The First Peak in Zengcheng: A Hiking Record of Niuguzhang

Niu Guzhang

Hike the secret area of Zengcheng and admire the strange rocks and blue lakes

On September 8, 2022, at the press conference of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council, the National Health Commission advocated that the general public celebrate the National Day holiday locally. Minimize cross-city travel to avoid the risk of epidemic spread caused by large-scale movement of people. Therefore, the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday in 2022 will be just like the previous May Day holiday, with local festivals and local mountain climbing.

The hiking groups I usually follow mainly focus on short- and medium-term routes during the Mid-Autumn Festival. There are not many routes around Guangzhou, especially the Conghua Ten Climbs I have been planning this year. There is nothing I want to do. I heard about it before The scenery on the first peak of Zengcheng is pretty good, and my little brother who is going cross-country together: Qianyang also wants to go, so let’s go together.

Niuguzhang, also known as Lingshan, is the highest peak in Zengcheng with an altitude of 1084.3 meters. It is located at the junction of Paitan Town and Longmen County in the north of Zengcheng. It overlooks Nankun Mountain in the north. It is composed of four peaks over 1000 meters: 1 peak There are two young rats lying on top. The top of one peak looks like an upright bull's head with eyes, the top of one peak is like a bamboo hat, and the top of the other peak looks like a lying buffalo. Because the mountain looks like a buffalo lying in the water, it is called Niuguzhang.

Niuguzhang has steep slopes, deep valleys, waterfalls and canyons. It is sparsely populated, has dense vegetation and is primitive. It is a good place for adventure and hunting. It is said to be the last secret place in Zengcheng.

Go up the mountain

I checked the route on the two-step road before and found that Niuguzhang should be a loop route, going up the mountain from Fengyuan Village in Zengcheng, circling around the mountain and then returning to Fengyuan Village. However, due to the recent strengthening of local epidemic prevention and control, we cannot go up the mountain from this way. We must take a detour to go up the mountain, and the distance is much longer than the conventional route.

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I took the bus from Kecun Subway Station at 8 a.m. and arrived at a village an hour and a half later. I was about to take my mobile phone to check my current location.

Looking up and looking around, oh, the buildings on the mountainside in the distance looked like the hot spring hotel I had visited before - the Golden Leaf Hotel. It turned out to be Paitan Town in the northernmost part of Zengcheng District. As someone who has worked in Zengcheng for several years, I am quite familiar with the geographical location.

Once the most luxurious hot spring hotel in Zengcheng - Golden Leaf

We walked up the mountain from the right road. At the beginning, we walked in front with the leader and asked him how the road conditions were today. The leader said easily: The road up the mountain today is very gentle. It takes about two hours to walk. We walked fast. You can have lunch at the top of the mountain.

Walking up, you will see the gentler road that the leader said.

Slightly gentler uphill road

Recently, I felt a little overwhelmed when climbing mountains. I could still walk in front at the beginning, but as I climbed slowly, I fell behind. My little brother Qianyang is an expert in cross-country, so he specially waited for me to walk with him.

A place to have lunch

Let me rest my feet

After lunch, the team leader relaxed and said: I'm leaving first, you guys come up slowly, we're very close to the top of the mountain, we'll be there in half an hour.

I walked from half past twelve to one o'clock for lunch. It has been half an hour. The top of the mountain has been looking up, but I have been climbing and climbing, and I still haven't seen the top.

The team leader also posted in the group: If you can't reach the summit by two o'clock, just go back the same way. Tremendous stress. However, it is impossible to give up at this time, grit your teeth and keep moving forward.

At half past one in the afternoon, we finally saw the top. First, let’s take an altitude photo to celebrate being admitted to the first peak in Zengcheng.

The 1,000-meter peak of Niuguzhang is developed from vertical rock joints. Under the action of high temperature and rain erosion, the peak is abrupt and its sides are like a hundred-foot abyss.

The strange and beautiful mountain is exposed at the top of the mountain without any trees. Only by climbing up this rock can you reach the highest point.

