One-Day Trip to Shenlingzhai
Without ostentation, without clamor, ordinary yet not mediocre. In early summer, Shenlingzhai is simple and gentle, with a quality as pure as jade, stripped of all unnecessary embellishments, so genuine that you linger and cannot bear to leave, as if seeing your childhood self running through time... On May 16th, a weekend, good friends invited me to visit Shenlingzhai—such a kind offer could not be refused. I got up at six sharp, washed up and had breakfast, and set off at seven. Old friends, we talked about everything under the sun. On the bus, our mouths never stopped; we cracked sunflower seeds while chatting about all sorts of things, from the global development of the COVID-19 pandemic to the beef soup we had this morning. Whatever weighed on our hearts at other times was no burden now—as long as we were happy, happiness accompanied us, and everything else could step aside. The journey was 90 kilometers, neither rushed nor slow, and we arrived at our destination around nine—Shenlingzhai.
"Bamboo Hometown in the North, Paradise on Earth"—Shenlingzhai. Life here is filled with freedom, comfort, and ease. Gentle grass, towering peaks, babbling brooks—Shenlingzhai is a place untouched by the secular world. Walking through such a wonderful place, feeling every blade of grass and every tree, is like strolling in a free paradise.
The waters of Shenlingzhai are clear, beautiful, gentle, and secluded. The flowing waterlines resemble a beautiful maiden’s flowing hair, like a picturesque gallery. Streams give birth to cascading waterfalls, and flowing waterfalls nurture emerald pools. Waterfall after waterfall, pool after pool, each step brings a new view, and the scenery changes with every step. Viewing the mountains is about roaming, and enjoying the water is about playing. The riverbeds of Shenlingzhai are all made of granite; the stream water flows slowly over the rock slabs. People can freely roll up their pants, go barefoot, and wade through the flowing water for endless fun.
Within the more than 10 kilometers of the Shenling Grand Canyon, there are stone waterfall landscapes scattered in an orderly manner—some high, some low, some lying, some standing, some with a single waterfall rushing down, and some with multiple waterfalls competing. Based on their shapes and scales, they are mainly classified as Flying Waterfall, Giant Waterfall, Dragon Waterfall, Stacked Waterfall, Curtain Waterfall, Radish Waterfall, Skirt Waterfall, Wall Waterfall, and Immortal Peach Waterfall. The Chinese Stone Waterfall Group is the most fascinating geological landscape in Shenlingzhai Park. The stone waterfalls here are grand in scale, with a single face 218 meters high and 578 meters wide, formed by a granite mountain body over 2,460 meters thick after years of rainwater erosion. The shapes are peculiar, elegant, varied, and magnificent. They mainly include four types: Curtain Waterfall, Radish Waterfall, Hanging Waterfall, and Stacked Waterfall. They look like a river pouring down or the Milky Way cascading backwards—nature’s uncanny workmanship is truly breathtaking, worthy of being called a unique wonder of China. The Stone Waterfall Group is the main geological landscape in the park, concentrated on both sides of the main peak of Huashan. The largest stone waterfall covers an area of 100,000 square meters, and the smallest is over 1,000 square meters.
Halfway along the winding path, a huge glass water slide came into view. I experienced the thrilling glass water slide project. It uses a steel frame with transparent tempered glass as the trough. The glass water slide has S-shaped and C-shaped curves, passing through forests and valleys, splashing spray, thrilling and exciting. With screams rising one after another, we sped down—truly exhilarating, thrilling and enjoyable at the same time.
We rode the glass water slide all the way down to the foot of the mountain. In the scenic area, we found a very stylish hotel. On the small wooden tables and stools in the yard, my friends, already exhausted, collapsed on the beds, forgetting the tension and chaos of the outside world and the fatigue of the journey. The tense nerves immediately relaxed, and we quietly enjoyed ourselves. All the decorations in the hotel were made from local bamboo, making it feel natural and comfortable both in appearance and use. The wind passed by and left a trace... Leaving the hustle and bustle of the city, we enjoyed inner nature and tranquility in Shenlingzhai.
