological environment.

The main flowers are wild begonia, Dryopteris Dryopteris, Selaginella Pufan, Viola yedoensis, Magnolia Officinalis, Gastrodia elata, Lily and so on. And there are many families in the forest. The main natural secondary forests are oak forest, miscellaneous forest, Platycladus orientalis and Robinia pseudoacacia forest, and the main landscape trees are Pteroceltis tatarinowii, Fraxinus mandshurica, Acer negundo and Cotinus coggygria. Featured landscapes include begonia, ancient sandalwood and natural bonsai gardens.

Begonia in deep valley: In Huanglongyu and Qinglong Gorge, there is a kind of herbaceous plant that is particularly lush, that is, begonia in four seasons that urban residents like to put on balconies and books. Its thick peach-shaped leaves are as big as a baby's palm, the leaves are light green, the back of the leaves is white, the edges and veins of the leaves are lavender, and pink flowers are blooming. It is graceful and graceful on the erect or hanging fat stems, which is especially spiritual. Especially on the steep stone wall of the high gorge, there is almost no water and soil, but it can grow so vigorously, which shows that this seemingly weak grass has tenacious vitality.

Millennium ancient sandalwood: Outside the Longtan gorge, there is a Millennium ancient sandalwood standing beside the cliff, with a height of about 30 meters and a crown width of about 40 meters, with a huge crown and dense branches and leaves; The trunk has four branches from the bottom, clustered upward, with a chest circumference of 6.5 meters; The roots are bare, close to the rocks, criss-crossing, such as Panlong recumbent hill, which only absorbs water between dolomite limestone and seasonal sandstone. Its indomitable existence gives people profound enlightenment.

Natural bonsai garden: In Bailong Bay, there is a natural bonsai garden with a cluster of green trees on several big stones, with lush foliage, full of green. Especially the tall sandalwood tree, proudly growing on the bright boulder, stands out from the crowd and can't help but be awe-inspiring. "Sandalwood on green stone is poor in cold and bitter rock; I am stubborn and stand proudly through the ages. "

Longtan Gorge is a newly developed scenic spot with simple folk customs but imperfect facilities. Visitors should try to bring their own food. At present, Longtan Gorge can swim for 4 kilometers, and Bailong Bay's "knife tablet stone" is the turning point. If time is loose, you can continue to visit the canyon, but there are fewer tourists. Go back to the top of the mountain to enjoy the mountain scenery and the scenic spots under the canyon, but at present many of them have no protective measures and need to pay attention to safety.