Feihuyu and Kongzhong Grassland (Inner Mongolia–Hebei–Liaoning, Part 10, Sept 2023)

In ancient times, the Taihang Mountains had eight passes; today I travel through Feihu Pass once more.

Back to the Taihang Mountains! How many times now? At least five or six.

I love the massiveness and towering grace of the Taihang peaks; I love their rock forests and tumbled stone faces; I love the old stone houses and courtyards; I love the wartime stories woven through these mountains…

Yesterday, while taking a taxi, I arranged a charter with the driver: we would set off at noon today, go through Feihuyu to Kongzhong Grassland, then he’d drop me near the Baishishan Scenic Area in Laiyuan County for the night.

A farmhouse courtyard by the roadside.

Baidu tells me: Feihu Pass, also called Feihukou, lies north of present-day Laiyuan County in Hebei and south of Yuxian. Cliffs rise sheer on either side, a single thread of a path winding through for more than a hundred li. An ancient saying calls it: holding Feihu means grasping the throat and striking the back, pressing on towards You and Yan — the most superb strategic ground.

There is grassland on top of the Taihang Mountains!

At the junction of Yuxian, Laiyuan, and Linghou counties, these high Taihang meadows are grassland, pastureland — blue skies, white clouds, cattle, sheep, horses… everything a grassland should have. Small wonder that a driver from Zhangjiakou, when I was on the Zhangbei Grassland Sky Road a few days ago, said this grassland outshines Zhangbei’s.

Kongzhong Grassland is a ticketed scenic area; you need an entrance ticket and also a ticket for the electric sightseeing cart. There weren’t many visitors that day, and the cart wasn’t willing to make a special loop for just one or two people. They had me buy an entrance ticket, then pay for two cart tickets, and let my hired driver take his car in instead. That suited me fine — we could stop whenever and wherever I pleased for photos.

We drove cautiously up the winding mountain road, and around six in the evening, we reached the Baishishan Scenic Area in Laiyuan, now already part of Baoding. After I settled my accommodation, I said goodbye to the driver.

To tell the truth, without a vehicle, this route really isn’t suited to backpackers. Chartering a car on my own, though it cost a little more, saved me time and energy — and felt deeply worthwhile.