Crossing the Twin Canyons of Northern Shaanxi: Touching the Veins of Time from Hundreds of Millions of Years Ago
In Yulin and Yan'an of northern Shaanxi, two hidden treasure tourist attractions lie deep: the Wave Valley in Jingbian County, Yulin, and the Ganquan Grand Canyon in Ganquan County, Yan'an (also known as the Yucha Grand Canyon because it is located in Yucha Village). Both are extremely unique and spectacular geological wonders on the Loess Plateau of China, but they differ significantly in geological formation, visual landscape, and visitor experience. Simply put: the Wave Valley is like colorful waves on the earth, with soft lines and brilliant colors, focusing more on visual impact on a flat surface; the Ganquan Grand Canyon is like a deep rift split open in the earth, with deep and secluded canyons, dappled light and shadows, focusing more on an immersive experience in three-dimensional space.
The main geological wonder of the Wave Valley is the red sandstone Danxia landform, formed during the Cretaceous period 96 million years ago, deposited by huge sand dunes. The red sandstone, sculpted by wind, water, and time over millions of years, has formed smooth, wave-like lines, hence the name "Wave Valley." Its texture and colors are very similar to the Wave Valley in Arizona, USA. During a self-driving trip to the western United States in 2014, I spent too much time at Arches National Park and Horseshoe Bend, so I missed visiting it, leaving a regret.
The visual experience of the Wave Valley is colorful and grand in line. The color is mainly red, mixed with gray, yellow, green, and other tones, appearing particularly vivid under sunlight, showing different beauty as the weather and light change. The forms include not only wave-like textures but also spiral-like "whirlpools," isolated steep "red cliffs," as well as naturally formed stone bridges and caves. The overall landscape is very grand.
The Ganquan Grand Canyon is a fissure-type canyon. About millions of years ago, a strong earthquake caused cracks in the loess mountain. After long-term erosion by mountain torrents and rain, sediment and water continuously cut and eroded, gradually forming the canyon we see today. Its landform type is very similar to Antelope Canyon in the United States. The visual experience is the art of light and shadow, dreamlike and illusory. The tour takes place at the bottom of the canyon, where people walk in narrow fissures with cliffs tens of meters high on both sides, providing a very immersive feeling. The light and shadow effect is the soul of the Ganquan Grand Canyon. When sunlight shines in from the narrow cracks at the top, it casts ever-changing light and shadows on the stone walls of the canyon bottom, with graceful lines and soft colors (mainly green moss and yellow sandstone), like a flowing painting, known as the "magician of light and shadow." Of course, different phones produce different effects. My old Huawei phone takes more realistic photos, while a friend's newly bought VIVO phone can capture the Tyndall effect in normal vision.
Here I will first post a few photos taken during my visit to the Lower Antelope Canyon in the United States as a keepsake.
The above photos were all taken with a Nikon camera. The phone I used at that time was probably a Huawei P6, and the effect was not as good.
First Stop: Wuhan β Xi'an
I have been to Xi'an many times since my business trips in the 1990s, and later self-driving trips to the northwest. I feel very familiar with this city. The profound history of this city makes every piece of Qin brick and Han tile seem to tell a thousand-year story. There are many places worth visiting, such as the Terracotta Warriors, Mount Hua, Huaqing Pool, Xi'an City Wall, and museums. This time, we mainly visited the Xi'an City Wall and the Tang Paradise.
This time, we adopted a mode of train + car rental, making the trip more fun and relaxing.
The ticket this time also included the opening ceremony of the city gate. Fifteen years ago, there were not so many people, and small cars could even drive into the barbican.
The Yongning Gate taken in 2010.
At that time, cars could drive in.
The music fountain at the North Square of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, also known as the Xi'an Music Fountain, is located on the central axis of the North Square of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda. The music fountain square consists of water feature fountains, cultural squares, garden landscapes, cultural corridors, and tourism and commercial facilities, making it an important Tang culture square in China. There are a large number of sculptures and statues in the square. While enjoying the music fountain, it is also a good choice to carefully appreciate these sculptures. The music fountain is divided into three areas: a hundred-meter waterfall pool, eight-level cascade pool, and front music pool. Among them, the eight-level cascade pool's eight-level variable frequency square matrix is one of the world's largest square matrices, with 1024 nozzles. It can transform into various water forms such as overwhelming waves, lotus flowers, vast sea of clouds, seagulls spreading wings, butterflies in love with flowers, and water mist, dazzling and magnificent. It is said that this is the largest sound and light music fountain in Asia.
