The Mt. Thousand Lion - 剑川千狮山

3rd, Sep, 2022 - Cloudy

      Packed in hurry, Qiao and I set out from Shaxi at almost 11:00AM, arrivied Jianchuan County at about 12:00 AM. Strolling around the old town for about 1 hour, we quickly stuffed our stomach with the local specialty - Ersi (饵丝, soup noodles with marinated mince on top) then settled ourselves in a hotel at about 14:00. Considering it would be difficult for Qiao to take the little one up to the mountain, we agreed to meet later in town for dinner. I packed some water and snacks then headed to The Thousand Lion Mountain (千狮山). 

      About 30 mins' walk through the village, I arrived at the front gate of The Thousand Lion at about 15:00. Close to the lion mountain, several business farms were packed with people. Not sure whether it was weekend or there were events going on.  

     

      A ticket seller was sitting by the entrance. I asked how much the ticket was. She said it's free for now. Apparently it would be free of charge until end of September. Thus, without paying the entrance fee, I started this afternoon's journey.

      The long way of stairs at the starting point indicated that there would be a lot more stone stairs coming up, especially in Chinese tourist site like such.

the starting point

      

      Thinking of my poor broken knee, I attempted to go off the stairs and adventure into the forests. Unfortunately, it did not seem to be a wise choice since I had to get back before dark. After 999 steps...not! I finally reached the "real" entrance. Jianchuan is famous for its wood carving art. I thought lion carving might be one of the variations?

off the road

      It was a sunny yet windy afternoon. Luckily it didn't rain, otherwise I would not recommend walking on those dangerous slippery stone stairs which were largely invaded by moss. There was a newly-built "sleeping buddha" on the right after I passed the pond and two giant "door gods".

      Going a bit futher, I soon arrived to the main temple clusters. The most impressive temples here were not the regular ones situated along the main path, but those half-abandoned ones built on the cliffs. One could enjoy a good view of the distanced town.

 

 

      Initially, I thought it would be a small hill site which I could finish in about two hours' time. I did not realize that there would be more branches of paths leading to different temples. With my limited knowledge on weather in mountains, I knew it would be wise for me to finish the main sites first before the rain came. With this in mind, I proceeded on my path to the Lion King. 

      Climbing the stairs (reminded me of my 2nd day in Yubeng village, 雨崩村, all the way to "Shenpu, 神瀑" was motsly stairs too) was a lot worse than hiking along mountain ways. After another "999 steps" and the 10m wooden bridge, the sign pointing to the right "420m" showed that the Lion King was not far away. Apparently the Lion King was not the peak of this hill, there was a tower even further away. No wonder when I asked the families (who were going downhill) whether the peak was far, they hesitated to confirm, simply told me that the Lion King was over there.

     

      The 400m apparently was not easy either, especially after the previous "999+999" steps :) I reached the Lion King at 16:30. The first sight of the Lion King was worthy as it gave me an immediate "wow" impression. However, I was not happy after a few photoshots because the distanced tower was disturbing me. To the tower or not, that was the question.

      Hurrily back to the road sign, I was halted by the "2423m". On flat road, it would take me about 30mins to walk 2-3km. Stairs on a mountain 2000m above sea level under a rumbling sky with no raincoat, no possible shelter and no one in sight, I was afraid that it would be too risky. I checked the GPS on my phone, why the hell it said only 500m away?! Sun would not set until 19:30 and it was not even 17:00 right now. Why not try it? I jumped on the left side of the stairs and carried on my last adventure of the day in haste, hoping to reach the tower as soon as possible.

      Evidently, I overestimated my physical strength. Only after a few steps, I was already out of breath. I had to stop several times, drank water, rested, regained my energy, and continued climbing the stairs. The tunder had become louder, half of the sky had turned dark, I was naive enough to trust the GPS but not the road sign. The sky kept growling, I stopped and hesitated, thinking whether I should head back. Looking at my phone, it was "5mins, 500m something" and now "3mins, 290m something", my mind kept telling me, "do not give up now, it's right there!"

 

    

      In less than 20mins, I reached the tower. To my surprised, the tower was actually not the focus but the stunning view of the whole village scattering around the Jianhu Lake (剑湖). There was a seemly abandoned house 10m away from the tower. Considering my situation, I did not dare to move further. 

 

 

 

      When I got back to the temple clusters, one of the old guys who lived there, and who I believed to be working for the management told me that there was an "eight-diagram" array (八卦阵) down by the house where I did not go. 

      Well, there was a reason for me to come back for another time then.