Good morning! After breakfast, your guide and driver will meet you at your hotel. Then, you will be driven not far to the entrance of Fanjingshan to discover this world well-known fantastic holy mountain along the popular south route for about 7 hours.
Fanjingshan National Nature Preserve was listed as the UNESCO World Natural Heritage in 2018 with the peculiar conspicuous mountains formation in sea of karst retained from the remote era 65-2 million years ago and praised as the No.5 Buddhist Mountain in China for being the place of enlightenment of Buddha Maitreya.
Enter the mountain and take a sightseeing bus for about 20 minutes to Yu’ao Station and continue to take the cable car there to catch a bird’s eye view of the dense emerald forest of Mount Fanjing during another 20 minutes in the air. Now, start your hiking from the Forest Hiking Road with 45 minutes up to witness the famous Mushroom Stone. It is the landmark of Fanjingshan and draws people’s follow by its unbelievable image of the bigger top quadrate putting off center on the smaller quadrate bottom, which forms like a mushroom vividly and seems easy to fall. However, for one million years, it just stands so still there after centuries of rain, snow, wind and sunburn. Remember to take a standard photo of tourists with it!
Then, continue to hike for about 30 minutes to the Old Golden Summit and walk up to its peak. With an elevation of 2,494 meters, it is the best observation deck to appreciate the panorama of Fanjingshan with layers of forest of strange shaped stones, rolling verdant mountain range, and vegetation forest in light and dark green. Also, from the summit, you will see the iconic Red Clouds Golden Summit clearly from a distance.
Then, walk down gradually to admire the natural scenery along the way to visit the sacred Buddhist attractions including Wanming Cave, Buddha Worshipping Stage, Monk Pagoda, Pudu Square, etc. You will not miss the Cheng En Temple that was built first from the Ming Dynasty and one of the four royal temples at Fanjingshan. Walk in the major temple with solemn scarlet walls and dark tiles, worship among the about 10 halls, and imagine the rising and falling and recovery of Fanjingshan’s Buddhist status in the past hundreds of years.
Here, take your challenge to hike along the narrow, steep and rough steps with iron chain up to Red Clouds Golden Summit that shows particularly often on Fanjingshan photographs. This thumb-like peak is a world rare miracle erecting about 100 meters high from the flatter mountain bed millions of years ago and is separated with two peaks and a gorge by natural wearing and with a bridge linked between. After reaching the top, visit the appealing Temple of Buddha, the bridge and Maitreya Temple in sequence to feel walking from present to the future in Buddhist belief. While witnessing the hard-to-believe difficulty of building houses on such a steep crest, stand on the peak to command the panoramic view of Fanjingshan and enjoy the feeling of being in the “space in the sky”. (Note: You can choose to go up or not considering your physical condition at that time. Just tell your needs to the guide.)
After the physical consuming hiking, walk by Jingxin Pool and go to see Wanbao Rock. You will truly believe Fanjingshan was in fact a part of ocean in the remote 1.4 million years ago by the strong proof of the cobbles, shells, paleontological fossils, and so on left within the shale rock there.
After the amazing sightseeing hiking exploration, take the cable car and sightseeing bus down to exit Fanjingshan Scenic Area. You will be driven to Tongren City for accommodation. Have a good sleep!