The central axis landscape avenue of the Tang Paradise is a pedestrian street about 1500 meters long running north-south, with nine groups of themed sculptures including prosperous emperors, historical figures, and heroic stories, three-dimensionally displaying the Tang Empire's status in religion, literature, art, science, and technology, and highlighting the nation's grandeur. Relying on the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, the Tang Paradise starts from Xuanzang Square in the north, ends at the Tang City Wall Ruins Park in the south, borders Ci'en East Road in the east, and Ci'en West Road in the west, running through three themed squares: Xuanzang Square, Zhenguan Culture Square, and Kaiyuan Celebration Square. It has six imitation Tang blocks and four major cultural buildings: Xi'an Concert Hall, Xi'an Grand Theatre, Qujiang Film City, and Shaanxi Artists Gallery. At night, the Tang Paradise is brightly lit, and the imitation ancient buildings are magnificent and majestic, as if the prosperous Tang Dynasty has reappeared.
The interaction between the Unbalance Doll and tourists is the most popular show here.
Coming here feels like traveling back to the prosperous Tang Dynasty. There are handsome men and beautiful women everywhere. On a whim, four of our elder sisters transformed into the four great beauties of the Tang Dynasty.
Let me post a few photos taken fifteen years ago for comparison. At that time, the Tang Paradise was not as popular as it is now, and you could freely rent a bicycle to ride on the Xi'an City Wall, and even drive a car in.
At that time, the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda Square did not have a music fountain.
Every time I go up the city wall from Yongning Gate, I take a photo from this angle. The houses haven't changed, but the shops have all changed. Seven years ago, when I went to see the poplar forests in Ejina Banner, I stayed at a hotel nearby for one night.
Second Stop: Xi'an β Yulin
Originally, we planned to take a bullet train from Xi'an to Yulin, pick up a car, and then visit the Mahuangliang Scenic Area. However, the direct intercity train from Xi'an to Yulin was delayed by forty minutes, so the round trip to Mahuangliang would be very tight. We directly visited Yulin Old Street near our hotel. Yulin Old Street is located in the east of Yulin City, a historic street integrating groceries, goods, dining, services, culture, tourism, and ancient buildings. On the 2-kilometer-long old street, Wenchang Pavilion, Wanfo Tower Ancient Bank, Xingming Tower, Fuzhou City Bell Tower, Kaige Tower, and Drum Tower are arranged from south to north, forming a unique "six towers straddling the street" historical landscape pattern, earning the old street the reputation of "Six Towers Straddling the Street, Famous Under Heaven."
Surprisingly, both times I rented a car out of town, they had Wuhan license plates. What kind of coincidence is this?
Local people resting and entertaining in the street-side park.
On the way back to the hotel, we saw a cheerful yangko square dance.
Third Stop: Yulin β Yan'an
Today we visited the Wave Valley. The Wave Valley, also known as Jingbian Red Sandstone Canyon or Jingbian Longzhou Danxia Landform, is located in Yanjia Village, Longzhou Township, 22 kilometers southeast of Jingbian County, commonly known as Yan Village. The Wave Valley is a red sandstone landform named "The Wave" because the patterns on the rock sand resemble waves. In the 1980s, the Wave Valley was discovered at the border of Arizona and Utah in the United States. Its amazing appearance and high scientific value made it one of the world's eight major rock wonders. The Wave Valley in Jingbian also boasts red sandstone canyons comparable to those in the United States. The difference between the Jingbian Wave Valley and the American Wave Valley is not significant; both are red sandstone landforms. The Jingbian Wave Valley is younger, only 60 million years old, with much sand not yet solidified into rock.
After visiting the Wave Valley, we drove directly to the revolutionary sacred site β Yan'an.
