Playing in Changbai Mountain, traveling information on the north and west slopes
When we set out in the morning, the weather was very hot. The family drove south and passed through Changchun just as the beltway was closed due to road construction, so they had to go through the city. For self-drivers, mountain roads and waterways are not scary. What they fear most is highway closures. Driving into the city will cause traffic jams and delay the trip, which is extremely annoying. After passing Changchun, the road becomes much easier, and the closer you get to Changbai Mountain, the cooler the air and the more beautiful the scenery. Leave the expressway from Lushuihe Town and take the mountain path to Erdaobaihe Town. Along the way, you can see many beekeepers busy harvesting honey.
To travel to Changbai Mountain, you need to visit two small towns, one is Erdaobaihe Town (Chibei District), and the other is Songjianghe Town (Chixi District). It is said that Changbai Mountain originally had three slopes: north slope, west slope and south slope. This year, the south slope is not open, so you can only visit the north slope and west slope. Climbing is easy on the north slope, and tourists can take a car directly to the top of the mountain, while the west slope requires climbing 1,442 steps. So we went to North Slope first and stayed in Erdaobaihe Town. If you want to visit the Swan Scenic Area (Shiwudaogou), you should go to the west slope first, because it is much closer to the scenic area.
It was already noon when we arrived at Erdaobaihe. I thought it would be cool in the mountainous area, but the temperature outside the car showed 30 degrees, which was only a little lower than home. After driving around the town for a few times, I felt a little deserted. I couldn't see any groups of tourists or passing vehicles. Fortunately, the town is well developed, with clean streets, numerous fast food hotels, and many beautiful attractions. It is a standard tourist city. While driving, I discovered that there were no traffic lights on the streets of the town, and only electronic surveillance was used to maintain order. The scenic spots in the town are worth seeing, including Meirensong Park, Tianlun Square, Zhonghua Sand Duck Park, etc.
After lunch, seeing that the weather was fine, the family excitedly drove towards the north slope, but the kind-hearted people they met there persuaded them to return. In everyone's words, no tourists will climb the mountain in the afternoon because there is not enough time to see the scenic spots and the full tour will take one day. We had no choice but to drive back. Because the mobile phone navigation signal was interrupted, the three road idiots took the wrong road and somehow ended up at a construction site. When I ran out after all the hard work, I looked up and saw that I didn't know where I was. I judged from the billboards around me that it should be a place called "Gem Town".
It was almost evening when I came to Erdaobai River again. I went to Meirensong Park for a while and saw many little ducks swimming on the river, chasing tourists for food. I felt that the town was very suitable for leisure life. . The air in the town is cool at night, the lights are brightly lit, and it is very beautiful. At this time, there were more people on the road. There were people drinking, chatting, dancing, and in short, doing everything. Walking along the riverside of the town and admiring the leisurely scene in front of you, you really fall in love with this place. I once had the idea of moving my family here and living here for the rest of my life.
As the saying goes, it’s better to go hiking early, when there are fewer people and the scenery is better. I got up early and had dinner in the town, then drove to the Chibei Mountain Gate. When I got there, I found that there was already a queue. I jogged all the way to check tickets, queue up, and take the bus. It was really smooth with few people. In everyone's words, right now, if you don't queue for an hour or two, you can't get into the mountain. It's so crowded. As the bus was driving up the mountain, I wanted to take more photos, but I found that except for the tall trees on both sides of the road, I couldn't see anything else. There were no mountains or water. I know that I am walking in the mountains, but I can't see the shadow of the mountains at all, which is depressing.
The bus was spinning around on the boulevard, and some passengers were already starting to get motion sick. I was originally afraid of this, so I quickly got a piece of candy and put it in my mouth. But the big one and the small one at home had no problem, and they were even a little happy when the car swayed. At this time, I couldn't help but worry for everyone, because this is the first section of the road, and it is said that the second section of the road will be more dangerous. After arriving at the mid-level transfer station safely, we found that the weather was nice and decided to buy a ticket to go to the summit Tianchi immediately. The road from the transfer station to the top of the mountain was really exciting. The mountain was high and the road was dangerous. The ride was so fast that it almost knocked the soul out of the car. Everyone enjoyed it.
