Dandong Dagushan, a mountain trail through caves and stone forests
There is a fork in the road above the ginkgo tree, leading to the temple complex on Dagushan.
The left path has fewer temples, with only a Land God Temple, while the right path has more. The temple complex is also concentrated there, so I decided to take the right path first to have a look. However, after climbing up, I found that, like the lower temple complex, none were open, so I couldn't go in for a visit. This included the Land God Temple on the left path, which was also closed 🙇
Having no other choice, I had to go back down. I originally wanted to climb up from another trail, but when I reached the corner, I saw another fork in the road in the same direction as the temple complex, leading to the stone forest trail. I decided to explore this stone forest trail 🧐
The stone forest trail is a bit difficult to walk on, with all the large rocks, so you have to be careful.
After walking a distance, I saw a large crack in a rock that looked like a cave 🧐
After checking in outside, I entered the cave to explore. Inside, there were some statues placed on the ground and on the rock formations. The cave felt very serene, a good place for solitude and reflection. It would also be a great shelter from the rain 😁
After coming out of the cave, I continued on the mountain trail through the stone forest.
The bunches of grass by the stone forest trail really made for the most beautiful scenery 🧐
I followed the trail to the end of the stone forest, where I saw a small path turning left. Following this path, I saw a small path going down on the left, but luckily I didn't go straight down from there, otherwise, I wouldn't have reached the summit 😓
Later on, I also found a not-so-obvious path above. I tried walking up and it really was like finding a bright spot in the dark, a village after the twisty turns. I kept turning left and right until I reached a rock to check in with the rising sun ☀️
The higher I climbed, the broader the view became, enjoying the coolness of nature up there 🤷♂️
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Dandong Dagushan Guanhaiting
Due to the fact that the temple complex at Tianhou Palace was inaccessible, I had to walk back down the original staircase and then continue climbing up the steps🚶
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There is a building called 'Zhongnan Qingfeng' along the way where you can check in. The deep purple wooden door really has a profound sense, and there is something on top that looks like a gourd, which is quite fun😁
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After a simple check-in and a little rest while eating something, I continued on my way. Next to the staircase path above, there is a tower with various statues placed on the ground, probably including everything. In any case, there are at least dozens of statues arranged there, and each niche in the tower also has a statue🧐
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After saying goodbye to this tower, I encountered a stone stele of the Dagushan Shengshui Palace Anbu Nakamaro's ruins and left my footprints there🙇
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After coming up from the stone stele of Anbu Nakamaro's ruins, I saw this Guanhaiting at the left corner.
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After turning up, I first sat in the pavilion to rest for a while. It was only when I was about to leave that I remembered to check in at the rock seat for this Guanhaiting (I didn't recognize the middle character as 'hai' at first, and I thought to take a photo first and then look at it slowly, but I couldn't figure out what it read. This bothered me for a long time until today when I suddenly had an inspiration and tried to look it up. Dagushan indeed has a Guanhaiting, so I confirmed it reads 'hai'🧐).
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Opposite the Guanhaiting, there was also a beautiful yellow flower bed, so I casually checked it in as well😁
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After saying goodbye to the Guanhaiting, a fork in the road appeared next. One path was a seemingly desolate road going forward, marked as the path to the summit, while the right side was the staircase path of the temple complex.
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I was indecisive here for a long time and asked several people. After confirming that both sides could lead to the summit, I followed the staircase path on the advice of passers-by😁
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After climbing the staircase path for a while, I saw that this side was actually the upper temple complex of Dagushan, while the one below was the lower temple complex.
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There is a nine-hundred-year-old ginkgo tree here, which can also be considered a thousand-year-old ginkgo tree, so I had to check it in😁
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The area around the ginkgo tree was also hung with long prayer strips, densely packed and really beautiful😁