In the sky, it’s time to test your body shape (you should usually pay attention to losing weight, otherwise you won’t be able to wear it if you are fat).

After crossing the sky, there was an open space of about one square meter between the big rocks. I quickly took out the drone in my backpack and flew up to see the panoramic view.

Elevation map of the first peak in Zengcheng

There are many huge stone egg shapes on the top of Niuguzhang Mountain, forming a variety of landforms. Looking at the piled rocks everywhere, they look like people and things, including stone lions, stone dogs, stone walnuts, stone elephants, and stone bears. , stone unicorn, stone ape and monkey...the images are all there, full of fun, as if they are sculptures in the hands of an artist.

There is also a large flat rock on the top of the mountain, which is where we rest and gather. It is also the best place for everyone to have concave and convex shapes and show off their beauty.

After waiting on the big rock for nearly an hour, around 2:30, the last few people in the group successfully reached the top and quickly came to take a group photo. Start going down the mountain.

Go down the mountain

The process of going down the mountain can be divided into three sections. The first section is a relatively steep wild road, and the second section is around the Big Pig Dou Water. The first section is a flat road leading to the reservoir, and the third section is a thousand-step stairway along a large water pipe.

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The first section of the descent is just like the usual descent. The mountain road is steep and you need to be careful when descending.

The reservoir in the distance is just the midpoint, not the end point

At 3:20 in the afternoon, suddenly the front suddenly opened up, and the green Dazhudou Reservoir appeared in front of us. It turned out that we had finished the first section of the descent.

The setting sun was shining on the water. Against the light, we could see our disciples on the embankment on the other side. We thought they were very close, so we walked over and it shouldn’t be far. After walking for a while, we discovered that the reservoir was shaped like a gourd , you need to walk half a circle around the lake, and it takes about half an hour to reach the other side.

big

Zhudou Reservoir sign

The lake water is really blue under the sun, and the stones are scattered at random, dotted on the shore, or standing out in the water , which makes it a wonderland. In the reservoir, I also saw a family of three. The father and his children were playing in the reservoir.

Today I walked faster and came to the embankment on the other side. It was still early, so I took out the drone again and recorded the beautiful scenery of the reservoir.

Big Pig Dou Reservoir Elevation Map

The reservoir is surrounded by mountains. It is as quiet as the sea and as blue as a dream. The gentle breeze ruffles the blue water and dissipates any trace of fatigue. It is refreshing!

Big PigDou Reservoir panoramic video

The famous slipper leader in 1778 - Xiaoxue

Go down the road, see the leader, turn a corner and you will come We reached the daunting Thousand-Step Water Pipe Stairs, which had a vertical angle of 60 degrees and were so steep that one could not see the end. We held our breath, squatted, and slowly moved down step by step. It was really physically and mentally torturous.

At this moment, I didn’t “submit” anyone, so I could only hold on to the big water pipe next to me and slowly move down.

After walking for more than half an hour, I heard Qian Yang reporting in the distance: I saw a flat road. Sure enough, I saw a flat road. As the end of the stone step road, I must sit down and take a rest to take a picture.

At 4:50 in the afternoon, after walking out of this iron railing, this hike to the first peak of Zengcheng was basically over.

Hiking tracks recorded by friends

When we arrived at the finish line, we found that there was a resort nearby. Although the price of meals was much more expensive than the farm, it was very refreshing to be able to find a clean restroom, wash ourselves off, and change into clean clothes.

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Eat some rice noodles to fill your stomach

Happiness comes naturally

After eating and drinking, I went to sleep on the bus. At 8:20 pm, I returned to Kecun subway station and took a photo with my friend Qianyang to commemorate our One Day in Zengcheng tour.

After going down the mountain, we both changed into Guangzhou 100 competition uniforms by chance.

"I like climbing mountains,

There can be many reasons, or no reason at all.

Just because the mountains are there. "

The First Peak in Zengcheng: A Hiking Record of Niuguzhang

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