Changbai Mountain Tianchi, if you haven’t seen it with your own eyes, you really don’t know that there is such a beautiful clear water in the world, and such a charming deep blue, it can make people stunned. I remember seeing a credit card with Baishan Tianchi as the background, but now I really doubt whether the designer has seen Tianchi with his own eyes. At this time, the sun was shining brightly on the top of the mountain, and there was a hint of coolness in the wind. My wife brought two long-sleeved clothes for my daughter and me to wear. I asked her, "Aren't you cold?" She said, "When you go out, you must protect yourself first. Photographers are good.” I was very moved and put on my clothes silently.
As the saying goes, to see Tianchi, you have to put your character into consideration. It is said that it is not easy to see Tianchi clearly without any obstruction. Now that you have seen it, let’s look at it for a while. While looking at Tianchi, I looked at the big one and the small one at home, running around happily like two crazy monkeys. I felt that although the trip was hard, it was still worth it. I remember someone said that you can just watch the scenery on TV, as high-definition is not crowded. In fact, I want to say that no matter how high-definition the TV is or how live the mobile phone is, it will never be able to give you the ultimate feeling of being at the top of the mountain, overlooking the clouds, mountains and fog, and breathing the smooth air.
After coming down from Tianchi, we enjoyed the magnificent scenery of Changbai Mountain again on the way down.
On the way to Changbai Waterfall, I found a hot spring beside the road for everyone to wash their hands. My daughter-in-law said at this time: "It seems that the bathrooms on the top of the mountain all use hot springs, because the water is hot." It is really enviable and jealous. You know, the price of bathing in the mountain hot springs is almost 100 yuan per person. Looking at the hot springs all over the ground, I really wanted to take off my clothes and boil them for a while. My wife said that this idea was a little crazy. I happened to see a waterfall on the mountain, and I said, "How about I stand under the waterfall and you take a picture of the water in my head?"
The area near Changbai Falls is more fun and there are many people. On the way back to Green Yuantan, Xiaotianchi and the underground forest, none of them are as beautiful as here. When we arrived at the underground forest, we were not far from the mountain gate. The total length of the forest is more than 3 kilometers, and it takes about an hour to go back and forth. Most tourists only choose to walk there for a while. We walked for about 20 minutes. When we came out, we met many people who asked us if we had walked to the end and whether it was nice inside. We couldn’t answer, so we could only smile at each other. In fact, everyone knew that not many people could still walk at the end of the day. If you can, just leave.
It was already around 3pm when we left Beishanmen. Thinking about it, we entered the venue at 8:30 in the morning, and the whole day passed by just like that. Following the return traffic, we walked back without taking the wrong route this time and arrived at the small town of Erdaobaihe smoothly. After dinner, we drove to the direction of Songjianghe Town and went to see Tianchi in the west. Erdaobai River is not far from Songjiang River, about 90 kilometers. It is connected by a mountain road in the middle. The whole journey takes about one and a half hours. There are lush trees along the way, blocking out the sun and still not being able to see the mountains in the distance, which makes people feel very boring. Arrive at the western slope at night.
We arrived at Xipo and booked a hot spring hotel. The big and small kids at home were so energetic that they didn’t come out until midnight. When I woke up in the morning, the sky was a little gloomy, and I wondered if I could see Tianchi today. Then I thought again, I had already seen it on the North Slope, maybe today I can appreciate what the Tianchi looks like in the clouds and mist. Xipo took a bus from the distribution center to the mountain gate. Construction was going on along the way and it was very bumpy. There are still no mountains visible along the way, but after entering the scenic spot, I found that the entrance here is lush with vegetation, which is more beautiful than the north slope.