We stayed in Yan'an for two days. On the second day, we drove for two hours to Ganquan County to visit the Ganquan Grand Canyon. The Ganquan Grand Canyon is located in Ganquan County, Shaanxi Province. It consists of scenic spots such as Huashu Gully, Huabao Gully, Longba Gully, Mudan Gully, and Yixiantian (a narrow crack), with Huashu Gully being the most outstanding. Hundreds of millions of years ago, a strong earthquake split the loess mountain into a large crack. After hundreds of years of rain erosion, it gradually formed into such a canyon. This magical geological landform is known as China's "Antelope Canyon," attracting countless photography enthusiasts to visit. When you step into this magical canyon, the winding and intersecting lines flow smoothly, the light and shadow change unpredictably, and the stunning beauty makes you sincerely admire the uncanny workmanship of nature.
The canyon still has some danger. Classmate Xiaoying had just sat on a chair to take a photo when, less than a minute later, a loose stone fell from above, landing right next to the chair. It wouldn't kill you, but it would scare you to death.
Fourth Stop: Yan'an β Xi'an
Today we drove from Yan'an to Xi'an to return the car, then took a train back to Wuhan at around 6 pm. On the way, we visited the Hukou Waterfall. Since I had visited the Yan'an Hukou Waterfall seven years ago, the original plan was to drive to Shanxi and view the Hukou Waterfall from the Shanxi side, and eat the Yellow River carp with four barbels at a restaurant near the Shanxi side. However, when we approached the Shaanxi Hukou Waterfall scenic area, a policeman was directing traffic, and I didn't notice at the time. I thought we had arrived, but actually, according to the navigation, we still needed to go further to cross the Yellow River Bridge to reach Shanxi. Because we were in a hurry, I didn't think much, saw the policeman directing traffic, and drove in directly. Also, because seven years had brought so many changes, the parking lot was different from before. Previously, we drove directly to the scenic area; this time, the car was parked far away, and we took a scenic area shuttle bus to reach the site. By the time we arrived at the gate, we realized it was still the Shaanxi Hukou Waterfall scenic area.
The Hukou Waterfall on the Yellow River is located in the Qin-Jin Grand Canyon on the Yellow River bed. East of the waterfall is Linfen area in Shanxi, and west is Yichuan County, Yan'an, Shaanxi. The Shaanxi side of Hukou Waterfall is about 35 kilometers east of Yichuan County, Yan'an. Because the Yellow River water carries a lot of sediment, this has become a rare golden waterfall in the world. When the Yellow River roars all the way to the Qin-Jin Grand Canyon, the river width suddenly narrows from over 400 meters to 50 meters, pouring into a stone trough with a drop of 30 meters. Because its shape resembles water pouring from a teapot, it is named Hukou (teapot mouth) Waterfall. Here, the Yellow River water is gathered by the canyon, converging into a single torrent, rushing and roaring down, plunging into a deep pool, splashing huge waves, and stirring up clouds of mist and water vapor, a spectacular scene. Standing by the river, one can't help but be awed. This place is also regarded as the "national spirit," "soul of the Yellow River," and a symbol of the Chinese nation's advancing spirit. The Hukou Waterfall has different scenery throughout the year. The best travel times are divided into two periods: the first is around April to May, when peach blossoms bloom near the waterfall, the frozen ice on the banks begins to melt, full of spring greenery, known as the "March Peach Blossom Flood." The second is from September to November, when the rainy season has just passed, occasional autumn breezes blow, often accompanied by rainbows, called the "Hukou Autumn Wind." Last time I visited during the National Day holiday, I saw a rainbow. In spring and autumn, the water volume is larger, and the sound of water hitting rocks is like thunder, more shocking than usual.
Finally, let me post two photos of the rainbow I encountered when visiting Hukou Waterfall seven or eight years ago.
Fifth Stop: Xi'an β Wuhan
Our itinerary this time should be seven days and five nights. We took the green train round trip from Wuhan to Xi'an, and from Xi'an to Yulin we took the intercity bullet train. The order of self-driving attractions in Yulin was: Yulin (Mahuangliang) Old Street β Water Danxia β Wave Valley β Yan'an β Ganquan Grand Canyon β (Love Valley) β Yan'an β Hukou Waterfall β Xi'an. Mahuangliang was missed due to time constraints. Love Valley is not far from Ganquan Grand Canyon. Since a friend accompanying us was unwell and resting at the hotel, we returned to Yan'an immediately after visiting Ganquan Grand Canyon.
