Heaven’s Gate Mountain

Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park (Source: http://goo.gl/Tlr74j)

Introduction of Tianmen Mountains (Heaven’s Gate Mountain):

The elevation of Tianmen Mountains is 1518.6 meters (the highest one in Zhangjiajie); people may feel amazing that about 40 peaks inside the mountain area are over 1000 meters. Due to the high elevation of the mountain, the day time is longer than the night hours and the temperature on the mountains is about 10 degree centigrade lower than the Zhangjiajie city, the sunrise on the mountain is 30 minutes earlier and the sunset is 45 minutes later than it is in the city areas. Thus it is known as an endless sky without darkness. 

The mountain is famous for its unique natural miracle – the Tianmen Cave; it was authorized as a national forest park in July, 1992. The door-alike cave was created after the cliff collapsing in ancient time. Tianmen Mountains is rich in Chinese culture; it is regarded as the Top 1 Heaven Mountain in the west part of Hunan province and the sprit of Wuling (an old name of the county here). This place has absorbed the essence from the nature for thousands years, therefore visiting the holy temple on the mountain – Tianmenshan Temple has become a popular way to pray for a safe and healthy life.  

Four wonders at Tianmen Mountains (Heaven Gate Mountain):

– The Tianmenshan Mountain Cableway: It is the longest mountain cableway in the world, the hypotenuse length of the cableway is 7455 meters, starting from the city center of Zhangjiajie to the ‘Hanging Garden’ on the peak. Guests may feel how hard when it was built once sitting in the cable car. The amazing man-made project will bring you a memorable experience seeing the changing of mountain views and landscapes.

Tianmen Mountains (Source: http://goo.gl/NHOuK6)

– Tianmen Cave (means the Heaven’s Gate in Chinese): The cave is on the precipices and is over 1260 meters elevation, the height of the cave is 131.5 meters and the width is about 50 meters, the unusual grotto is grand and magnificent. The cave is like the door to heaven; it looks like the junction of common world and the place where god lives. Guest may need to walk up 999 steps to reach the cave, it will be tried but lucky, because ‘9’ is the biggest number in Chinese culture and 999 means an eternal/forever life. The highlight of Tianmen Cave is the mystic views of fog and cloud. Watching the changing of clouds and fogs, the feeling is like traveling in a place with profound questions asked by the god.

– Heaven-linking Avenue: Actually it is the twisting mountain road from the foot of the mountains to the ‘Heaven Ladders’ of Tianmen Cave. The mountain road is only less than 11 kilometers but the elevation rises rapidly from 200 meters to 1300 meters. Ninety nine turnings decorate the holy road and it was built with over a hundred million of Chinese Yuan investment together with a 5 years hard working. The twisting road is like a white dragon lying on the mountains, this road is regarded as the most amazing mountain road in the world. This road is used for mountain bike cycle races, definitely it is interesting and exiting to ride bicycle at Tianmenshan, and bicycle lovers focus more on the beautiful sceneries along the road and the challenge to conquer such a mountain distance.

Tianmen Mountains (Source: http://goo.gl/NHOuK6)

– Bonsai Garden (Hanging Garden): As an national forest park, on the peak of Tianmen Mountains locate big primeval forests, the main area being protected is named Bi ye yao tai scenic areas (in the east of the peak areas). The whole area looks like a natural bonsai and over 20 attractions can be seen there, it is the biggest one of the four scenic areas of Tianmen Mountains.

Two fantastic scenes of the Tianmen Cave:

The most famous two wonders of Tianmen Cave are the turning water and the moving of Heaven’s Gate. The turning water actually means the spraying of waters in sunny day of summer, the water comes from the right side of the cliff but no water resources can be found on the cliff. People said that the spraying water shows has something related to historical events or natural disasters.

Every local people believe that the Tianmen Cave is moving from the north to the north-west because they couldn’t see the gate of the mountain in the city anymore but it can be seen before.

Attractions and highlight events on Tianmen Mountains (Heaven Gate Mountain):

Except the mountain road and Tianmen Cave (located at the Opening Heaven’s Gate Scenic Area), the whole area of Tianmenshan National Forest Park covers a large area, other main attractions include the Tianmenshan Temple, the Tianmen Academy, Transparent Viewing Deck made of Classes, The Ghost Valley Plank Road, Yuhu Peak (means Jade pot peak in Chinese), etc.

Tianmen Mountains (Source: http://goo.gl/NHOuK6)

Tianmen Mountain is not only a common attraction in Zhangjiajie but also a place attracts special people, the ‘Dawazi’ challenge (means walking on the high performance rope set between mountains, the name of Dawazi comes from Xinjiang province), the pilots have flown through the Tianmen Cave for many times, the Tianmen Cave Rock Climbing (a French man Alan Robert has successfully climbed up to the Tianmen Cave so he was called ‘the French Spider Man’ and from that many rock climbing competitions were hold at Tianmenshan mountain), the cyclists think the twisting mountain road a perfect place to have fun.. everything here makes Tianmenshan a must-see attraction in Zhangjiajie.

In the video below you can see how Jeb Corliss Flies Through Tianmen Cave (first time in history):

Source: http://www.visitourchina.com/guide/tianmen_mountains.htm

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