Continuing to ride up the mountain, I discovered that there are many flowers and plants on the west slope, which is indeed much more beautiful than the north slope. The northern slope of the mountain is desolate, while the western slope looks like an alpine garden. There was fog in the mountains, and driving in the fog soon made many people faint again. The aunt sitting next to me was talking and laughing with me, but then she also lay on her seat and became silent. Looking back at the whole car, it seems that there is not much energy. I comforted her and said: "Be patient, we are almost there." She asked me: "Can you see Tianchi when you get off the car?", I said: "Get off the car and climb 1442 steps and you can see it." Her expression immediately changed. Seems more painful.
After arriving at the station, everyone staggered out of the car and looked at the long stairs. Many people probably felt like crying. I remember that there were 999 steps to climb Tianchi in Aershan. I climbed until my arms and legs cramped, but there were actually 1,442 steps here. It was raining and foggy, and I was not allowed to hold an umbrella. It was really going to kill me. After hesitating for a long time, my wife and daughter kept encouraging me, saying that I was better than those old men and women. If I spent half a day, I would definitely be able to go up. Speaking of which, don’t be scared by the 1,442 steps. In fact, the slope here is very gentle, and it is not tiring to climb up.
On the west slope at this time, the sea of clouds is surging on the mountain, and the flowers are blooming on the mountain. The scenery is really beautiful. In addition to beautiful iris flowers, you can occasionally see naughty little squirrels on the roadside. The little things are not afraid of people at all and only focus on eating. Tourists stopped to take pictures when they saw it. They wanted to give it something to eat, but when they opened their bags, there was nothing except water. It seems that everyone knows that they should take less things with them when climbing mountains. While some people were going up the mountain, others were going down the mountain. The people coming down the mountain encouraged everyone to go up quickly because they can still see Tianchi. People who went up the mountain were full of energy and wanted to reach the top of the mountain as soon as possible.
The thick fog was blown by the wind in the mountains, chasing the climbers. People quickened their pace and finally reached the observation deck. At this time, Tianchi, although there was fog around it, was still clear, and everyone began to raise their mobile phones to take pictures. The west slope viewing platform is much narrower than the north slope, but the viewing angle of Tianchi is very spacious, but it is not easy to take a panoramic photo. The sky is gloomy, Tianchi is still blue, and the clouds and mist that originally chased tourists bypass the peak and flow into the distance. It seems that the magical Changbai Mountain does take care of these tourists. In order to allow everyone to see clearly, the thick fog is not allowed to stay on the top of the mountain.
On the way down the mountain, we passed the Grand Canyon, Alpine Garden, Wangchi and other scenic spots. When it comes to actually visiting, I think the Grand Canyon is pretty good. It’s not tiring to walk here, and the scenery is much better than the underground forest on the north slope. There are huge boulders in the mountains and gurgling water below the mountains. Especially the plants on both sides of the plank road give people a primitive and multi-layered feeling. After seeing these scenery, it was already past three o'clock in the afternoon when we left the west slope. In comparison, although the west slope is inferior to the north slope, the mountains are full of greenery, including Tianchi, stairs, squirrels, and irises. Everything is more interesting.
Well, after coming out of the west slope, our family's trip to Changbai Mountain is over. The next stop is to Yanyu Ji'an. This article has a lot of words, so I guess it will be difficult for you to persist through it. Thank you very much! After coding so many words, it can only be described as a simple itinerary record. However, the beauty of Changbai Mountain can be seen in the eyes and remembered in the heart, but it cannot be fully expressed in words. I can only hope that everyone can experience it in person. And after we went there, we never thought that we would overcome the obstacles and be able to ride a car, climb a mountain, and persist in the whole journey. Looking back now, the happiness is beyond words.
Writing here, the full text ends. Let this trip become a beautiful memory.
Maybe it won’t be long before we make another trip to Changbai Mountain!