Rising to 1,056m (3,464 ft.), Yandangshan is my favorite mountain park in China, a feeling that is heightened by the knowledge that I am one of the few foreigners to have explored here, even though accessibility is good and prices are, for the time being, reasonable. The peaks themselves are magnificent works of natural beauty, combining danger and elegance, seclusion and mystery. Unfortunately, the man-made structures are less impressive, and as usual, propaganda centers such as the Revolutionary Martyrs' Memorial (Le Qing Ge Ming Lie Shi Ji Liang Guan) on Jingming Lu can safely be skipped.
There is much more to explore. The Wild Goose Lake (Yan Hu Gang) at the summit (¥10/$1.30/65p) has fantastic sunrises. There's an amazing stone arch locally known as The Immortal Bridge (Xian Qiao), while the Xiansheng Gate (Xiangsheng Men; ¥10/$1.30/65p) is a temptation to any serious climber. The Three-Step Waterfall (San Zhi Pu; ¥10/$1.30/65p) with its extinct volcano also has a cable car.
Touring or Exploring? -- While weekend crowds from Wenzhou and the rest of Zhejiang arrive in startling numbers, they generally stay with their tour groups and stick to the designated paths. That means it is easy to get away and explore. Be warned that paths up and down rock cliff faces can be treacherous in the wet season. To escape the hordes up at Da Long Qiu Jing Qu, put your money back in your pocket and walk out of the car park, back toward Yandangshan. There is a road that forks off to the left, up into a tiny village of maybe a dozen houses. Follow the stream up through the back yards to the left and then on beyond the concrete reservoir. Here it starts to get interesting: The track switches sharply back and forth across the mountain stream well up into the clouds. At one point the track splits just below a waterfall. I checked the path leading away over the side of the gorge, but I wanted to leave something for next time and continued up to the left. I stumbled under a collapsing watchtower, slowly being consumed by the vegetation. Then perhaps 100m (328 ft.) on the plateau beyond, the ruined remains of a very early stone settlement appeared out of the mists. Parts of the buildings remain, but it is the deep terraces both above and below that are most impressive. I tried to descend on the eastern side of the mountain but the terraces disappear after about 100m (328 ft.) and all that remains is the equivalent of a toboggan training run; if you are lucky, the sheer number of spiders' webs will slow you down. Eventually the track emerges onto a stone path that leads down to the ticket office.
