Yuntai Mountain from Luoyang: Red Stone Gorge, Tanpu Gorge and Macaque Valley, 4 Days 3 Nights

We leave Luoyang at eight, change from the Erguang to the Jiaotong expressway and reach the Anshang service area around ten, dropping bags before lunch. The first stop after eating is the Red Stone Gorge, a one-way route that starts down a flight of steps to the valley floor, where the walls run dark red and the water between the rocks is green. The walkway hugs the cliff with only a strip of sky overhead, narrow enough in places to touch both sides. The exit opens onto Zifang Lake and a shuttle back to the service area.

Attraction introduction: The Red Stone Gorge, also called Wenpen Valley, is the innermost gorge of Yuntai Mountain, cut through dark red quartz sandstone of the Danxia type, with water all year forming a chain of pools and falls. It is walked in one direction only, and the air inside stays cool even in summer, no more than about twenty degrees.

Tips: There is no toilet inside the gorge, so use one before entering. Guests generally find the light enters at an angle between nine and ten, when the red rock reads truest. In practice we put the gorge on the arrival afternoon, when the crowd is half of the morning and the path never jams.

A shuttle takes us to Xiaozhaigou in the morning for Tanpu Gorge first. The path is flat and two kilometres each way, a pool every dozen steps and a fall a dozen after that, with the sound of water all the way. The first stretch has shallows where feet can go in, and the water clears as you go deeper. At the far end the walls narrow and curve toward each other into a heart shape. Lunch is back at the service area, then Macaque Valley next door, where the troop sits along the walkway and shows run on the hour.

Attraction introduction: Tanpu is one of three sites in Xiaozhaigou, named for the density of springs, falls and pools along a flat two kilometre path that ends at the heart-shaped gorge. Macaque Valley is named for the wild Taihang macaques that live there, with feeding points and scheduled shows, plus a forest slide at twenty yuan up, forty down and fifty return.

Tips: The macaques grab, and plastic bags or snacks left in the open will be taken. Guests generally find the Tanpu path is wet all year and smooth soles slip. In practice we walk Tanpu in the morning when the water is clear and the crowd thin, leaving the afternoon for the monkeys and avoiding their most active hours.

The morning shuttle climbs through the Diecai tunnels, nineteen bores one after another, with only sections of sky visible from the window. At the base station we switch to the cable car and are on top in minutes, with the Xuandi Palace just above the upper station. The wind on the summit is strong and the ridge of the Taihang runs south as far as the eye reaches. Lunch is on the mountain, then we descend toward Phoenix Ridge past Chongyang Pavilion and the Laojun shrine, with the glass walkway at twenty yuan extra. The cable car down leaves from the Phoenix Ridge station.

Attraction introduction: Zhuyu Peak rises to one thousand three hundred and eight metres and is the main summit of Yuntai Mountain, the place where Wang Wei wrote his poem about brothers on the ninth day of the ninth month. The Xuandi Palace on top honours the Dark Warrior, and the cable car arrives directly below it. The Diecai tunnels are the only road up from the service area, nineteen bores spiralling inside the mountain.

Tips: The summit runs five or six degrees cooler than the valley and the wind cuts. Guests generally find the walk from Zhuyu to Phoenix Ridge is mostly downhill in that direction, which is easier than the reverse. In practice anyone with weak knees takes the cable car both ways and still walks the flat middle section, losing nothing of the view.

Half a morning remains, and it goes to Quanpu Gorge. The first stretch of the three kilometres holds little scenery, so a few yuan on the electric cart saves the legs. The water grows louder further in, and at the end the Yuntai sky fall drops more than three hundred metres in a single line down the cliff face. November has taken most of the volume and only a thin thread remains, but the height of the wall above still presses down. Lunch at the service area, bags packed, and the road back to Luoyang at two, arriving around five.

Attraction introduction: Quanpu Gorge, formerly Laotan Gully, is the deepest valley in the park, ending at the Yuntai sky fall with a single drop of three hundred and fourteen metres, among the tallest single falls in the country. Volume follows the season, fullest from June to September, and ice columns form in winter.

Tips: Expect little water in November, which is normal rather than a fault. Guests generally find the first kilometre and a half of Quanpu holds almost no scenery and the cart is worth the fare. In practice we save it for the departure morning so the walk ends at the car park with no block of time lost.